ANCAP has released a two-star rating for the Great Wall Steed and called its performance in crash testing, a “disappointing result”… 

THE GREAT WALL STEED has been slammed by ANCAP as being little more than the same vehicle as the V240, just with a new name. In a statement to the media, ANCAP said, “Despite claims from the vehicle brand that the Chinese dual cab is ‘all-new’ and offers ‘outstanding levels of performance, value, safety and comfort,’ the underpinnings of the Steed differ little to that of the previous generation dual cab ute which carried the V240 model name”.

“This is a disappointing result for consumers and the brand,” ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, James Goodwin said.

“While the Steed is equipped with six airbags and electronic stability control, features which were not offered on the previous model, there has been little change to the vehicle’s structure to improve the safety of the passenger cabin.”

The Great Wall Steed, and you can read our launch review of it HERE, according to ANCAP’s testing suffered “Excessive footwell deformation, separation of footwell panels and pedal displacement was observed in the frontal offset crash test. Steering column components were a potential source of knee injury for the driver, and dash components were a potential injury source for both the driver and passenger. Protection of the driver and front passenger from whiplash injuries was also marginal”.

The Great Wall Steed also doesn’t have top tether anchors and so a child seat cannot be fitted.

Speaking with Practical Motoring, Great Wall Motors Australia said it is disappointed by the performance of the new Steed in ANCAP testing. GWMA spokesperson Andrew Ellis said the company was taking immediate steps to see what could be done to rectify the situation.

“We have sent all the data to our engineering team in head office and set up a response team to investigate what needs to be done to improve the ANCAP performance of our product. “

Ellis said safety was a priority in the company’s product planning, which is why ESC and six airbags were made standard features across the range.

“We thought the additional safety features would help improve the Steed’s ANCAP rating. It’s clear to everyone in the organisation our ANCAP test standards need a dramatic improvement.”

ANCAP also announced five-star ratings for the Honda Civic Hatch (the Civic Type R is unrated) which will launch in May along with the refreshed Hyundai i30 and the Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo Activity.