Lotus designed a pick-up truck, and I can’t believe we can’t buy it in the UK!
News reporter Ellis Hyde thinks China’s electrified pick-up brand Radar could do very well if it came here
“What on earth is that doing here?” I thought to myself, after I saw what looked like a Dacia sitting pride of place in the Hangzhou headquarters of Chinese colossus Geely.
I was spending the week in China with Geely which, if you’ve not heard of it before, is a globe-stridding conglomerate that owns major car brands including Volvo, Lotus, Polestar, Zeekr and even LEVC, the people who make London’s famous black cab. But not Dacia. So naturally this mysterious thing had my full attention.
Turns out, Geely also has an electrified pick-up truck brand called Radar in China (and Riddara in other countries), which launched back in 2022. So far it’s created two models: the magnificently named King Kong, and the Horizon (RD6 in other markets), which is the not-a-Dacia I was admiring.
However, while it certainly looks like a product of the much-loved Romanian brand, the Horizon was actually styled by the legendary car designer Peter Horbury – the man who created the landmark Volvo XC90, helped shape the Lotus Eletre hyper-SUV and was Lotus’s design boss when he passed away in 2023.
The electric version boasts nearly 400 miles of range, while the plug-in hybrid range-extender can cover more than 660 miles in one go – according to the Chinese CLTC test.
It also has a 3,000kg towing capacity and a 1,200-litre truck bed, which is bigger than a Ford Ranger PHEV’s, plus a 70-litre ‘frunk’ under the bonnet in the EV. On top of all that, it starts from the equivalent of just £14,500 in China!
Of course, after learning all this, I had to ask if there were any plans to bring Radar pick-up trucks to the UK. Unfortunately, the answer was a decisive no, which I was surprisingly but genuinely disappointed by.
I can see this affordable and relatively attractive electrified pick-up truck selling like hot cakes with tradespeople over here, plus outdoorsy-types who don’t want another SUV. Or even those people who love the idea of having a pick-up truck but don't want to spend as much as a Ranger costs. What do you think, though? Am I onto something or have I finally lost the plot?
If you're in the market for a new pick-up truck, there's a wide selection to choose from through the Auto Express Buy A Car service.
