The incoming Great Wall ute has some mighty big targets in its sights, with the brand confirming it benchmarked its new dual-cab against two of Australia's best-selling vehicles.
The replacement for the Great Wall Steed, which will be revealed in full at the Shanghai Motor Show later this month, will launch in Australia next year, where it will be aiming to shake-up our competitive dual-cab market.
And the company is clearly taking the challenge seriously, telling CarsGuide its new ute - seen here in rugged-looking "Adventure" guise - was benchmarked against the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux for its off-road capability.
"They've done a lot benchmarking work on different models, and taken the best queues from them, but it's also consistent with that American big-ute look that's taking the world by storm," a brand spokesperson told us.
"It was benchmarked against HiLux and Ranger for its off-road capability."
As reported earlier today, the Great Wall has also confirmed its ute will score an electrified variant, with the pure EV pick-up promising a 500km driving range.
While that model is yet to be confirmed for Australia (though the company here says it "has its hand up for it", Great Wall has confirmed the conventional powertrains - thought to be a 2.0-litre 180kW/350Nm turbo-petrol and 140kW/440Nm turbo-diesel - will arrive here in 2020.
Can Great Wall rival the big boys of the ute world? Tell us in the comments below.
Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
Andrew Chesterton should probably hate cars. From his hail-damaged Camira that looked like it had spent a hard life parked at the end of Tiger Woods' personal driving range, to the Nissan Pulsar Reebok that shook like it was possessed by a particularly mean-spirited demon every time he dared push past 40km/h, his personal car history isn't exactly littered with gold.
But that seemingly endless procession of rust-savaged hate machines taught him something even more important; that cars are more than a collection of nuts, bolts and petrol. They're your ticket to freedom, a way to unlock incredible experiences, rolling invitations to incredible adventures. They have soul.
And so, somehow, the car bug still bit. And it bit hard.
When "Chesto" started his journalism career with News Ltd's Sunday and Daily Telegraph newspapers, he covered just about everything, from business to real estate, courts to crime, before settling into state political reporting at NSW Parliament House.
But the automotive world's siren song soon sounded again, and he begged anyone who would listen for the opportunity to write about cars. Eventually they listened, and his career since has seen him filing car news, reviews and features for TopGear, Wheels, Motor and, of course, CarsGuide, as well as many, many others.
More than a decade later, and the car bug is yet to relinquish its toothy grip. And if you ask Chesto, he thinks it never will.
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