Next Great Wall ute to undercut rivals by $10K-plus

The Great Wall ute revealed this week in China will undercut Australia’s most popular 4x4 dual-cab diesel auto rivals by at least $10,000 when it goes on sale here by early 2021.

Speaking with journalists at the Shanghai motor show, Great Wall Motors Australia managing director Koma Li confirmed the ‘passenger’ version of the all-new 4WD twin-cab would have a starting price of about $35,000 in diesel-auto form.

This compares with about $48,000-$60,000 for key competitors from Japanese and German brands. The existing Great Wall Steed is priced from $30,990 plus ORCs in manual 4x4 dual-cab form.

Li said Great Wall’s new 4x4 dual-cab ute would deliver “very good value” and “a lot of technologies’ when it arrives in late 2020 or early 2021.

Exact timing for the Australian release remains fluid because it depends on the completion of a local chassis tuning program, which is about to get underway, and subsequent changes to be implemented.

Pricing for the entry-level single-cab ‘commercial’ version -- which arrives first, in six-speed manual and eight-speed automatic guises -- will be lower (the Steed currently opens at $17,990 for the 4x2 single-cab).

The more comprehensively equipped hero ‘off-road’ model will be more expensive when it arrives after the commercial and passenger models, and it will be followed by all-electric (EV) and even hydrogen fuel-cell (FCEV) versions, which will come to Australia.

Production of Great Wall’s new Model P, as it’s called in China, starts at the end of June and domestic market sales commence in September.

Company execs remained tight-lipped about the export name of the new-generation ute, global sales of which are expected to reach 200,000 annually, but have made it clear it won’t be called Steed.

Aside from Australia and New Zealand, Great Wall intends to sell the ute in North and South America, South Africa and the Middle East.

Great Wall executives involved in the ute’s development also confirmed information missing from the specifications announced at Tuesday’s unveiling.

Great Wall pickup platform director Jiaming Zhang said through a translator that the new ute’s maximum towing capacity will be 3500kg, which is equal to the best in class. He also confirmed a fuel tank capacity of 80 litres and a maximum payload of 500kg.

We are waiting for confirmation on whether the 500kg payload is for all dual-cab models or just the off-road model, which is laden with heavy standard accessories such as a rear hoop bar, electric winch and roof rack that might reduce its payload.

The lowest payload in the Australian dual-cab 4x4 ute market is claimed by the new SsangYong Musso at 791kg, while top-selling utes like the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger can carry a respective 826kg and 961kg in their top-spec trims.

Zhang said that torque for the 2.0-litre turbo-diesel would be around 380-400Nm, but mentioned that another, larger-displacement diesel is also coming – although he offered no more details except a torque target of 480-500Nm.

A 120kW/360Nm 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine will be available in markets outside Australia, and a larger-displacement turbocharged petrol engine is also “under planning”, Zhang revealed.

The Great Wall ute program boss also confirmed that both the EV and FCEV versions are destined for Australian shores.

“EV is under our plan,” he said, before adding: “For plan and price, we don’t have information yet.”

Zhang said Great Wall isn’t worried about the lack of demand for EVs so far in Australia: “We want to be the first and best Chinese brand to introduce an EV ute,” he said.