D-Max joins utedom's business class

The new D-Max is weeks from launch, but pricing is out now. We knew those extras would have to add to the bottom line, but … gosh.

TECHNOLOGY enhancements surely set to elevate Isuzu’s D-Max’s status in ute-dom have also delivered with a hefty price rise.

Announcement today of the model range and prices for an eight-strong line-up reaching the showroom next month suggests the new derivatives will cost between $8000 to $10,000 more than their equivalents in the previous range when full retails are considered, and much more if comparison is made against the old models’ runout pricing.

The cheapest incoming model, a rear-drive LX, starts at $49,990 while the flagship, called the X-Terrain, is entering the market for $75,490.

The increases were always in the wind; they’ve hit in every market where the rig sells and reflect how much change has come to the model, through its makers – not just Isuzu this time, but also Mazda – seeming to determine it’s time to create a more direct rival for the sector’s big guns, Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux.

Yet the end cost of the effort necessitated to lift its game might nonetheless still come as a big shock to D-Max’s traditional customer base, which has been used to be spending much less.

It might also titillate Hilux and Ranger faithful, who will note that some D-Max models seem to be more expensive than comparable models in the Toyota and Ford lines.

The old D-Max at full retail was positioned between $39,890 and $61,990, but an aggressive clearance over the last few months has delivered those editions for substantially reduced stickers.

How the brand intends to argue the defence remains unknown. Isuzu Utes NZ general manager Sam Waller and public relations manager Kimberley Waters could not be reached for comment and the press information sent out today steered clear of directly addressing this issue.

The new line’s equipment provision was detailed by MotoringNZ on August 16 (https://www.motoringnz.com/news/2020/8/16/d-heading-for-a-plus?rq=d-max).

Our story then suggested that this model and the Mazda BT-50 that derives from it are set to deliver enough advanced safety and technology to reset market expectations.

That has been further reinforced by today’s release of information that confirms that every single model in the incoming range – including the three LX tradie versions that arrive in singe, space and double cab configurations, in manual and auto and two and four-wheel-drive formats –will deliver with an advanced safety package, including class-first advances of perimeter sensing technology and a centre airbag.

Other improvements to the entry derivatives include a seven inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, automatic lights and wipers and adaptive cruise control for automatic models.

The next level is the LS-M, which avails in double cab 4WD with automatic or manual transmissions. It adds to the LX provision by implementing LED head lights with LED daytime running lights, a plusher trim. It rides on 17 inch alloys.

The LS line above this goes to a nine inch touchscreen with satellite navigation, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, dual-zone climate air-conditioning, rear parking sensors. This edition runs on 18 inch alloys.

The top rung of the ladder is occupied by X-Terrain, which purely formats in an automatic double cab four-wheel-drive configuration.

In addition to the active safety technology of the other variants, it includes a powered driver seat, leather trim, a smart proximity key with remote engine start, front and rear parking sensors, wheel arch extensions and gun-metal exterior highlights (wheels, grille, mirror caps, door handles and roof rails) as well as a matte black roller tonneau cover and under-rail tray liner.

This D-Max is a co-production with Mazda, whose own BT-50 version is also coming to NZ this year, though release details have yet to be divulged.

Hard times to bring budget utes to fore?

The country still needs utes … if they’re cheap and tailored foremost for real work, a distributor says.

POLITICAL push to get the country moving again with toil-intensive job creation schemes will give ute sales an old-fashioned stir-up.

Providing, that is, they are models created to the ‘old-school’ formula that puts worksite punishment ahead of weekend play.

That’s the view of an advisor for a distributor which has good reason to hope budget back-to-basics models will rise to the fore over the next 18 months proves accurate. 

Russell Burling speaks for Dealer Direct Wholesale Limited, the national distributor for India’s Mahindra and Mahindra, whose smallest traydeck, the Pik-Up, has just under a major refresh, which beyond the easily-recognised restyling also runs to a major re-engineering for improved refinement.

With pricing starting at $24,990 and spanning to $34,990, P:ikUp stands as the cheapest load-up choice in the New Zealand market with clear terrain now that a Chinese competitor no longer has a rival model here.

Meantime, the PikUp line has doubled in count, with addition of four rear-drive single and double cab with choice of tub and cab chassis. All run a 103kE/320Nm 2.2-litre turbodiesel and with six-speed manual, though an auto will arrive later.

