GWM Cannon Alpha vs BYD Shark

Great Wall Cannon Alpha, has bamboozled the BYD Shark in 3 major aspects, but sadly, not on price! It is over ten thousand dollars more expensive then the Shark. Does it justify the higher price with better value than the Shark? Lets see. First and foremost, it attacks the Shark's Achilles heel, that the towing capacity. The Cannon Alpha matches the conventional pickups in the market, with a braked towing allowance of 3.5 ton. The Shark has been facing a lot of heat, due to its 2.5 ton limit. On top of that, the Shark's cruise control does not function, while towing a trailer. However, the Cannon does fall short on Payload, due to its sizeable battery, pushing up its Kerb weight. On the flip side, its bigger batter, does give it a slightly longer, all-electric range than the Shark. The Cannon Alpha uses a more conventional powertrain, with an electric motor assisting it, rather than driving the wheels directly, like the Shark. That being said, Shark's twin motor set up, works extremely well in off road conditions. In fact it simplifies the powertrain, by eliminating the need for low-ratio gearing and locking diffs, that are present in the Cannon. With more experience and fine-tuning, the Shark will outperform conventional systems, even during extreme off-roading. After all, the instantaneous torque and responsiveness of electric motors, will always be better than a diesel engine. Now, coming to the Cannon's price, it is hard to justify more than ten grand difference, compared to the Shark, given the Shark offers better features than the Cannon as well. Check out the pinned comment for a variant-wise comparison of features. But when you compare it to Ranger or a Hilux, the Cannon Alpha seems like a steal. Today, a Ranger Platinum retails for more than 80 grand. And yet has 160 horsepower less than the Cannon Alpha. Plus you will save at least a thousand dollars every year on fuel cost, as most of your usage, throughout the year, will be on pure-EV mode. Plug in hybrid owners, are already reporting less than 5 trips to a petrol station, in an entire year. The only fly in the ointment, is depreciation. Both the Cannon Alpha, as well as the Shark, need to be ultra reliable and backed by outstanding service support, if they want to poach the conventional yute buyers. A Ranger or a Hilux, will roughly depreciate by 25 thousand dollars, in the next 5 years. To match that, Great Wall and BYD can offer an assured buy-back of minimum 60 percent, at 5 years. Brands like MG have already done that to establish themselves in many new markets. If not, it is better to wait and watch, how reliable and service oriented they are, for at least a year, before taking the plunge.