Cannon fires shot over Great Wall at ute market
It’s an interesting time for those of us watching the emergence of Chinese carmakers into export markets. Or the ‘Westernmainstream’ as you might like to call it.
Basically, we’re all watching out for the next great leap forward from these brands. Onehappened earlier this year with THEMGZS EV from Government-owned giant Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC); it’snownew Zealand’s cheapest pure-electric vehicle, as well as being an impressively well-equipped compact-suv— right on point for Kiwi tastes.
Andnowhere’s another leap from Great Wall Motors. GWMIS China’s largest maker of utes (under the parentgwmbrand), SUVS (Haval) and more recently has launched in the exclusively BEV(ORA) and luxury (Wey) markets. Althoughwedon’t see the latter two innewzealand.
The all-newgwmcannon is the replacement for the Steed ute, which was famous (infamous?) for being NZ’S cheapest one-tonner.
Price will still be abig factor in Cannon purchase: it starts at $29,990 and even the flagship Cannon Luxury4wdmodel featured here, which is loaded with 360-degree camera system, leather upholstery, stop/go adaptive cruise, blind-spot warning and lane centering, is just $39,990.
To put that into context, among auto-transmission4wddoublecab utes, thatmoney will get you into abase-model Mitsubishi Triton ($41,990 on special offer), but you’ll need $49,990 for abillybasic Toyota Hilux SR or $59,170 for a similarly stripped-out Ford Ranger XL. The obvious rival is that “other” Chinese ute, LDV’S T60; it tops out at $35,990.
However, the claim for Cannon is that you wouldn’t just buy it because it’s cheap; indeed, the gap to the mainstream ismuch smaller than it waswith Steed. This model aims to take on those bignameutes on driver-appeal and ability too.
We’ve just spent a fewdays in the Cannon and the consensus is that it’s a shot successfully fired at the establishment in terms of styling, performance and handling. The car-like interior scores, too: the materials are still very “durable”, but the styling and switchgear look quite upmarket.
With 122kw/450nmcannon is nowhere near the likes of Ranger, Hilux and Isuzu D-max for power. But the driving experience is impressive all the same thanks to a smooth 8-speed automatic transmission. It really keeps the 2.0l turbo diesel on the boil and even doessomenice downshifting under brakes. That 8-speed is all the more impressive when you consider there wasn’t an automatic Steed available.
The Cannon’s chassis is fidgety on urban roads, but not noticeably worse than ahilux. The steering coulddowithsomework and is madeworse by the intrusive lanekeep assistance on the motorway, but that’s easily disabled on the centre-console touch screen. The newd-max has a similar problem, so it’s not unique TOGWM. And complaining about the nuances of high-tech driver-assistance functions on one-tonne utes does seem like abit of a first-world problem.
At higher speed, the Cannon chassis is assured and predictable, dealing with tricky mid-corner bumpsand keeping up momentumwhen required.
It looks the part and garnered plenty of positivecomment during our few days— although most had no idea what it was, despite the Steed’s long-standing presence in the market. Thegwmlogo— basically abig blob— is not that recognisable and the ute carries no ‘Cannon’ badging at all. Although its domestic-market nameof Poer is all over the handbook and Bluetooth menu.
Towrating isn’t quite up to the 3500kg of those mainstream rivals, but at 3000kg it’s still apretty decent workhorse. It also has a few surprise-and-delight features, like an extendable step on the tailgate for easier access when loading— a familiar feature for larger American-style pickup trucks, but uniqueamongone-tonne utes.
There’s more tocomein 2021 and beyond. It’s well-known that there’s adressed-up Ranger Wildtrak-style Cannon in the works, but when the ute was launched at the Auto Shanghai Show last yearmuchwas also madeof a 2WDEV version. Given China’s expertise in all things electric, that’s surely a starter too.