Range enhancement for a vehicle that has been here for seven years already might attune sweetly with perception that massive changes to our economy from the coronavirus that will unavoidably impact deeply on employment and spending habits.

russell burling

The models were signed off for NZ consignment before coronavirus was known about, but the effect of lockdown and restrictions set to maintain in the aftermath leaves Burling thinking “we’ve made a really good call.”

Government’s intent to keep the economy on the boil is a positive and he sees ongoing opportunity from its preparedness to fund big dollar shovel-ready public projects as those efforts will require new equipment.

However, he contends those at worksite level will be more choosey and won’t be spending large.

That’s an opportunity for Mahindra to promote the reliability, functionality and value aspect of its budget-minded products, which beyond PikUp also span other off-road configured models plus passenger vehicles.

But it’s also a sign that those other makes that have concentrated effort serving up big expensive doublecabs will be caught out. 

This new world demands tools, not pleasure craft. “A lot of those (expensive utes) are not required and not needed. We need tools now and that’s what we offer.”

Does that mean an end to the market condition of the past five years, when new passenger sales have been so skewed toward utes that the Ford Ranger has been the country’s top selling vehicle for several years? 

“It’s hard to exactly say it’s finished, but certainly the demand will be less. Everybody in business is going to take some pain through this (coronavirus).

“You need utes, but you need utes that do jobs. Do you need all the high-end stuff going forward? Probably not as much.”

Sales data from as far back as late last year seems to support thought the glory days are waning for ego-polisher models that can cost more than $90,000, with the likes of the dominant Ford Ranger maintaining market share but with smaller volumes.

Quite possibly anxiety with the big players will have grown since, not only because of emergent prediction of new vehicle sales halving this year but also with cancellation of Field Days. 

Promotions around the mid-July Mystery Creek event historically spike annual registrations counts and major players will have stocked up large, with consignments built and shipped before the virus closed down their plants in Thailand. If demand has cooled, do they have too many vehicles? That’s surely why Holden has more Colorado variants than anything else in its pre-closure stock clearance.

Potentially, then, there might be some sweet deals ahead, but perhaps the glam models won’t turn the heads of those set to engage in the public works programmes set to unroll. 

“They need work utes,” contends Burling. “If you’re going into back country on pest control, you need hose out floors and rubber mats, not high-end carpets.” 

Though Burling sees the new rear-drive PikUps as being valuable to volume, it’s likely the singlecab 4x4 will remain as the type’s biggest seller. 

“It’s ideal for possum hunters, farmers, those in construction … it’s a really  good product. A sharp tool for that market.”

This interview also gave opportunity to briefly drive the entry PikUp, the singlecab chassis that is new for 2020. This level comes in the S6 trim, which provisions for ‘function and value” rather than the S10 fitout, that lifts to what the maker describes as a more SUV-like spec.

Even so, the budget layout is not as rudimentary as previously. The interior benefits from ergonomic improvements, better plastics and a more dedicated approach to fit and finish than was apparent in the preceding line. The S6 also now takes better equipment: Cruise control, Bluetooth phone connect, upgraded seats with arm rests and, on the driver’s side, height adjust. You need by S10 to achieve sat nav and a reversing camera, both running through a touch screen not availed in the cheaper choice.

Option packs to suit rural, trade and fleet buyers can be created from an options list that’s now more comprehensive. A which compatible steel bull bar with bash plate, brush rails, snorkel, tow bar, canvas seat covers and so on. All in tune with a work-first ethic that also reflects in it being tailored to tote a payload of up to 1065kgs with a 2.5-tonne braked towing capacity. 

The demonstrator also had a light-weight but sturdy alloy deck, sourced from Australia, as an option to a steel type, and was trialling a wheel and tyre pack yet to be signed off.

The driving experience does not disguise that this is a working ute and performance is adequate, nothing more, though the engine seems perkier in the low and mid-range. However, the effort to reduce mechanical and road noise is obvious, even if the engine remains a dominant background voice during phone discussions at 100kmh. 

Notwithstanding that Mahindra’s plants are also currently closed by the virus, expect to see more activity from Mahindra going forward, as PikUp stands as the only existing model not due complete replacement.

