Geely owned Radar Auto has launched what it calls the brand’s “first electric adventure vehicle” – the RD6 pickup truck.
Radar Auto has been launched this week as a “fully independent” brand within the Geely Holding Group, and even features its own research and development department and production facility in China. Though no absolute details have been provided, the RD6 is set to go into production in the fourth quarter of this year.
Radar Auto RD6
The RD6, meanwhile, is the first model of a planned portfolio of electric “lifestyle” vehicles from Radar targeted at a new generation of global customers “who demand vehicles that are as sustainable as their adventures into nature.”
“Understanding this new market segment and creating a new brand specifically for these unique users has been the highlight of my career so far,” explains Radar CEO Dr. Ling Shi Quan. “Radar Auto will be purpose-driven from the outset and that purpose is to allow users to explore the world in a more sustainable way.”
Radar Auto RD6
Accordingly, and alongside the RD6, Radar has also announced the formation of a sub-brand (within the sub-brand) ‘RADAR Weekends’ that will create, what the company calls, “a fun, diverse outdoors ecosystem” – i.e. a bespoke range of accompanying lifestyle equipment – with its partners. Camping manufacturer NatureHike, for example, will create a variety of outdoor camping equipment that will be offered as an option alongside the RD6. A similar partnership with National Geographic China will look to raise awareness of ‘leave no trace’ adventuring, which encourages those venturing into the great outdoors to leave the wilds exactly as they found them.
Radar Auto RD6
Bizarrely though, very few technical details about the RD6 have been revealed, with the exception that the exterior styling – which draws parallels with the Volkswagen Amarok – was penned by British designer Peter Horbury, formerly of Ford and Lotus, and Senior VP of Design for Geely since 2011.
Sitting on a Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) – an EV-dedicated platform launched in 2021 that underpins Lotus’ first SUV, the Smart #1, and, in-time, the Polestar 4 – we are told only that the RD6 will be available with both single and dual electric motor options, and that performance figures and range will be announced in due course. Furthermore, use of the SEA architecture allows space to “maximized considerably,” and includes a front trunk (frunk) under the hood akin to the new Ford F-150 Lightning.
Logic would suggest that a vehicle specifically catering to a post-Covid audience “discovering a new joy in the outdoor lifestyle and culture” via camping and hiking would provide a range between the 400 and 440-kilometre mark, a respectable benchmark met by the likes of the all-electric Volvo XC40 Recharge Twin. Whether the equivalent 408 hp will also be available with the dual motor though remains to be seen.
