Geely’s Radar Auto launches RD6 electric pickup in China for under $25K

Less than six months after Geely Group announced a new outdoors-centric marque called Radar Auto, the nascent brand has launched its first electric pickup truck in China – the RD6. Production is officially underway overseas and order books have opened, starting at an MSRP around $25,000.

Radar Auto may be a new name to you, but Geely shouldn’t be. Geely Auto is an automotive subsidiary of the larger Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd umbrella. The group is one of the top 10 largest automotive manufacturers in China and is the parent company to several EV brands we cover regularly, including JIDU, Lotus, Volvo Cars, and ZEEKR. Geely also co-owns Polestar alongside Volvo.

In November of 2021, we covered news out of China that Geely Auto had established an independent electric pickup truck marque spun out of the Geely Commercial Vehicle Group. At the time, the new brand was unnamed, but Geely insiders revealed that the company was already benchmarking Rivian as the new pickup standard, with plans to deliver an all-electric pickup truck of its own in China.

This past July, we learned the name of the Geely marque would be Radar Auto and got our first glimpse of its flagship pickup – the RD6. After opening pre-orders in late September, Radar Auto celebrated the official launch of the RD6 electric pickup in China this week as production kicks off.

RD6 electric pickups to arrive in China January 2023

Much of what we’ve recently learned about Radar Auto and its RD6 pickup has come from the automaker’s Weibo page, which has posted a myriad of images and video from the launch event and beyond.

Each RD6 electric pickup comes standard with a single motor that delivers up to 200 kW of power can accelerate from 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 6.9 seconds. Now that orders are open, Chinese customers can choose between three battery pack options offering the following CLTC ranges:

• 63 kWh – 400 km (249 mi)
• 86 kWh – 550 km (342 mi)
• 100 kWh – 632 km (393 mi)

The version of the RD6 with the 249 mile range starts at price of RMB 178,800, which is approximately $24,870. Although this electric pickup is only being sold in China right now, that level of pricing is significantly lower than any electric truck being sold in the US right now.

The 86 kWh battery pack is available on two different versions of the RD6 priced at RMB 198,800 ($27,650) and RMB 228,800 ($31,825). The top-tier, long range version is priced at RMB 268,800 ($37,390) which is still ridiculously affordable by US standards.

Other RD6 features include 6 kW vehicle-to-load (V2L) capabilities, plus 220V and 12V interfaces. Production is underway in China with first deliveries expected in January of 2023. Sadly, no plans for US sales just yet, but you never know.