NOT so long ago, new models from Chinese manufacturers were met with derision and quickly written off, if written about at all, as low-priced, low-value and low quality, and to be avoided at all costs.
But anyone who has seen numerous 'new start' countries debuting their initial automotive offerings was quick to temper this derision with warnings like 'we said the same thing about Japan/Korea/India', and with good reason.
Yes, there are still some poor quality offerings making it to our shores, from a mix of countries and manufacturers, but guess what? China is starting to make some good cars as well.
While their indigenous industry might still be in its infancy, they have been building cars for other people for a long time now, and just like H. G. Wells famous Martians, they have been watching, learning, making plans...
All of which brings us to the GWM Cannon Ute range, and what it might mean for the future of the Australian Ute market, which is currently the dominant model range in the new vehicle market.
SO, what is the Cannon? Well, it is a fairly representative example of the dual cab utility market, available in a range of trim levels, from the entry Cannon through to the range-topping XSR, with a single 4x2 variant, with the other seven versions offering four-wheel-drive.
We tested the Cannon L CC, fitted with a dropside alloy tray, and the top end XSR as a style side, both running the same 2-litre turbocharged diesel, producing 120kW and 400Nm, and 8-speed ZF transmission.
A quick sidebar, Chinese Utes are like American trucks, common practice is to make their own chassis and cabs, but much of the running gear is sourced from specialist manufacturers such as global transmission giant ZF.
The idea is this allows them to tap into the latest technologies, while learning how to make their own versions, and is normal practice, even for established brands, who partner with technology specialists to develop dedicated versions for specific models.
All those years building cars for companies like Audi, Volvo and others has clearly paid off, with current manufacturing techniques turning out a solid, well put together body, with a ladder-style chassis, following the trend of its main competition.
There is no missing the GWM badge dominating the massive grille, chrome on the L and black on the XSR, that aside, the design is modern, with clear influences from the popular Ford Ranger, in the side profile especially.
Other external differences between the L and XSR included chrome door handles and body colour from bumper and wheel arches for the L, while the XSR gets body colour door handles and black coated wheel arches and steel bumpers front and rear.
The XSR also gets a sturdy fold out ladder step, built into the tailgate, halving the climb up into the tub, making loading boxes, crates and eskys so much easier, even for tall people, a clever device you may expect to see on other Utes.
The XSR also has a 'sports bar', personally I am not a fan of these, they get in the way of loading and securing items, good luck getting a canopy over them, and they don't offer any significant roll-over protection, I would rather a clear space, with more cargo room, the main reason for having a ute in the first place.
Ground clearance is good, listed at over 220mm, and the standard sidesteps proved to be functional, and handy, when we were out on some muddy tracks.
Panel gaps were consistent throughout, with reasonable tolerances, keeping out wind, dust and rain, while the doors and windows all sealed well, there were no annoying whistles or rumbles from outside wind noise.
Paint quality and coverage is very good, clearly GWM has learned from the many offshore brands using China as a manufacturing base , the finish is as good as any other ute on the Australian market.
Even the XSR's snorkel proved to be unobtrusive, there was a low rumble standing next to it when the engine was being run up, but otherwise it didn't impact the cabin at all.
Standard rims across the range are 18" diameter, the L got the 'Luxury' alloy wheel, the range topping XSR came with black rims shod with Cooper Discoverer AT tyres, which proved their abilities while we were doing some off-highway work.
Inside, the story of the Cannon pretty much echoes that of the outside, it is generally well put together, with influences seemingly drawn from a variety of sources.
That is not necessarily a bad thing, it just feels there is not yet a unifying culture in the design, more that someone has seen something they like elsewhere, so that is what they go with, rather than developing their own design language.
The materials used are good quality, not quite Connolly Leather, but you aren't paying for it either, and the faux leather proved to be comfortable, especially the quilted facings used on the seats and door trims.
Switches and buttons are good, there is a fair amount of interactive tactility about the whole cabin, when you push a button, it 'feels' like you have pushed it, and I found you didn't have to push it two or three times to get a result.
The gear shift is a stubby t-bar style unit, while it is clearly electrically operated, rather than the linkage-type units in Utes of old, again, it is a 'positive' unit, there is resistance built in, so you get feedback when moving between gears.
A rotary dial takes care of selecting drive modes, the XSR gets a choice of 2H, 4H, 4L, and preset options for Snow, Mud and Sand, while the L is more basic with just Economy, Normal and Sport choices.
Regular readers will know my steering wheel preference is for chunky over skinny, with a soft outer cover getting maximum points, and the Cannon delivers at least half the wish list, with a solid, thick rimmed wheel, allowing you to wrap your hands around it for more control, especially in lower-grip conditions.
The steering column offers height and reach adjustability in the XSR only, while I would prefer another 4-5cm of outwards reach travel, it was adequate, and when used with the six-way powered adjustment of the driver's seat, a reasonable driving position could be found...
Except for the seatbelt mount on the B-Pillar...
This has become something of a bugbear in recent cars, not just GWM, I cannot get the seatbelt low enough to not cut into my neck, and find the only solution is to keep pumping the driver's seat higher.
But, if you are over 185cm tall, this means you are sitting in the roof lining, while my head was not touching the roof, I did hit my head more often than I would like on the door frame while entering the car.
I do wonder about 'less tall' drivers, but when I am the shortest (!), because my sons are the other side of 190cm, I couldn't find anyone small enough to test the theory.
