Great Wall Pickup: Chinese pickup truck for Europe too?

D ie The Great Wall brand is one of the larger Chinese automakers, selling 1.05 million vehicles in 2018. With the presentation of the new pickup as the successor to the previous Steed 6 model, the international market is now to be tackled more intensively, as Great Wall has now announced.

The world market for mid-size pickups with up to one ton Payload is fiercely competitive and is dominated primarily by the Japanese manufacturers as well as Ford with the Ranger. Great Wall is expecting a piece of the pie with the new pickup, which is why the midsize pickup, previously known as the “Series P”, is increasingly being marketed outside of China.

Great Wall

Pickup with electric drive: Great Wall Series P at the Shanghai Auto Show

Compared to its predecessor Steed 6 (see picture gallery), the Great Wall Series P Pickup presented at the Shanghai Auto Show has a modern look, comes with a gently curved body shape and a huge radiator grille, the shape borrows from the current Ford Ranger. Great Wall presented three variants at the Shanghai Auto Show: a particularly luxurious pickup with lots of chrome trim and leather interior, a robust off-road conversion and an electrically powered version.

Great Wall Pickup Series P

The company currently provides almost no technical data at all. All that is known is that the new P Pickup series has a coil-sprung rear axle, can be ordered with a ZF eight-speed automatic and has modern assistance systems such as a parking assistant.

The off-road version is included Cable winch, differential lock, lift kit and off-road tires, the electric P-Pickup series should have a range of 500 kilometers with a quick charge of two hours.Great Wall has so far left it open which motors the conventional variants will get on the way, and there is no further information on the electrically powered pickup.

In the near future, sales in Germany will only be possible through independent importers . Great Wall currently has a European branch in Bulgaria, and the Steed 6 pickup and the H6 SUV are also currently being offered in Italy at competitive prices of around 15,000 euros each. The Steed 6 is currently only offered in Italy with a 2.4-liter gasoline engine from Mitsubishi license, which can be combined with a gas system and produces 122 hp.

The Great Wall production started in Bulgaria in 2012 -Pickups in the CKD process from delivered parts was put back to the file in 2017 with the spectacular bankruptcy of the Great Wall joint venture with a colorful Bulgarian businessman. The company has a planning office in Dietzenbach, Hesse.