The new Thar, a Jeep Wrangler lookalike (to the point where the grille design had to be replaced to appease the Americans), is coming and so too the Scorpio sports utility.

Mahindra also stands to benefit from having a major shareholding in SsangYong, with all the latter’s engineering and technology development having effecting shifted out of South Korea to India.

The Ssangyong brand itself, however, seems in parlous state – having failed to make profit for years, its future seems to hang in the balance from Mahindra having in April curtailed plans to invest a further US$423 million in a bid to make the Korean brand profitable by 2022.

It’s direction to SsangYong to seek “alternate sources of funding” has not yielded anything useful and conjecture now is that the South Korean government might yet direct Hyundai to subsume the SUV specialist marque, to thus avoid the embarrassment of it seeing it fail.

Mahindra’s involvement with SsangYong does not reflect locally, with the Korean marque operating with a separate distributorship.

Ute outlook Pt 3: The big Blue

Our national obsession for utilities, especially family-minded dual-cabs, knows no bounds. The market is booming at the moment, and filled with plenty of strong options. Yet surely you’re also keen to know something about what’s coming up next, when and from whom? Here’s the final section of our three-part analysis.

will there be a new Raptor? It’s still unknown.

My, how the motoring world goes around.

Back in 2011 when Ford Australia unveiled the T6 Ranger ute that it had designed and engineered all by itself, it flew journalists to some God-forsaken place in South Australia’s Flinders Range for the big reveal.

In among the Rangers at the launch event was a Volkswagen Amarok. The Ford people explained that the VW was there because during the Ranger’s development they had benchmarked their new ute against it.

High praise indeed for the Argentine-built ute produced by Germany’s Volkswagen Group. And the benchmarking worked, too – Ranger immediately became one of the world’s most popular one-tonne utes.

In New Zealand it is the topselling ute, consistently edging out its arch-rival Toyota Hilux. In fact it is the top selling new vehicle full-stop – last year there were 9485 of them registered, well ahead of Hilux’ 7126 sales and way ahead of the most popular passenger vehicle, the Toyota Corolla with its 6804 sales.

And Amarok? The hard truth is that the Volkswagen has struggled. It account for just 1 per cent of the Kiwi commercial market last year, with 653 sales. And that figure was less than 1 per cent of the Amarok’s global sales of 72,500 last year, which in itself was very modest when compared to the hundreds of thousands of sales recorded annually by the likes of Hilux and Ranger.

Given the very high costs of development of any new-generation vehicle, it made sense then that Volkswagen Group would look to forge an alliance with another manufacturer to share development of the next Amarok.

That’s what has happened. Last year the group signed a contract with Ford Motor Company to develop new light commercial vehicles.

current ranger has been vital for ford nz

In other words, instead of Ford using the Amarok as a benchmark during development of a brand-new T7 Ranger, it is now developing the next-generation Volkswagen ute.

Under the terms of the new alliance, Ford is responsible for creating the two ute models, while Volkswagen Group is responsible for development of both brands’ next-generation vans.

The ute project is being led by Ford’s Australia-based Asia-Pacific Product Development Centre, and it is already well advanced. Unofficial word is that the new Ranger will be launched late next year, and the Amarok slated to arrive in 2022.

Although both companies – Volkswagen particularly – are currently spending a fortune electrifying their future vehicles, this isn’t going to apply to the utes. Instead, Ford is concentrating on developing a range of suitable petrol and diesel engines for Ranger and Amarok.

Media reports out of Australia suggest that instead of being powered by the current 3.2-litre five cylinder diesel, which won’t meet latest emissions regulations, the new Ranger will feature a 3.0-litre single turbocharged Power Stroke diesel V6.

The latest version of this lightweight engine is under the bonnet of the F-150 pick-up in USA, and in that application it offers 186 kilowatts of power and 597 Newton metres of torque.

There’s also talk the Ranger will also get a 2.7-litre twin-turbocharged ‘Nano’ EcoBoost petrol V6 that debuted in 2018 aboard the F-150 in the US, and it develops 242kW and 542kW. But at this stage it seems unlikely this petrol Ranger will become available for New Zealand.

 There’s no word yet as to whether the new Amarok will feature the same powertrains as the Ranger.

