China Put An Absurd 8 Cylinder Motorcycle On The Market And It Costs More Than Your Car

What in the world is going on with China lately? The region’s been cranking out some patently absurd vehicles, from a Porsche lookalike that slays on the Nürburgring to an electric SUV that’s supposed to just float around like a boat. Clearly, China’s motorcycle industry doesn’t want to get left out, either, because a truly wacky flat eight-cylinder motorcycle has just gone into production. The GWM Souo S2000 is basically China’s Honda Gold Wing and at a top price of $40,000, it’s almost twice as expensive as one, too. Look, I don’t know, either.

This news comes to us from our Chinese market expert, Tycho de Feijter. I had to read Tycho’s Tweet (or whatever those are called now) multiple times because hold up, this thing costs up to $40,000 and the starting price isn’t much better. That makes this Chinese touring bike cost more than many Harley-Davidsons, and that’s not exactly a brand you’d call “affordable.”

But part of my fascination is that this bike somehow didn’t turn out to be vaporware. I have many questions, but one of them won’t be about production.

China’s motorcycle industry has just leaned all of the way into weirdness lately. CFMoto has been cranking out so many stunning motorcycle designs that I put my money where my mouth was and bought a Papio SS earlier this year. It seems like many of China’s brands are simply taking ideas that have been abandoned decades ago by the likes of Honda and put them into production again. You can now buy numerous Chinese small-bore V4 motorcycles and some brands are a bit into replicating the style of motorcycles from a century ago. It’s all properly stupid and I’m here for it.

Big Chungus

But then there’s another new trend in China right now, and it’s making really expensive and really heavy bikes. I’ve written about how Felo seems obsessed with making the world’s largest electric motorcycle, nevermind that it would be hilariously expensive and comically heavy.

Now it’s Great Wall Motor’s turn to get in on the action of insanity. This company, which was once known for its cars that looked an awful lot like other cars, decided to start its own motorcycle company called Great Wall Souo. GWM General Manager Wei Jianjun “Jack Wei”, pictured above, is a motorcycle nut and wants to apply car technology to the world of two wheels. Great Wall Souo is GWM’s home for these efforts. As for that name, “Souo” is supposed to mean “Search Own, Unlimited Outlook” as well as “self-pursuit, unlimited vision.” Tycho says it’s all supposed to be a reference to soul.

Back in May, GWM pulled the wraps off of the S2000. There have been rumors and spy shots of a supposed GWM 8-cylinder motorcycle, and the spring announcement finally made it real.

There are a few things that makes the S2000 properly stupid, and it starts with its engine. From my previous piece:

Great Wall starts off by saying this absolute unit of a motorcycle is equipped with the world’s only horizontally opposed 8-cylinder engine in current production. This part is true. Subaru ended its H6 production in recent years and there’s a boxer six currently in the Honda Gold Wing, but nobody is going as far as making an 8-cylinder boxer. This engine comes in at 2,000cc and it’s a boxer in the true sense. The engine is built with separate crank pins for each piston. The pistons move in the opposite direction of their neighbor on the other side of the engine.

This engine is hooked up to an 8-speed DCT with a reverse gear. It takes on a layout similar to the Gold Wing where the transmission is mounted down low to save on space.

Thanks to Tycho, we now know the full details of this engine. It’s making 154 HP and 140 lb-ft of torque, which is pretty healthy for a 2.0-liter engine like this. As I said before, I’d also love to see this engine dropped into other applications just for the fun of it. I bet this engine would fit in a Smart!

This bike’s biggest competition, the Honda Gold Wing, has a 1,833cc flat-six that makes 125 HP and 130 lb-ft of torque. Great Wall Souo says the S2000 will race on to a top speed of 130 mph. Here in America, Gold Wings are electronically limited to 111 mph.

GWM has also managed to beat the Gold Wing on weight, too, and by that, I mean it’s much heavier. A Gold Wing in touring spec weighs 847 pounds wet. This? It clocks in at 1,016 pounds ready to ride. That’s a rider short of being as heavy as a Harley-Davidson Tri Glide Ultra!

At least some of that weight was put to good use. The S2000 comes with a 12.3-inch instrument panel, a Qualcomm SA8155P Snapdragon SoC, heated handlebars, heated seats, OTA upgrades, and rear parking sensors. Other goodies include an automatic parking brake, an electrically adjustable windshield, cruise control, and an eight-speaker sound system. All of this is wrapped in a bolt-free welded aluminum frame and stopped with Brembo 4-piston calipers on both ends.

Great Wall Souo also claims to have invented the world’s first three-layer stepped front suspension, but doesn’t go into detail about how it works. We do know that the motorcycle does have an electronically adjustable rear shock.

In terms of size, the S2000 measures 104 inches long with a wheelbase of 71 inches and a seat height of 29.1 inches. Meanwhile, the Honda Gold Wing competition is 97 inches long with a wheelbase of 66.7 inches and a seat height of 29.3 inches.

Why Is It So Pricy?

The motorcycle launches in the Chinese market on November 1 and sells in three packages. The base S2000ST, the S2000GL, which adds cases and a large rear seat, and the S2000 Founder Edition, which is a S2000GL in matte black and gold. Tycho notes that the base model is 218.800 yuan, or $30,700. The price then rises up to 288,800 yuan, or $40,000. Great Wall Souo says the Founder Edition will be limited to 88 units while the very first batch of S2000GLs and S2000STs will be 200 units in total before the company ramps up production.

Great Wall Souo’s debut bike is clearly targeting a luxury market. Still, if you look at the specs and the price, something doesn’t make a ton of sense. Honda says a base model Gold Wing costs $24,700 before destination fees. Why would you pay up to $40,000 before fees to get a bike with only slightly more power and a lot more weight?

Weirdly, this is one of those situations where you can’t really compare the American market with another market. A new Honda Gold Wing sells for $49,000 in China, so the $30,700 to $40,000 Great Wall Souo S2000 is comparatively a deal.

This also won’t be the only bike from this new brand. Great Wall is starting with this flagship bike, but the company wants to make an entire lineup, including performance motorcycles and electric motorcycles. China is one of those markets where EV motorcycle adoption is going really well, so that makes sense.

Sadly, we still don’t know if China’s homegrown 8-cylinder Gold Wing is coming to America. I wouldn’t buy one, but at the very least I’d love to just see how this rides. It probably feels like the motorcycle equivalent of an old Cadillac, and that sounds so fun.