Throughout 2024, we no longer remember how many new cars will be launched. Anyway, judging from our own new car launch articles, it is conservatively estimated to be more than 100 units. But of all the more than 100 new cars, more than 95% are passenger cars, that is, the cars, SUVs and MPVs that everyone is familiar with. Since December, we seem to have seen a very interesting phenomenon: the trend of car circles turning in has spread outward from the passenger car market.
Pickup trucks were the first non-traditional passenger vehicle market to begin to involute. On December 23, Radar Automobile, a subsidiary of Geely Automobile, officially released its new car: Radar King Kong. This is a pure electric pickup truck with
Throughout 2024, we no longer remember how many new cars will be launched. Anyway, judging from our own new car launch articles, it is conservatively estimated to be more than 100 units. But of all the more than 100 new cars, more than 95% are passenger cars, that is, the cars, SUVs and MPVs that everyone is familiar with. Since December, we seem to have seen a very interesting phenomenon: the trend of car circles turning in has spread outward from the passenger car market.
Pickup trucks were the first non-traditional passenger vehicle market to begin to involute. On December 23, Radar Automobile, a subsidiary of Geely Automobile, officially released its new car: Radar King Kong. This is a pure electric pickup truck with a guide price range of 99,800-159,800 yuan. This pure electric pickup truck, which has a starting CLTC range of 430 kilometers, is actually worth talking about.
Pickup trucks are actually vehicles with great potential, but under the current relevant regulations on pickup trucks, my country's pickup truck market basically presents three market segments at this stage. One is a tool-type pickup truck, which generally sells for between 70,000 and 120,000 yuan. This kind of pickup truck is also the one you see most on the road. Maintenance vehicles for various municipal projects, including many self-employed people, will buy this kind of vehicle to transport goods. This kind of vehicle also has another name, called commercial pickup truck.
The second type is called off-road pickup truck. The typical representative of this kind of vehicle is the Great Wall Cannon series (excluding the commercial model of Great Wall Cannon). In fact, the main opponents of this kind of vehicle are already those hard-core off-road SUVs. This type of off-road pickup truck is The fun attribute is stronger. At a higher level, there are high-end pickup trucks such as the Ford F-150 (including its Raptor model), Dodge Ram, etc. These cars are basically toys for the rich.
From the above three categories, we can see that most pickup truck models that are easily accepted by the people are actually tool-type pickup trucks. To put it bluntly, this kind of car is a "small truck". Compared with passenger cars, there is a big gap in terms of ride comfort. To be honest, not everyone can easily afford the off-road pickup truck that costs 200,000 to 300,000 yuan. So what the pickup truck market currently lacks is a family-friendly pickup truck that is about the same price as a utility pickup truck but has more characteristics of a passenger car.
Radar King Kong belongs to this type of car. If you look at its starting price, you will find that it is not much more expensive than the mainstream diesel tool pickup trucks on the market, but it is a pure electric pickup truck with a standard range of 430 kilometers and a high-end version with a range of 460 kilometers. Although the range attainment rate of pickup trucks is definitely significantly lower than that of passenger cars (they are larger and heavier, and have a larger windward area), even the entry-level version of CLTC with a range of 430 kilometers can actually have a range of about 300 kilometers. In fact, for pickup trucks It's enough for this kind of car.
Secondly, Radar King Kong is trying its best to be closer to a passenger car in terms of appearance and interior. The front and side lines are similar to those of an SUV. The interior also has more elements that are more like a family car than commercial pickups. All these make the Radar King Kong actually a pickup truck with more characteristics of a family car.
King Kong is Geely Radar's second pure electric pickup truck. The first one was Radar RD6. You may ask: What is the difference between King Kong and RD6? Although they are both pure electric pickup trucks, there are actually many differences between the two. First of all, the difference is in size. Although they are both double-cab pickup trucks, the Radar RD6 only has one size version. In addition to the standard-axle version that is similar in size to the RD6, the Radar King Kong also has a long-axle version, with more front and rear space. Some, the cargo box is also larger.
In addition, both King Kong and RD6 are pickup trucks with a load-bearing body. Some people believe that load-bearing pickup trucks are not suitable for heavy loads and high-intensity off-roading, and will cause plastic deformation of the body. In theory, there is nothing wrong with this statement, but if you really have long-term heavy or even overloading requirements for cargo, and you need to frequently drive on non-paved or even off-road roads, in fact, neither radar is suitable for you. , you should choose those that use a truck chassis, the rear axle is an integral axle + leaf spring, and use a typical heavy-duty tool pickup truck with a diesel engine.
In addition to the size difference between King Kong and RD6, another difference is mainly in power. The motor of King Kong rear-wheel drive version is 180 kilowatts, and the four-wheel drive version is 280 kilowatts. The RD6 rear-wheel drive version has a motor of 200 kW, and the four-wheel drive version has a 315 kW motor. RD6 will be slightly better than King Kong in terms of power. However, there is also a relatively obvious price difference between King Kong and RD6. The guide price range of RD6 is 136,800-268,800, while King Kong is cheaper.
Obviously, Radar King Kong is actually launched after absorbing the market experience of Radar RD6. It is a new car that has been improved in all aspects of product strength. It not only has a more practical long-axis version, but also has a lower price and good battery life. As a A relatively affordable dual-purpose pickup truck that can be used for both cargo and home use, the Radar King Kong can actually be regarded as a disruptor in today's utility pickup truck market. Although at this stage it is not a rival to those heavy-duty pickup trucks with truck chassis in terms of off-road capabilities and heavy-duty capabilities, as pickup-related policies are expected to be further optimized, this type of new energy pickup truck that is more biased towards passenger cars will be more popular in the future. It will definitely be more popular.