Parts 1 and 2 of this series can be found in the news section.

amarok has been a solid performer and the v6 is admired. will it continue?

Ute outlook: Part 2 – the big team

Our national obsession for utilities, especially family-minded dual-cabs, knows no bounds. The market is booming at the moment, and filled with plenty of strong options. Yet surely you’re also keen to know something about what’s coming up next, when and from whom? Here’s part two of our three-part analysis.

Are you ready for Renaut’s Oroch Duster?

THE Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is a massive strategic partnership that currently produces better than 10 per cent of all the world’s new vehicles.

That’s a lot of vehicles – close to 11 million a year, in fact – so it makes sense that the alliance has various technology-sharing agreements in place to take advantage of economies of scale. Such as sharing platforms and powertrains for its next generation of vehicles, for instance.

When it comes to one-tonne utes, the first brand-new model to emerge from the Alliance is going to be the Mitsubishi Triton. And a likely special feature of the model, which will probably be launched in 2022, will that it will be electrified.

Probably not pure electric though – that would be a step too far, given the traditional towing and 4WD rock-hopping needs of utes.  But it is known that research is progressing into whether the Triton will become available as a petrol-electric hybrid or as a PHEV.

Triton is a vitally important model for Mitsubishi. It’s the brand’s second-biggest selling vehicle worldwide behind the Outlander, with close to 200,000 annual sales. In New Zealand it is the biggest-selling Mitsubishi by a country mile – last year 5319 of them were registered, close to double the number of Outlander sales.

Current generation Triton has done Mitsubishi proud.

So in every respect it is important that the new Triton continues the model’s great reputation – and potentially  enhance it via the Mitsubishi becoming the first ute manufacturer to add electrification to its lineup.

Mitsubishi has been investigating the feasibility of a hybrid ute for some years now, and in fact it revealed such a vehicle – a diesel-electric concept called GR-HEV – back in 2013 at the Geneva Motor Show.

While there was no updated concept ute at the Tokyo Motor Show late last year, it was made clear a brand-new Triton is under development – and that Mitsubishi will be the first member of the Alliance to produce it.

Said the company’s chief operating officer Ashwai Gupta at a media briefing: “It’s a matter of each brand’s business decision as to when they will launch (a new ute), but as far as Mitsubishi is concerned...we are going ahead with development of a Triton successor.”

Mitsubishi has already achieve big sales success with its Outlander PHEV, so it is obvious that this plug-in technology is one that the brand is now considering for light commercial use. But it may well be that a more traditional series or parallel hybrid system will be chosen.

Next ute off the Alliance rank will be the Nissan Navara, which is also likely to be offered with the choice of an electrified version. But as with Mitsubishi, no decision has been made on which direction this electrification will take.

The new Navara will probably arrive in 2022. The current model has already received a final refresh, and the New Zealand lineup has just been bolstered via arrival of a version called N-Trek Warrior which was developed by Australian firm Premcar.

N-Trek edition is expected to lift current Navara’s status

In New Zealand, Navara is the most popular Nissan, with its 3305 sales last year beating both the Qashqai and X-Trail SUVs.

At Tokyo last year, the brand’s global head of light commercial vehicles Francois Bailley said for Nissan to consider any form of electrified power, a ute must be able to deliver power, torque and towing abilities.

“We’re looking at different technologies, from full EV to PHEV and so on. But we don’t think our customers will tolerate any compromise in terms of towing, payload, range. We must supply the same capabilities as the internal combustion models.”

Interestingly though, Nissan has already produced an electric ute.  Nissan-Dongfeng, which is a 50:50 joint venture in China, last year launch a new ute called Rich 6, which is based on the Navara and offers the equivalent of about 120kW and 420Nm.

Renault, the third member of the Alliance, already sells two utes on various interenational markets – the Navara-based Alaskan, and a small half-tonne ute called Oroch that is built off a compact SUV called Duster.

Renault New Zealand has been banging on for some years now that it intends importing the Alaskan, but it’s never happened.  Now it is more likely that if a Renault one-tonne ute does enter the Kiwi market, it will now be a brand-new model based off the new Triton.

It also seems likely the Oroch will get here before that. Renault NZ has confirmed that the Duster will arrive in New Zealand during the fourth quarter of this year, and there is talk that the ute version will arrive soon after.

