Vast eight-cylinder ups the stakes in China’s prestige market

Earlier this year the giant Chinese car maker Great Wall Motors launched onto two wheels with the Souo brand and a pair of vast, two-litre, eight-cylinder tourers. Now a third model will be launched.

The initial Souo models were the S2000ST and S2000GL, both laser-targeted at Honda’s Gold Wing – the ST at the base Gold Wing, the GL at the fully-kitted Gold Wing Tour. The new model is a cruiser, dubbed LH2000, based on the same powertrain that takes inspiration from Honda’s F6C and Rune models. Souo’s thinking is clear: it wants to be taken seriously, so it’s targeting arguably the most famously high-end motorcycle on the planet.

Part of the plan is simple one-upmanship. The Gold Wing has six cylinders, so its bikes have eight. The Honda has two camshafts, so the Souo models have four. A Gold Wing measures 1833cc, so the Souos come in at 1999cc. Honda has a dual-clutch, semi-auto gearbox with seven forward ratios and reverse, so Souo developed a similar set-up but with eight forward speeds and a reverse.

That flat-eight 113kW (151hp) engine is bolted to a Gold Wing-style cast alloy, twin-spar chassis – again seemingly identical to the frame used by the S2000. Even the wheels and the Brembo brakes are identical.

However, the styling is a derivative, looking like a cross between Honda’s 20-year-old, limited-run Rune and the more recent 1833cc F6C cruiser – but what cruiser doesn’t take inspiration from those that came before?

All is not what it seems though. While it appears to have a conventional telescopic front fork rather than the cast alloy girders of the S2000ST and GL, the LH2000 actually runs a variation on those Hossack-style girders. Look closely and you see a double wishbone suspension with a single coil-over shock tucked under the front of the tank.

The steering is another giveaway, with ’bars mounted on a pivot emerging from the top of the tank and connected to the top yoke via a pair of chromed linkages.

As Hossack-style front suspension separate the braking and suspension forces better than a conventional fork, the 400kg-plus LH2000 can use relatively soft suspension without suffering excessive dive during braking.

The prototype here is so close to production it even sports ‘LH2000’ badges.  While Souo’s focus is on the Chinese domestic market rather than exports, the prototype LH2000 was spotted on test in German, suggesting Bosch electronics.