Geely Radar Pick-Up Truck Might Be The Next Proton Arena
The Geely Radar is an upcoming electric pick-up that is about the size of a Mazda CX-8.
Geely has been on a product offensive for the last few years. They’re introducing new products in just about every segment and now they’ve turned their attention to pick-up trucks. Based on the Geely Haoyue, the all-new Geely Radar will not only be of unibody construction, but it will also be an electric vehicle!
Although completely unnecessary, Geely has given each letter in the name ‘Radar’ a meaning.
- R – Rational
- A – Alone
- D – Discovery
- A – Accompany
- R – Romantic
Honestly they should have just called it Radar and left it at that. In China, the Geely Radar has the slogan “Borrow 2 Square Metres From Nature”. This is all based on information coming from CarNewsChina.
The pick-up truck market in Malaysia currently enjoy zero excise duties on pick-up trucks that are made in ASEAN or Japan. This might incentivise Geely to let Proton build the Radar in Malaysia and export it to the region. Given the Proton X90 will be introduced sometime in the next year, there’s some reason to expect this pick-up to arrive as well. Could it arrive in Malaysia as a new Proton Arena? Well, given Proton are taking on alphanumerical model names for rebadged Geely products so far, this might be unlikely. But let’s wait and see. Even as a CBU model, it will benefit from 0 excise duties and 0 import duties owing to the government’s ongoing EV policy.
The Radar is apparently built on the Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform. Most pick-up truck manufacturers have one foot in the commercial vehicle industry. This is an industry with a different set of requirements and products that are usually very 20th century in terms of their raw ingredients. Honda Motor was one of the first car makers to build a pick-up truck without commercial vehicle roots. Their Honda Ridgeline took the US market by storm and proved that a unibody truck had potential to expand the company’s reach. Today, Hyundai also produce a unibody pick-up truck called the Santa Cruz. It looks like the Geely Radar will push the envelope by combining this construction with an electric motor and a battery pack.
About the Author
Subhash Nair Written work on dsf.my. @subhashtag on instagram. Autophiles Malaysia on Youtube.
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