Great Wall 2020: HiLux-slaying dual-cab interior revealed

Great Wall has today released the first interior photos of its Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger-rivalling dual-cab ute, as more details of the Chinese brand's Steed replacement emerge.

The incoming dual-cab stirred huge interest last week, after company executives confirmed it had been benchmarked against Australia’s best-selling utes.

And if the interior photos released today are any indication, Great Wall is moving its Steed replacement up market, with an interior soaked in quilted and stitched leather, and a large 9.0-inch multimedia screen in the centre of the dash.

The upmarket inetior features a 9.0-inch multimedia screen.

The pictures, of a top-spec “Urban” model, also show dual-zone climate control, hill descent control and what appears to be a diff-lock control switch.

The eight-speed ZF gearbox is controlled by a T-bar electric gear shift, housed in a central control unit also home to an electric park brake and automatic parking control.

"The vehicle is going to be built on the next generation H9 platform. And that’s a capable, comfortable, premium SUV,” says spokesperson Bill Soo. “Our belief is that it will offer comfort and refinement levels similar to a premium SUV, with excellent off-road capability. 

“The next-generation ute has been developed to meet consumer expectations of high levels of interior comfort, serious off-road capabilities and be a multi-purpose family vehicle”.

Great Wall has made no secret of the fact it is targeting the big players of the ute world with its new dual-cab, telling CarsGuide this new model will be targeting a one-tonne payload and a “minimum” three-tonne towing capacity, and will make buyers "wonder why they’re spending more money on a ute” from another manufacturer.

The next-generation Great Wall Ute features all-new styling and will be offered with an emissions-free powertrain.

“It’s a move to reposition the brand into where Australians and New Zelanders are using their vehicles today, not yesterday,” Soo says.

“It will make a lot of people think why I am paying this amount of money for ute, when someone like Great Wall can build something to this level of comfort and capability.

“The feedback we’ve delivered (to China) is a one-tonne payload and a minimum three-tonne towing capacity.”

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.

Read More About Great Wall

Great Wall dual-cab benchmarked against Ford Ranger, and Toyota HiLux

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