Soon, the domestic and foreign pickup truck market will usher in a new force.
Who is it?
Sinotruk VGV's first pickup truck, the VX7
On December 22, Sinotruk VGV held a unique industry coffee exchange meeting in Chongqing Light Vehicle Factory - an expert and media quality assurance tour with the theme of "Innovating, Leading the Trend, visiting the new forces of pickup trucks".
This is the second major move since Sinotruk VGV held its first pickup truck name campaign online in early December. Moreover, unlike the online name call, this time, professional media celebrities can contact a variety of basic models of the first pickup truck VX7 of SINOTRUK VGV at zero distance, and at the same time test drive it, personally experience the value, interior, power and details of the VX7.
This time, can Sinotruk withstand the harsh "torture" of the professional media scene?
Manufacture of light commercial vehicles HEAVY DUTY TRUCK VGV is serious
Who is Sinotruk VGV?
As the industry leader in the domestic heavy truck and military vehicle market, Sinotruk is known for its "big country heavy equipment" and solid chassis technology, and has been praised by many card friends and people inside and outside the industry; however, as a light vehicle business segment of China National Heavy Duty Truck Group, many people are not familiar with Sinotruk VGV (the company's full name is Sinotruk (Chongqing) Light Vehicle Co., Ltd.). On the one hand, this is due to the relatively short establishment of the VGV light vehicle business, which is still a very young light commercial vehicle brand; on the other hand, it is also because this is the first time that Sinotruk has entered the light commercial vehicle segment such as SUVs, pickup trucks, and European light passengers (big VAN), so it is not known to more people.
Sinotruk VGV's U75PLUS SUV (first from left) and VX7 pickup truck (first from right)
Although it is newly established, VGV's position within the group is very clear from the beginning and its strategic position is also very important. "VGV is an important part of Sinotruk Group's vision of 'building a world-class full-range commercial vehicle group'. VGV Light Vehicles is committed to achieving the ambitious goal of 'world-class light vehicle brand', covering a wide range of SUVs, pickups, VAN and MPV models, including hydrogen fuel, pure electric, hybrid, fuel and other energy forms. Yang Xu, general manager of light vehicle marketing of China National Heavy Duty Truck, said.
The first commercial vehicle network saw in the Chongqing plant of Sinotruk Light Vehicle that China National Heavy Duty Truck Group is obviously very serious about making light vehicles. Its vehicle plant stamping, welding, painting and assembly of the four major processes are complete, punching, welding, painting have achieved full automation, assembly line also has a large number of manipulators to assist professional assembly personnel work. "Next year, the factory will also be upgraded, through the application of AGV fully automatic distribution trolleys and other means, the automation level and lean level of the assembly line will be further improved, so as to continuously improve the quality control capabilities of the vehicle." A staff member on the VGV production line of Sinotruk told the first commercial vehicle network.
Heavy duty truck light vehicle production line
Sharpening a sword, the Frost Blade had not been tried. How competitive is the VX7 of Sinotruk, which has crossed the border?
Cross-border! VX7 all kinds of "black technology" poured out
The first commercial vehicle network learned that as the third product of Sinotruk VGV after the U70 and U75PLUS SUV, and the first pickup truck product, the upcoming VX7 is a cross-border pickup truck. It is positioned as a "fun all-scene passenger life pickup truck", with a length× width and height of 5015×1870×1730mm, wheelbase of 2800mm, using a 2.0TGDI gasoline engine, maximum torque of 385 Nm, maximum output of 165 kW (225 hp), is a high-performance pickup truck without compromise.
"'Full scene' means that VX7 can meet the needs of users in a variety of scenarios, such as private owners, small business owners, individual freelancers and other entrepreneurs who realize their career dreams, leisure and tourism life needs such as pet travel, parent-child travel, cooking, shopping, etc., as well as fishing, cycling, mountaineering and other light outdoor sports scene needs; 'passenger' means that it has the quality and driving experience of high-end passenger cars; 'life', means that VX7 pickup trucks meet the needs of users' lives as the goal." Yang Xu explained.
In the end, how does VX7 create "fun", high value, high quality and other passenger characteristics?
First of all, the VX7 pickup truck is different from the existing pickup truck products in terms of styling design, creating a visual experience for high-end passenger cars. It adopts a subversive traditional trend design, V-shaped bird's nest grille with LED eagle eye headlights, more sporty and stylish; unique slip-back shape supplemented by a through-line waistline, outlining a smooth body silhouette; through-type dynamic lamp taillights, nebula tricolor wheels show high-grade texture.
Sinotruk VX7 pickup truck
Secondly, the VX7 adopts the same chassis and body technology as high-end passenger cars such as cars and urban SUVs, that is, a full-load-bearing body structure without girders, and a four-wheel independent suspension mechanism, which matches Bosch's latest version of ESP body stability system, with the advantages of high comfort and high driving control pleasure, providing a driving experience completely different from traditional non-load-bearing pickup trucks.
Third, in terms of technology configuration, large size central control large screen, dual LCD instrument, panoramic through sunroof, 360-degree panoramic imaging system, Internet of Vehicles and mobile phone interconnection system are standard on the VX7; the new car provides electronic knob shift function, which can realize the free switching of sports/snow/economy/standard multi-scene mode.
VX7 pickup interior
Fourth, Sinotruk VX7 pickup truck adopts a 2.0T GDI cylinder direct injection engine in the power combination, matching the internationally leading 8AT automatic transmission, with a strong power output, which can provide better handling and fuel economy, and can also meet the travel and life needs of Chinese people in multiple scenarios. The first commercial vehicle network and other professional media in the test drive at the event site felt that the VX7 linear 100 meters acceleration is very fast, when quickly stepping on the brakes, there is no discomfort that makes the driver frequently "nod" when stepping on the brakes, and there is no obvious sense of bump when the low speed passes through the rugged and harsh road surfaces such as washboard road, and it can be seen that the chassis tuning is very powerful.
In addition, VX7 has also expanded and enriched the attributes of traditional pickup truck tools and made breakthrough innovations, overturned the concept of "pickup truck boxes used to pull goods", and launched a new concept of "magic living space", that is, for the actual needs of users' different life scenes, such as outdoor camping, daily fishing, parent-child travel, shopping mall shopping, mountaineering and cycling, etc., the corresponding functional modules are designed, and users can create a "magic living space" through independent use or free combination, bringing more convenience and fun to car life. For example, its rear tail plate has a built-in hidden step design, which is easy to load items, saving time and effort; the use of double-layer floor design, built-in two storage compartments, convenient and practical, significantly increase the storage space (thanks to the load-bearing body structure it adopts)...
Double storage compartment for VX7 pickup flooring
"The launch of the load-bearing body pickup truck is only the first step, we hope that through the innovative design of the product, we can actively guide user needs, create a new blue ocean, and promote the pickup truck industry to accelerate the transformation and upgrading and move towards the scale of millions of vehicles." Yang Xu said, "After VX7, we will also release non-loaded body pickup products, which we call R platform, positioned as a mid-to-high-end pickup truck, which will compete for its own place in the broader market." ”