2022 Great Wall Motors King Kong Cannon
A new, affordable, body-on-frame, rear-wheel-drive, diesel or gasoline-powered mid-sized truck—for China and the rest of the world
I’m more guilty than most of opining about how particular vehicles may look alike. In the case of the Great Wall Motors (GWM) King Kong Cannon mid-sized (think a modern Ford Ranger) pickup truck, it’s as if the lines from every full-size American pickup were traced onto the same paper.
Figure out the badge yet? You’re looking down the barrel of a cannon.
None of this is a knock: it’s an inexpensive truck that doesn’t look cheap. Kudos. Inside, it’s clear GWM prioritized a modern truck interior that (finally!) looks modern and not trucktacky.
Like the Ford Maverick compact pickup truck for North America, the car-like layout, switchgear, trim, and overall size should serve King Kong Cannon occupants well. These on-location photos were captured by the motoring site autohome (汽车之家), and seem to show a decent overall package.
Long-term reliability? Who knows. What we do know, however, are its specs:
- 197 horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine
- or 165 hp 2.0-liter turbocharged diesel engine
- 6-speed manual / 8-speed automatic (optional)
- rear-wheel drive
- max load capacity: 500 kg (1,102 lbs)
While we don’t often comment on price, for context, figure in the ballpark of +/- $20,000 Usd.
Now hitting the road in China—and already shown modified by GWM into a number of show trucks— it looks like the world’s about to get another mass-produced truck that sells in decent numbers.
sources • chinacarnews.com (article), autohome.com.cn (news, gallery), yiche.com (article), thedrive.com (article)
