BYD's new pickup truck resembles a bird of prey, the Great Wall and Jiangling are in danger?

Not long after the start of the Year of the Dragon, BYD turned the auto market upside down, triggering brands such as Wuling, Changan, Nezha, and Buick to follow up with a wave of price cuts, and a price war filled with bloody wind and rain is about to detonate the 2024 Chinese auto market.

But BYD's ambitions don't stop there. According to the plan, BYD will sell more than 4.5 million new cars in 2024, an increase from the 3.0244 million completed in 2023. It is not difficult to foresee that BYD's task of expanding its product lineup has become more urgent, and there will be a number of blockbuster new cars that will debut one after another within the year.

Among them, the spy photos of BYD's first pickup truck model have been exposed, which will become BYD's pioneer in the pickup truck market. So, how will the old players in the pickup truck market, such as Great Wall, Jiangling, Zhengzhou Nissan, and Jiangxi Isuzu, meet BYD? Will the new-generation Ford Ranger, which has just been produced domestically, be stifled in the sales growth channel?

BYD's new pickup truck, which resembles a Raptor

It's no secret that BYD wants to build a pickup truck, although the naming of the new car has not yet been revealed, but judging from the rhythm of patent drawings, renderings, and spy photos, it is not far from the launch of this new car.

The latest lightly camouflaged photos can basically guess the general appearance of BYD's first pickup truck, the whole vehicle adopts straight lines and a relatively square silhouette design, rough, muscular, in line with the public's aesthetics for pickups.

The occluded mesh shape leaves suspense, and Brother Yu guesses that the huge BYD logo may be embedded to increase recognition. The lamp groups on both sides are vertically arranged, and the middle net is connected together, and the front of the car has the charm of a bird of prey. The new car is surrounded by metal trim panels that accentuate the wild beauty of the pickup truck. In addition, you can see equipment such as luggage racks and side steps on the side of the body.

Although the new car does not have the sense of oppression of the large volume of the Ford Raptor, considering the small parking spaces in China and the road environment, the main competitor of BYD's first pickup truck is the Great Wall Cannon, which is going to the practical aspect.

Surprisingly, the interior style of the new car is relatively close to the Formula Leopard Leopard 5 that is currently on the market. In particular, the design of the gear knob area has a high degree of similarity, giving you a sense of déjà vu when flying an aircraft in the cabin. In addition, the car is also equipped with a large-size central control screen, LCD instrument, high-end models or HUD head-up display function, Dynaudio audio and other configurations.

With the development of pickup trucks to passenger use, in fact, this kind of pickup interior that favors the family style of SUVs has become commonplace. It can be seen that the style of the new car is different from BYD's marine aesthetic design and dragon face design, and BYD has adopted a new design language when creating this pickup, which is a little more fresh. So how do you think you can score the design of this new car?

Pickup trucks, the next growth point of the car market?

In recent years, the automotive industry has been led by new energy vehicles, and the pickup truck market has been tepid, with pickup truck sales of 513,000 units in 2023, compared with sedans, SUVs, MPVs and other market segments, pickup trucks occupy a low market capacity.

However, with the lifting of the ban on pickup trucks and the gradual strengthening of trends such as pickup trucks, the pickup truck field has become a new force for major car companies.

Analyzing the pickup market, several "conspicuous bags" should not be missed. Among them, Great Wall Motors has a strong dominance in the pickup truck market, with a market share of more than 40% for a long time, and the three models of Great Wall Cannon, Fengjun 5 and King Kong Cannon are among the top five in the sales list. In addition, JMC pickup truck ranks second, with a market share of nearly 20%. The three models of Jiangling Avenue, Jiangling Baodian and Jiangling Yuhu 7 are also very popular.

Overall, the situation in the pickup truck market is very clear, except for the head Great Wall Motors and Jiangling Motors, the market share of the rest of the brands does not exceed 10%. However, this situation is likely to change in 2024.

In addition to the aforementioned BYD's upcoming new pickup trucks, there are also many brands with new pickup trucks on the market this year, and the power forms cover pure electric, extended range, plug-in hybrid, fuel, etc., and the competition is extremely fierce.

For example, JAC Hantu EV, Changan Hunter, SAIC Maxus GST, Radar RD6 four-wheel drive version, etc. There is also Ford Motor, which is eyeing the domestic pickup truck market, has launched a new generation of Ranger, which has sold more than 2,500 units in a single month, and the momentum is very fierce. In addition, Great Wall Motors will also launch the Great Wall Cannon 2.4T this year, etc., the pickup truck market can be said to be a fairy fight, and all models have highlights.

For Great Wall Motors, which "for every two pickup trucks sold, one of them is Great Wall", the challenges to face this year are greater than ever. BYD's high-profile entry into the game has a great opportunity to reformulate the rules of the game with huge cost advantages and new energy technology advantages.

Pickup trucks have been sold well in North America for many years, but they have never been able to become the mainstream family car in China. There are many reasons, including the matching degree between objective geographical environment factors and actual car demand, as well as the pursuit of comfort and luxury for family cars by Chinese people, which has led to the difficulty of changing the status of pickup tool cars. However, the rise of self-driving tours and the off-road boom in recent years have also stimulated the development of pickup trucks to a certain extent. With BYD's entry into the game and the release of a number of new blockbuster pickup trucks, 2024 will undoubtedly be a big year for pickup trucks.