Name change for Great Wall Cannon 2020! New name approved for China's Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger fighter - but what does it mean?

The incoming Great Wall Cannon is expected to get a name change before arriving in Australia, with the brand here trademarking 'Poer' for its HiLux-fighting dual cab.

The word Poer is a combination of three words - power, peak and perfection - and it's the name given to the Cannon in some international markets, including Bangladesh.

Great Wall Motors applied to trademark the Poer nameplate in Australia in August 2019, with the application approved in February.

It’s also the only name Great Wall has trademarked in Australia recently, including Cannon, so it would appear Poer is currently the strongest candidate.

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That said, a trademark is no guarantee that the name will be chosen, and Great Wall says a decision is yet to be made.

“We’re still working through the naming process. But we have not yet confirmed naming for Australia or New Zealand,” a GWM spokesperson told CarsGuide.

The news follows CarsGuide’s earlier report that the 2020 Cannon will get a a Q3 launch date in Australia, meaning the Chinese brand’s answer to the Toyota HiLux, Mitsubishi Triton and Ford Ranger would be here as early as July.

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

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.

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The Great Wall ute will arrive with a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine under its bonnet. 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. In Australia, though, we'd expect to see that torque figure increased to around 450Nm.

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."