[cycleworld.com] - GWM Souo Flat-eight Tourer Revealed

[Ninjette Newsbot]

Recently we discovered the Souo motorcycle brand and its intention to build a larger-displacement rival to the Gold Wing. Now it’s been unveiled in China.

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GWM Souo’s first offering is this Honda Gold Wing competitor called the S2000 GL. (GWM Souo/)We’ve mentioned Great Wall Motor’s plans to launch its own motorcycle company and a huge flat-eight-powered tourer just recently, but it’s still something of a surprise to see that the bike has already been launched. And furthermore, it has done so with the might of a major global automotive company behind it, so there’s a chance it could be a genuine contender.

Great Wall officially unveiled its Souo motorcycle brand and its first models, the Gold Wing–rivaling S2000 GL and ST tourers, at the Motor China Beijing International Motorcycle Exhibition. Although technical details were scant at the launch, the company is promising to reveal full details in a couple of months when production is expected to get underway.


From this view you can see that the S2000 GL uses a Hossack-style girder fork. (GWM Souo/)Great Wall Motor, or GWM, might not be a familiar brand to us, but it’s the world’s 19th-largest car maker by market capitalization with a value of $28 billion, putting it in the same ballpark as Kia, and well ahead of the likes of Subaru or Nissan. It already has several car marques, including Ora, Haval, Wey, Tank, and Great Wall, that are marketed internationally, and Souo marks its first step into motorcycling.

It’s not a tentative step either. The company’s logic is that it wants to sit at the top table, which means competing with market leaders like Honda. So why not take aim at Honda’s flagship model, the Gold Wing? That’s precisely what the S2000 GL and ST models do; the GL is aimed at the Gold Wing Tour, complete with top case and passenger backrest, while the ST only has side bags, like the base version of the Gold Wing.


While we don’t have all the details, we now know that the flat-eight DOHC engine displaces around 2,000cc. (GWM Souo/)The known specifications of the bikes are, in every instance, a step up compared to the Honda. Where the Gold Wing has an 1,833cc engine, the Souo has a 2,000cc one. Honda uses a seven-speed dual-clutch, semi-auto transmission. Souo has an eight-speed DCT. The Gold Wing has single overhead camshafts, while the Souo uses a DOHC layout, and most importantly the Honda has “only” six cylinders, and the Chinese rival uses eight.

The bike’s actual layout is very much like a Gold Wing. The cast-aluminum frame is like the Wing’s design, and up front the Souo uses a Hossack-style girder fork, suspended on double wishbones with a single shock absorber. This is the same solution that’s already been adopted by both its key six-cylinder rivals, the Gold Wing and BMW’s K 1600 range. Copying? Maybe, but would it be classed as that if Souo had used conventional telescopic forks like almost every other bike on the market? The fact is that for big, heavy bikes, there’s a logical engineering reason to use the Hossack-style front end. It allows relatively soft springing for comfort without inducing too much brake dive. Whether the suspension is semi-active remains unclear but given the rest of the bike’s equipment levels it seems likely.


The headlights were designed to mimic the eyes of a lion. (GWM Souo/)The styling steps away from the Gold Wing’s angular look and adopts a more retro-inspired shape that the company says takes its cues from traditional Chinese lion artwork. That can certainly be seen in the headlights, intended to evoke a lion’s eyes, which are set in a reverse-raked nose that gives the bike a prominent brow above them. The Brembo radial-mount, four-piston brakes are clear to see, and closer inspection of the controls reveals equipment including a stereo (of course) with the option of Bluetooth or speaker output, heated grips and seats, an electronic parking brake, and automatic headlights. On the bars, the control pods copy the layout of the Gold Wing’s, with a directional pad on the left bar to control the menus on the huge TFT screen, as well as toggles for the electric screen height and stereo volume, a voice-control button, and a switch for the electric reverse gear.


The huge TFT display looks very similar to Harley-Davidson’s new Road Glide and Street Glide screens, while the handlebar control pods are very similar to those on the current Gold Wing. (GWM Souo/)The left bar also houses a forefinger trigger and thumb button to control the up- and downshifts of the semi-auto box, while a button on the right-hand bar lets you choose between full-auto and semi-auto modes. The right bar has cruise-control buttons as well. Essentially, a Gold Wing owner would have no trouble finding all the main buttons without having to look for them, and given that’s the target audience, it’s a logical step for Souo to take.


Brembo radial-mount, four-piston calipers are used up front. (GWM Souo/)On the dash, we can see a rev counter that has a red zone starting at a relatively modest 6,000 rpm, suggesting the engine is tuned for bottom-end torque rather than outright power, and the speedometer reads to 240 kph (149 mph). A 4G logo on the dash suggests the bike will have the ability to connect to a cellular network without being linked to a phone. While there isn’t any indication that the cruise control is an adaptive, radar-guided setup—something that’s starting to look conspicuous in its absence on the Gold Wing as well—there are warning lights set into the mirrors that confirm the presence of a blind spot monitoring system.


A closer look at the unique taillights. (GWM Souo/)Of course, the new flat-eight is only Souo’s first model. The company has plans for more in the future. A cruiser with styling like the old Honda Rune is expected next, using the same eight-cylinder engine, but beyond that we’re likely to see more conventional Souo bikes as the company gears up to compete with established brands across a broader range of segments.


An overhead view of the Souo S2000 GL’s cockpit. (GWM Souo/)
Currently, Great Wall Motor is known as an automobile manufacturer, with multiple brands offered. It’s the 19th-largest maker in the world, ahead of brands like Nissan and Subaru. (GWM Souo/)