Continuing the theme of 'well-appointed but disjointed', the Cannon gets a touch screen infotainment unit atop the centre console, while it works well, it just feels a little like it was put there, because that's what other manufacturers do, rather than being 'designed' to fit there.
The technology worked well, Apple CarPlay was present, the screen felt a little small compared to the TV screens offered in other cars, but there were no dead spots, if there is a complaint about the screen size, it made the icons smaller, and you had to take care to not push the wrong one while driving.
While the cabin was reasonably sound-proofed, no, it wasn't the whisper-quiet of a limousine, but in fairness, this is a vehicle designed to be a work truck, and against that standard, the Cannon stacks up pretty well.
For the full internal specs, check here.
Overall, the cabin felt welcoming, but in a reserved way, sort of like meeting the in-laws for the first time, everyone means well, but it is all a little at arm's length, rather than the relaxed 'g'day' of an old friend.
Firing up the 120kW, 2-litre four cylinder turbo diesel, you get the feel this is a heavy duty engine, designed to run for many kilometres, but equally, don't ask it to be a winner in the streetlight Grand Prix.
The engine feels like a 'lugger', it chugs along, a low, slow, revving unit, delivering peak power at 3,600rpm and peak torque of 400Nm between 1,500 and 2,500rpm, very much the characteristics of an engine designed to work long and hard, not to be a plaything or wannabe sports car.
Getting off the line takes a bit of work, you can feel the driveline inertia, once the crank starts spinning though, the Cannon takes off smoothly enough, there was no appreciable jerking or pulling, it just put its head down and went.
Unfortunately, stop-start traffic was not its friend, and every time you came to a dead stop, the whole process had to start over, but if you could keep a few revs up, or even better, keep it in second, then it was a different proposition.
While the transmissions was generally good, ZF has decades of experience in building gearboxes for a wide range of applications including heavy vehicles, there was a hesitation when going downhill, even in Normal mode, changing from 2-3 and 3-4, depending on road speed.
It felt as though the gearbox controller wasn't getting enough inputs to know it was time to upshift, and the only way to overcome it was to manually shift, using the paddle shifters on the back of the steering wheel.
There was no hesitation in obeying driver inputs, the next gear would drop in quickly and neatly, this happened frequently with both the L and the XSR, confirming it was more likely a programming issue than a single vehicle glitch.
Steering weight was reasonable on both models, although the wider Cooper Discoverer 4WD tyres on the XSR felt like they were contributing to the increased turning circle, 13.7 metres compared to the L's 13.1 metres, fitted with narrower tyres.
You soon learned with the XSR to turn in sooner, and with more lock, to overcome the inherent understeer of the chunkier tyres.
The XSR also gets front and rear locking diffs, very useful off-road, compared to the locking rear diff of the rest of the range, we found the combination of locked diff and off-road tyres on the XSR meant we didn't need to use four-wheel-drive until much further up the tracks than the other model.
Engaging 4H and then 4L to test the full driveline, we found the front-rear torque split smoothed the drive, not unexpectedly, eliminating the tendency for the rear to 'hop' over ruts and rocks, with opposite lock needed a few times to catch the back end stepping out, although it was good fun!
Not surprisingly for a vehicle designed as a workhorse, the rear suspension is set up for heavy loads, so driving it unladen meant there was a lot of leaping around, not in a dangerous or uncontrolled way, it was just clear that with no weight to push on the suspension, it was prone to skipping over even minor corrugations and pot holes.
One frustration was the otherwise welcome park-assist cameras to switch on if the road-speed fell below 20km/h, regardless of what you were doing.
Despite many searches of the owner's manual, and pushing buttons, there is no way to override the cameras, while it was not a safety issue, it was more the annoyance of losing the screen every time we slowed down.
That said, the surround-vehicle view is good, with a reasonable range, and not a huge amount of distortion from the wide angle camera lenses, so, when we did want to use it, while crawling over some obstacles off-road, we found the system of value.
We experienced a similar issue with the Tyre Pressure Monitors, dropping the pressures for off-road work triggered an alert, but there was no way to clear the alert, until we repressurised the tyres at the end of the day.
Thankfully, given their major role in the car's operation, the brakes were decent, while not at race car levels of retardation, they were competent, and not 'grabby', even with an unladen rear on a commercial vehicle.
There were some rear-wheel lockups on loose surfaces, again most likely caused by the stiffly-sprung rear end to skip, leading to the brakes locking, a simple solution is to keep some weight in the tray, something a longterm owner is likely to do.
Overall, the Cannon's driving performance was not disappointing, it was competent in handling most driving scenarios, the biggest issue being a seeming lack of cohesion between different areas of the car.
So, what does the Cannon's arrival in Australia mean for the local Ute market? Already previous versions of the GWM Ute, as well as LDV, have made an impression, with budget-priced offerings, despite falling well short of established competitors.
The Cannon, offering a seven year warranty and steadily improving build quality, combined with decent comfort and fit out, has the potential to really shake up the lower end of the market, and serves notice to the big sellers that there is a serious rival in the offing.
If GWM continues its upward trajectory with its offerings, then the days of dual cabs selling in their droves for more than $65,000 could well be numbered.
The biggest challenge GWM face right now is itself, all the pieces are there, once the integration issues are resolved, the Cannon has the ingredients to challenge the entire market, and Ute buyers have proven themselves notoriously fickle, brand loyalty is not what it used to be.
You could say with the Cannon, GWM has just fired the opening salvo...
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