Steed pick-up heads in from China

HERE they come. The first large-scale Chinese-built import is Great Wall Motor Company’s Steed pick-up.

It is not, as the blurb says, the first Chinese-built car brand on sale here. However, it will be the most visible.

IM Group adds it to its Subaru and Isuzu franchises and it will be sold through 40 “hand-picked” garages.

Steed has a four-door double cab body on a ladder-frame chassis, low-range gears, 2-litre turbo diesel rated at 34mpg and 220g/km, a 1,050kg payload for tax rebate, 2,000kg braked towing limit, a 54in-long load bed. Prices: from £13,998 plus VAT with alloys, air con, leather interior with heated front seats and three-year or 60,000 mile warranty.

Expired warranties are a nuisance. Caron Broadbent’s regularly serviced five-year-old petrol Civic needed a new cylinder head at 73,000 miles. The Honda repair bill was more than the car was worth so she went private.

When we took up her case Honda’s conciliation included “something” extra if she trades it for another Honda.