Great Wall Motor

China’s Great Wall Motors is about to release a new challenger in Australia’s highly competitive ute market. The Great Wall Motors Cannon ute is in the final stages of preparation for its Australian showroom arrival and should be here late this year or in early 2021. Great Wall Motors was one of the first Chinese ute brands on sale in Australia – arriving here via an independent distributor in 2009.

Despite the continued decline in overall new car sales, brands from China are posting triple-digit growth – namely Haval and MG. For the month of July the overall market slid 2.8 per cent, with the year-to-date figure 7.7 per cent down on the first seven months of 2018. However, SUV specialist Haval recorded a 164.2 per cent increase on July 2018 (albeit off a low base) to 140 registrations, while its YTD tally of 783 vehicles is up 155 per cent on the same period last year.

Great Wall has continued to the gradual drip-feed of details about its upcoming replacement for the Steed dual-cab, revealing its upmarket interior. There's quilted leather in there, for crying out loud. The cabin you see here won't feature in the rough and tumble Adventure model revealed last week. Instead, the luxurious-looking finish pictured will be reserved for the 'Urban' model.

The BMW Group and Great Wall Motor have signed a joint venture agreement to produce electric vehicles for Mini in China, under the company name Spotlight Automotive Limited. Along with the upcoming electric Mini models, the joint venture will also produce EVs for Great Wall, with the facility to be located in the Chinese province of Jiangsu, north of Shanghai.