Reader’s Digest published a reader-submitted humor piece about a guy who sailed to England, about 1960, bought a car for £50. After the year was up and he had neglected to sell the car he left it at the dock when he returned. The police impounded, condemned, and auctioned it. It drew £100. After fines and fees, they sent him a check for £25.
Back in the early '70s one of my older brothers was in the Navy, stationed in Norfolk.
When he and his buddies got weekend leave a few of them would pitch in and buy a car for $50 or so for the trip to DC.
It was cheaper than bus tickets; and more flexible.
Someone always had a set of old tags to throw on so it wouldn’t be too conspicuous.
Sometimes the car would last for the round trip, sometimes it wouldn’t.
My Father was a hard core homebody, so a couple times my Aunt would have to drive out and rescue them in the middle of the night.
One time the car died on the way back just a couple miles out of Norfolk, so they let it coast into a ditch and walked the rest of the way.
On a good day they’d make it back and sell it.
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I have owned 5 cars that had less than 99 hp and their top speeds ranged from 85 to 96 mph. My 60 hp, 1971 VW bus would do 72 with 8 people and all their luggage. I don’t know why you think 99 HP would get you only 35 mph.
I had a 49 Studebaker Champion, my parents had 52&54 Champions and 1960 Lark VI, all had Flathead 6s, all could cruise the interstates without problem, I think all were rated <100 HP.
Granted, t he pictured pickup is most likely geared lower.
That’s not what I said. I said that it probably only had to get to 35, implying the roads it’s likely to travel won’t allow more than 35 mph. I was on an extended business trip to a Japanese island, and the maximum allocated speed was 35 mph. The island next door had the sam maximum speed limit.
Not everyone in the world needs the ability to cruise up steep mountain passes at 70MPH.
In some countries, the ability to get up the mountain in a lower gear slowly is all that is needed.
There is no question regarding that truth, but it is likely also true that the reason why GM is not going to market this truck in The US is because US consumers generally demand much better performance than people in developing nations.
Then, there are issues regarding safety and emissions…
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That depends on the vehicle’s weight, or more accurately, the vehicle’s power-to-weight ratio. My Honda Shadow Aero has less than half that (43 hp) and it could make it through those mountains just fine because it only weighs about 500 lbs.
Hopefully, they’ll launch a similar model here under a different name that is just as utilitarian, because only offering this model to the Chinese isn’t a good look for GM.
Have you ever ridden in a VW Thing? The one I once rode in had flat one-by (wood) as a seat, one piece for the back, and one piece for the bottom. I was glad we only had to go a couple blocks in that Thing.
Sorry I misunderstood you.
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There won’t be much of an uproar at its absence in our market
So it won’t hurt GM’s look at all
That’s how I see it 
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I agree , all vehicle brands have models just for certain markets for various reasons.
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No way any version of that truck is coming to the US, I bet. Folks will need to wait for the 2022 Ford Maverick, about the size of the old Ranger, about $20,000 base.
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Let’s not kid ourselves here. GM isn’t going to market this type of truck here because they don’t want to cannibalize sales of their much more expensive models. You are, of course, correct that this model would not meet U.S. safety and emissions standards without a lot of costly modifications but that’s not the main obstacle keeping this type of vehicle from being sold here. Also, I do not believe that 100 hp is inadequate for a compact 2WD pickup.
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I have driven tractor trailers that did not have more than 100 hp. It would be plenty for me in a I especially like the fold flat sides. lightweight pickup.
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I just read up on the spec of this thing from a Chinese site. Think of a 90s Corolla with a pickup bed and that’s what you can expect from it. I don’t know how it would do in a crash test, but it does have driver side air bag and anti lock brakes. If you want one, you’d better be up to snuff with your 3 pedals tap dance as it only comes with a 5 speed manual. In China, this is the kind of thing you’d buy and sell produce from the bed of the truck. This is why you can fold down the sides of the bed.
Our 7 seats baby mobile was produced by this wuling gm joint venture and it is loaded with features for 18k USD. And as a top of the line model, it has a 1.5L turbo engine. From what I understand, there are multiple tiers for annual licensing fees and 1.5L is the limit for the lowest tier
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The fold down sides are cool. Probably don’t need a step ladder to load and unload the bed either.
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Yeah, I’ve got removable sides on my trailer and very useful. I formed them myself from sheet metal originally then a couple years ago when I overhauled it, I had the sheet metal shop bend some new ones for me. I like solid sides for rock, sand, dirt, etc.
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I thought the original beetle had 27 HP.
With the roads and type of traffic there, speed might not be an issue.