GWM Australia has posted footage of its GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV climbing a muddy ‘Beer O’clock Hill’ – the identical hardcore hillclimb on which a BYD Shark 6 was significantly broken in an analogous try final month.
In a thinly veiled shot at fellow Chinese language automaker BYD, GWM is now spruiking the Cannon Alpha PHEV as the primary plug-in hybrid electrical car (PHEV) to scale the notorious, vehicle-destroying off-road ascent.
The plug-in Cannon Alpha ute not solely beat the Shark 6 to the summit, but in addition the Ford Ranger PHEV, which is due in showrooms in inside weeks and, so far as we all know, is but to sort out Beer O’clock Hill.
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Positioned in The Springs 4×4 Journey Park two hours southwest of Brisbane, Queensland, the cheekily named Beer O’clock Hill is a rutted 100-metre hillclimb with a gravity-defying gradient of as much as 50-degrees.
It was the location of latest heartbreaking harm to a BYD Shark 6 that didn’t make it to the rock-ledge summit.
Proprietor Chris Baker, who runs the All Terrain Motion web site, significantly broken his weeks-old Shark 6 throughout his try to climb the steep and muddy hill, bending the chassis and disabling the car.
The Shark 6 might solely be pushed in electrical mode after the mishap.
It’s price noting that the harm was not the results of a product failure on BYD’s half.
But the outcome led to members of the BYD Shark 6 house owners group kicking off a GoFundMe marketing campaign to get Mr Baker’s ute again in form – or changed.
The GoFundMe web page for Mr Baker has thus far raised $1045.
Now, GWM has posted footage of its Shark 6 rival climbing the identical slippery hill, full with mud and ruts following newer rain, with comparative ease.
The Cannon Alpha PHEV was fitted with a set of non-standard Mickey Thompson all-terrain tyres however was, in line with GWM, in any other case because it rolled off the showroom flooring.
“I reckon Beer O’clock Hill has triggered a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} in car harm through the years,” stated The Springs Park 4×4 Journey Park proprietor Lucas Bree in a press release.
“[It’s] Shut down a few of the most closely modified rigs I’ve seen, so watching showroom-spec GWM autos, together with a plug-in hybrid, make it to the highest has utterly modified my view of the model. They’ve earned critical respect.”
For good measure, GWM additionally confirmed a Cannon XSR and a GWM Tank 300 giant SUV confidently conquering the slippery slope – additionally fitted with Cooper A/T tyres – once more in what seems to be relative ease.
