Great Wall returns with Steed one-tonner

Great Wall Motors is back — now with a facelifted dual-cab one-tonne ute called the Steed and this time supported by a factory-owned subsidiary.

The new ute, while based on the discontinued V200/V240, has fresh sheet metal from the A-pillar forward and a 150mm-longer tray. The interior has been refreshed too.

The Steed arrives in 51 Great Wall showrooms nationwide in November with a three-model range: Dual Cab Petrol 4x2, a Dual Cab Diesel 4x2 and Dual Cab Diesel 4x4.

While Great Walls is offering introductory drive-away deals to the end of the year ($24,990 for the 4x2 Petrol, $26,990 for the 4x2 Diesel and $29,990 for the 4x4 Diesel), these prices are up $2000 over the superseded V200/V240, which was also priced with on-road costs included.

From January 1, list prices will rise to $25,990 for the 4x2 Petrol, $27,990 for the 4x2 Diesel and $30,990 for the 4x4 Diesel (all excluding on-road costs)

Standard gear across the range includes 16-inch alloy wheels, LED tail-lights, daytime running lights, front fog lights, Comfort-Tek (synthetic leather) seats, leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear knob, heated front seats, climate-control air-conditioning, cruise control with steering wheel-mounted buttons, tyre pressure monitoring and auto headlights and wipers.

Also standard for all models is an dimming rear-view mirror, power side mirrors with demister function, Hill-Start Assist, power windows, six-speaker sound system with CD/AM/FM/MP5/USB/AUX, Bluetooth phone and audio control, side steps, stainless-steel sports bar, cargo bed liner and rear parking sensors.

Safety features include six airbags, electronic traction/stability control and anti-lock brakes.

Sat-nav and a reversing camera are in a bundled $1000 option.

Great Wall has projected the sales carve-up to consist of 30 per cent 4x2 Petrol, 30 per cent 4x2 Diesel and 40 per cent 4x4 Diesel.

The petrol engine is the same Mitsubishi 2.4-litre engine used in the V240, which now develops 100kW at 5250rpm and 205Nm (5Nm more than the V240) at 2500rpm, and is available only with a five-speed manual gearbox.

The 2.0-litre turbo-diesel (developed in-house) produces 110kW at 4000rpm (up 5kW over the V200) and 310Nm over 1800-2800rpm and drives though a six-speed manual. No automatic trans-mission will be available.

The 4x4 Diesel has a Borg Warner on-demand dual-range transfer case, with 2WD, 4WD full-time high-range and 4WD low-range.

The Steed shares the V200/V240’s ladder-frame chassis (albeit extended 150mm at the front and 150mm at the rear) with independent torsion-bar front suspension and a live axle and leaf springs at the rear.

Ground clearance is not great at 171mm (thanks to a lateral support brace on the lower front sus-pension), while approach angle is 25 degrees and departure angle is 21 degrees.

Towing capacity is 750kg unbraked and 2000kg braked, with a 200kg tow ball mass maximum.

With 150mm tacked onto the back, the tray is now 1545mm long. Width is 1460mm and height is 480mm.

The Steed comes with a three-year/100,000km warranty, three years' road side assist and a service price menu.

Great Wall doesn’t have any info on the Steed’s crash-worthiness, but the V200’s ANCAP crash rating was a meagre three stars in 2014. ANCAP is expected to crash a Steed into its barrier and report the results in the New Year.

The brand's new factory-owned Australian distributor, which also handles sister SUV brand Haval here, already has 51 dealers signed up to fly the Great Wall flag, despite having a target of signing up just 50 dealers by the end of December.

It’s still a fair way off the 72 dealers the brand's previous independent distributor, Ateco Automo-tive, had selling the V200/V240 and the X200/240 SUV in their heyday.

National marketing manager Bill Soo said Great Wall expects to sell 5000 Steeds in the first 12 months.

“We think that we could sell more, but we want to focus on customer care. The factory and the Aus-tralian team are committed to restoring confidence in the brand,” he said.

To that end, Great Wall has been busy integrating a call centre, warranty and customer support.

Chief marketing officer Tim Smith said there will be more Steed variants on the way. “We’ll have a cab-chassis next year, in 4x2 petrol and 4x4 diesel. They’ll be ’S’ spec, while the dual-cabs are [better equipped] 'SE’ spec."

Smith also pointed to the possibility of cheaper, lower-spec S versions of the 4x2 petrol and 4x4 diesel dual-cab, although that has yet to be nutted out with the factory.

When asked if Great Wall's old X-series SUV would be replaced, Smith replied in the negative.

“Haval is the SUV brand, Great Wall the commercial brand.”

2016 Great Wall Steed pricing (drive-away)*:
4x2 Petrol — $24,990
4x2 Diesel — $26,990
4x4 Diesel — $29,990

* Introductory prices until December 31, after which pricing becomes $25,990 (4x2 Petrol), $27,990 (4x2 Diesel) and $30,990 ($27,990)