SAIC planning electrified ute?

Thursday, 28 May 2020

SAIC Motor relaunches MG in New Zealand

Chinese carmaker SAIC Motor is allegedly working on an electrified pick-up truck to compete with upcoming offerings from the likes of Great Wall as well as Ford, GM, Tesla and Rivian.

Called the Maxus V, it is unsurprisingly, it's hard to actually find much concrete information on the truck so far - the only official release was by SAIC's Maxus brand on Weibo, a predominantly Chinese social media website.

And it wasn't exactly detailed either, reading: “Simple and futuristic, what will it be? See you in the second half (of 2020).”

This is our first look at the Maxus V, SAIC Motor's forthcoming new pick up truck.

Maxus is SAIC's SUV and light commercial vehicle brand that is sold in New Zealand under the LDV name, with the G10 and V80 vans selling alongside the T60 ute and D90 SUV.

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The new ute clearly shares the frontal styling of the Euniq 6 SUV, albeit with a grille. PHEV maybe?

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Maxus utes are sold in New Zealand as LDVs. Maybe we could see the Maxus V here someday?

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Chinese outlet CIT Report had a bit more information about the ute, pointing out the roof-mounted cargo box and a family face that unites the Maxus V with the Euniq 6 SUV that went on sale in China last year.

With Maxis currently following the usual trend of having a pick up (the T60) and an SUV spin-off on the same platform (the D90), the Maxus V could well be a smaller pick up based on the Euniq 6 SUV, which has been on sale in China since last year.

This throws up the tantalising proposition of electrified versions, as the Euniq 6 is already available as a plug-in hybrid, while a fully electric version is not far away.

Details of new cars on sale in China are always sketchy, but from what we can tell the Euniq 6 PHEV is powered by a 1.3-litre turbocharged engine and has a range of around 720km, including 40 on electric power only.

However, the upcoming electric version will use a 225kW/660Nm electric powertrain with a 70kWh battery offering a claimed range of more than 600km.

SAIC is planning on offering 20 electrified models by 2025 and while we would imagine the bulk will be China-only.

But with Maxus vehicles being sold here as LDVs and SAIC itself trading locally under the MG banner, we certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility that some may arrive here one day.