At least year's Beijing Auto Show, China's Great Wall Motors unveiled the Black Bullet concept, a radical off-road adventure pickup that looked like China's answer to the Ram 1500 TRX and the Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro. This month, Great Wall will be showcasing several more new pickups at the Shanghai Auto Show.
Citing local media sources, Australia's Car Advice claims the Chinese manufacturer wants to enter the full-size pickup segment and compete with established titans like the Ford F-150, Ram 1500, and Chevrolet Silverado. The new Ram 1500 rival is expected to pack a 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine producing 348 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque. With those numbers it has to be a diesel.
Power will be sent to all four wheels through a nine-speed automatic transmission. While taking on the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500 sounds like a risky move, Great Wall's full-size pickup will be more affordable.
As well as China, Car Advice claims the Ram 1500 rival will go on sale in Australia, where it will try to steal sales from the best-selling Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger. Great Wall also exports trucks to Europe, South America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, but the new full-size pickup trucks are unlikely to go on sale in America. Let's just hope it has better safety standards than the Great Wall Steed 5, which scored a shocking zero-star NCAP safety rating.
This isn't the only pickup Great Wall will show in Shanghai, however. According to a Twitter post by Autocar's Greg Kable, Shelby American will reveal a tuned version of the mid-size Cannon pickup, which is also sold as the Pao and P Series outside of China. Dubbed the Baja Snake, Shelby's take on the Cannon will take on the Ford Ranger Raptor with more aggressive bodywork and a modified suspension, as shown in technical drawings.
Under the hood, the Cannon is powered by 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline and diesel engines. A fully electric version is also available with 201 hp, but we're expecting the Shelby variant to get a power increase. All will be revealed at the Shanghai Auto Show, which starts on April 19.