A BAW Beijing Brave Warrior pickup truck, seen at the Tuning Tribe tuning street in Beijing in winter 2019. Happily, the car was totally stock standard and that is okay because it can’t get any cooler anyway.
The naming is a bit complex. BAW (Beijing Auto Works,
北京汽车制造厂, short: 北汽制造) is the company name. Beijing (北汽) is the brand name. Brave Warrior (Yongshi, 勇士) is the model name, and Brave Warrior Pickup Truck (勇士皮卡) is the model variant.
BAW used to be a subsidiary of Beijing Auto Industry Corporation (BAIC, 北京汽车工业公司), today known as the BAIC Group (北汽集团).
But since 2019, BAW is a separate standalone company under new and somewhat murky ownership. However, they still use the Beijing brand name. And that is confusing because BAIC also has not one, but two Beijing brand names: Beijing (北汽) and Beijing Off Road (北京越野).
The exact ownership of the various Beijing brand names is unclear, and may change in the future. Enough now of these typical Chinese company complexities. Let’s go back to the pickup truck:
The Brave Warrior, also known and the BAW BJ2022, was originally a military vehicle developed by Beijing-Jeep and eventually manufactured and marketed by BAW.
For the commercial market, the Brave Warrior name is used for a diverse range of vehicles, including a passenger car, various pickup trucks, cargo versions, and all sorts of specialized vehicles like fire trucks and forestry vehicles. In the military, there are another dozen of other variants, which I may discuss further in detail in a later post.
The car we have today is the double-cabin (crew cab) pickup truck with a short bed. BAW also sells variants with a single cabin and a long bed, with a double cabin and a long bed, and with a single cabin and a long flat bed.
It is a fantastic looking machine, especially in this sand-beige color with big black wheels. The Brave Warrior is big too: 5000×1830×2025, with a 3035 wheelbase and a 1890 kn curb weight. The bed is pretty decently sized as well: 1960×1580×480.
Power comes from a 2.4 liter turbocharged petrol engine, good for an output of 211 hp and 320 Nm. The motor is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox, sending power to all four wheels. It has serious off-road capabilities, with low- and high gearing. The approach angle/departure angle is a pretty good 42/33. The fuel tank contains 78 liters of juice.
There is a diesel option for folks who live outside the big cities; also 2.4 liter and also turbocharged, but with a five-speed manual. Output is 140 hp and 350 Nm. Seems not powerful enough.
The interior is very basic but that fits with the car and its coolness. Design is very square and block-like and the gray plastics look somewhat cheap. But it has a radio and a compass. There is, however, no CD player or smartphone connectivity. The seats are clad with simple gray fabric. The doors are only partially upholstered the windows are manually controlled. This fits within the old adagium of rough ‘n ready off-road cars: if it ain’t there it won’t break down.
The rear bench is big enough for two big and one small. But they got to do without headrests.
The BAW logo on the mud flap.
The light arrangement is cool, with a single square-shaped fog light on the left and a single round reverse light on the right. The cargo bed can be accessed by opening the door, or by throwing stuff over. Note the Transformer in the background, they got like three of those at Tuning Tribe, they are about 20 meters tall and mate out of metal.
Enough space for a bunch of mountain bikes or BBQ equipment. There are lots of off-road clubs in Beijing and what they like to do best in the weekends is to drive north ‘over’ the Great Wall to the mountains, ending the day with a big baijiu BBQ. On longer holidays, these clubs usually go to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia where BBQ = roasting an entire lamb.
The BAW Beijing Brave Warrior Pickup Truck seems the perfect for that kind of work, or for just driving around the Sanlitun bar district and looking cool.
How much money does it cost? Well, not that much. The car you see here is priced at 129.800 yuan or $20.134. Yup, just over 20.000 USD for so much car. That’s a brilliant deal. If I ever have to buy another car in China it’ll be one of these, but in light blue.
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