P-Series puts the P in plushness

GWM: PLAYING CATCH-UP WAS NOT DESIGNERS’ MANTRA On the inside, it doesn’t try to outbakkie other bakkies, it out-SUVs them.

Former Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer once made a sobering observation. Having had the misfortunate of facing an almost indomitable All Black team during his reign, he reckoned the Kiwis were probably 10 years ahead of their opposition. Meyer said merely copying New Zealand’s style of play would mean by the time they caught up, the All Blacks would already be 10 years ahead again.

It is almost like the designers over at GWM followed the exact same mantra when they planned the P-Series bakkie. Trying to play catch-up to the big boys in the bakkie yard was only going to result in the competition keeping its advantage over time.

So instead of merely sprucing up the previous figurehead of its bakkie offerings, the Steed 5, the Chinese manufacturer took a different approach in producing a rather unique bakkie called the P-Series. The name is an adaptation of the Poer moniker it is sold as in its home market.

Poer is pronounced “po-wer”, but fortunately GWM had the presence of mind to ditch the name due to its Afrikaans meaning and potential for inappropriate alterations.

Since its local arrival at the end of 2020, the P-Series has made serious inroads on the sales charts for one-tonners. While the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max remain the uncontested top three, the rest of the top five have made some interesting reading over the last 22 months.

The P-Series has taken the fight to two other locally built offerings, the Nissan Navara and the Mahindra Pik-Up, with the three of them, along with the Steed 5, often playing musical chairs in positions four to six in the sales charts.

The reason for the P-Series’ success is twofold. First, GWM is undercutting its rivals in terms of pricing. And then it offers styling unlike another any other bakkie.

It is by no means perfect and we will get to that. Let’s tackle its drawcards.

The GWM P-Series in 2.0TD double cab LT 4x4 guise we recently had on test is the line-up’s flagship offering at R640 950.

That is as much as a R0.25 million less than the top-the-range products in its rivals’ stables which it matches blow-for-blow in terms of features and safety systems, barring a roller shutter for the loadbin.

Only a proper statement will do if you want to leapfrog your rivals in terms of styling, and that is exactly what the GWM designers have done.

With a massive front grille with chrome logo and outline flanked by sleek LED headlights, its hard to argue that this bakkie does not look imposing.

Making it also look bigger than it actually is slimmer-than-usual side windows atop rather deep side doors which extends to the rear given the P-Series a rather deep loadbin.

Chrome finishes on the side door handles, tailgate handle, strips below the side windows, roll bar, side steps and side mirrors along with shiny 18-inch 12-spoke alloy wheels clad in 265/69 R18 rubberware completes the package.

The interior is probably the one area GWM have advanced the bakkie game in terms of styling.

Instead of trying to out-bakkie other bakkies, the carmaker has out-SUVed them.

Plush faux leather seats finished in elegant diamond-shaped stitching also used in the door brushed chrome and soft-touch leather trim inserts, a nine-inch system and a fully digital seven-inch instrument cluster is as premium a feel as you will find in a bakkie.

While some hardcore bakkie owners will probably scoff at the idea that the interior is too soft to be a proper tough bakkie, it is exactly what GWM set out to achieve.

Most leisure-orientated bakkies spend their lives in the city and many of those are driven by women who will value plushness over toughness that will never have to put up with muddy boots and hands.

The area in which the P-Series is far from perfect is under the bonnet.

It is powered by a 2.0-litre turbodiesel mill which produces 120kW of power and 400Nm of torque and is mated to a decent but somewhat erratic ZF eightspeed automatic transmission.

While it is by no means the slowest bakkie road test editor Mark Jones has tested, it does suffer initial turbo lag when pulling off from a standstill.

Once on the move, things improved with its acceleration decent enough for comfortable overtaking.

We managed to match GWM’s fuel consumption claim of 9.4 litres per 100km on one relaxed 300km open-road trip, although the average consumption for the week was just under 11l/100km, which is pretty much par for the course for a 2.1-ton vehicle. Although we did not take it offroad or put its one-ton payload to the test, we thought the suspension performed quite well – in fact, far better than some other more expensive bakkies we have driven.

While Meyer might not have lived up to his vision – very much like Rassie Erasmus and his Bomb Squad – the GWM has managed to leapfrog others by playing to their own strengths.