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Great Wall Cannon 2020 gets an early mark! China's Toyota HiLux slayer could be here as soon as July


The 2020 Great Wall Cannon could be here in a matter of months, with CarsGuide understanding the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux competitor could get a Q3 launch date.

While Great Wall in Australia declined to comment, CarsGuide understands the timeframe has been shifted. We had initially thought the ute would launch in Q4 2020 or Q1 2021.

The change means the Great Wall Cannon could be mere months away from launch, with the Chinese company clearly in a rush to enter its new ute into one of Australia's most competitive segments. 

While pricing remains a mystery, we do know the brand is targeting a competitive starting point for what will become its most popular model.

“It will make a lot of people think 'why am I paying this amount of money for a ute, when someone like Great Wall can build something to this level of comfort and capability?',” the brand has told CarsGuide in the past.

So, with the Cannon closer than ever to firing, let's recap, shall we?

The Great Wall ute will arrive with a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine. Internationally, the diesel produces 120kW and 400Nm, which will be fed through a choice of an eight-speed ZF auto or a six-speed manual box. In Australia, though, we'd expect to see that torque figure increased to around 450Nm.

The Cannon is Great Wall's best shot to date of disrupting the big players in the dual-cab world. And it's taking that challenge seriously.

The brand tells us the Cannon was engineered "with Australia in mind" and was benchmarked against the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.

"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."