Great Wall Motors (GWM) is currently celebrating its 500,000th GWM Cannon pickup truck on international roads today. The Cannon was first previewed by GWM Malaysia in May this year at the Malaysia Autoshow 2023, with two variants on display.
Based on the variants offered with the Poer (the Cannon’s Chinese domestic model) in China, the Cannons displayed at the Malaysia Autoshow 2023 were most likely the P11 and P12 variants. And just recently, GWM Malaysia announced that 66 units of the GWM Cannon are now available in Malaysia, and are all specifically offered the “Ultra” variant which is most likely based on the higher-end P12 variant.
With a starting price of RM127,800, on-the-road, without insurance, local GWM dealers have also started to accept bookings for the Cannon since the announcement. Just in case you are wondering, no info has been announced by GWM Malaysia just yet regarding the P11-based entry-level model.
Set to compete against the likes of the Toyota Hilux, Isuzu D-Max, and Mitsubishi Triton in Malaysia, the GWM Cannon Ultra features a rather “grand” looking exterior. Up front, it features a grille with large portions of chrome and a huge emblem plastered in the centre, alongside automatic LED headlamps with chrome inserts.
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The front fascia is paired with a chrome-plated side view mirror, door handles, and a sports bar above the truck bed. Completing the Cannon Ultra’s exterior are a set of 18-inch dual-tone alloys.
Under the hood of the GWM Cannon Ultra in Malaysia is a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbodiesel engine paired with a ZF 8-speed automatic transmission. Power is sent to all four wheels via the pickup truck’s four-wheel drive system, resulting in a total of 161 hp and 400 Nm.
Upon opening the doors of the GWM Cannon, you will find a rather premium-looking and feeling interior, fitted with leather seats, alongside a large amount of soft-touch materials. There are also quilted patterns on the leather seats and door panels, which can make you forget you are seating inside a pickup truck.
The Cannon Ultra also gets a fully digital instrument cluster, a touchscreen central display that is both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatible. Additionally, other equipment available with the GWM Cannon Ultra includes automatic air-conditioning, a leather-wrapped steering wheel with control buttons and paddle shifters, a chunky shift-by-wire gear lever, and an electronic parking brake (EPB), among other gadgets and features.
In the safety department, the GWM Cannon comes with safety kits such as six airbags and a 360-degree camera system. The Level-2 autonomous driving system is also here, which consists of features such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control (ACC), lane departure warning (LDW), and lane keep assist (LKA).
It is to note that the specifications of the GWM Cannon listed here are yet to be officially confirmed by GWM Malaysia just yet, and are merely based on the Chinese market Poer P12 that was previewed in Malaysia earlier this year. All in all, is the GWM Cannon Ultra’s RM127,800 price tag and impressive interior enough to sway you away from other Japanese “hailaks”? Let us know in the comments!
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