And what about the Mercedes-Benz X-Class? Will a second generation of that ute, which is currently built off the Navara and assembled alongside Navara and Alaskan in Spain, also be built off the new Triton? Or will there be another X-Class at all?

The answer is no.  Mercedes-Benz has been badly burned by being the first luxury manufacturer to enter the world of the one-tonne ute – and as a result ithas announced that X-Class will be axed from the end of this month.

In a statement, the brand simply said: “In our global product portfolio, the X-Class is a niche product which plays a great role in a few markets.” In other words, It hasn’t been selling in anywhere near sufficient numbers – so is being dumped.

Ute outlook Pt 1: Mazda's new love ... Max

Our national obsession for utilities, especially family-minded dual-cabs, knows no bounds. The market is booming at the moment, and filled with plenty of strong options. Yet surely you’re also keen to know something about what’s coming up next, when and from whom? So, here’s the first instalment of a three-part analysis.

2020 D-Max

ONE of the big motoring stories over the next few months is going to be all about utes – what’s going to be new, and who is going to be building them.

It’s called platform sharing, folks.  And the art of sharing development costs. In recent times it’s seen the likes the Mazda BT-50 built on the same platform as the Ford Ranger, the Mercedes-Benz X-Class built on the same underpinnings as the Nissan Navara, and the Holden Colorado sharing the platform of the Isuzu D-Max.

Now the deckchairs have been re-arranged and the platform sharing has started all over again. But while the process itself is remaining the same,  the outcomes are a lot different.

So which new ute is being developed with which other new ute – or even utes? In this series of articles, we provide the breakdowns, starting with a pair of newly-weds.

Back in the day when Ford owned 35 percent of Mazda,  the Australian division of the blue oval company was largely responsible for development of what remains New Zealand’s biggest-selling vehicle, the Ranger.

And, thanks to the ownership scenario at the time, Mazda conceived its BT-50 version off the Ranger. Although it featured such differences as unique body styling and different suspension settings, the two utes shared the same chassis and same powertrain and were even built in the same factory in Thailand.

While the process saved a lot of money in development costs, in New Zealand  this platform sharing scenario proved to be something of a double-edged sword for Mazda.

That was because of Mazda’s 24 Kiwi dealerships, 18 of them were also Ford dealerships – and for sales staff it was easier to sell the hugely popular and masculine-looking Ranger than the BT-50, despite the fact Mazda NZ went to great lengths to differentiate between the two, particularly as regards pricing.

 End result: Ranger has a 20 per cent share of New Zealand’s ute market, while the almost identical BT-50 owns 5 per cent.

2020 D-Mx

Ford doesn’t own any stake in Mazda any more – it sold its shareholding in 2010 – and the current BT-50 is the only remaining remnant of that ownership scenario.  And now that’s about to change, thanks to a supply agreement Mazda brokered four years ago with Isuzu.

At the time, the two brands said the agreement would allow Mazda to “maintain own-brand market coverage.” In other words, get out from under the shadow of Ford.

And Isuzu? Back in 2016 it said the agreement would allow it to “enhance its product competitiveness”. In other words, rid itself of lingering claims that its D-Max ute has for all intents and purposes always been a Holden Colorado.

Actually, it’s always been the other way around.

At one stage General Motors owned 49 per cent of Isuzu,  which gave the Detroit giant access to Isuzu light trucks.  That explains why the Holden Rodeo sold in Australasia from 2002 to 2008 was in fact the original Isuzu D-Max.

But when GM began to sell down its shareholding in Isuzu, the two brands began to go their own ways. GM lost the right to the Rodeo name and changed the name of the Holden ute to Colorado, then Isuzu distribution operations were established in Australia in 2008 and New Zealand in 2010, which allowed the brand to begin to sell the D-Max.

It’s been like that ever since, with the D-Max and the Colorado essentially sharing the same platform but being increasingly their own vehicles – different engines and powertrains, different bodyshell designs (well, from the A pillar forward anyway), and built in different Thai assembly plants.

But now that’s all about to change. Instead of a BT-50 being a Ranger and a D-Max being a Colorado, the new BT-50 will be a new D-Max.

First to arrive will be the D-Max, which has already been launched in its home Thailand and was scheduled to be unveiled in New Zealand just after mid-year – in fact dealers were scheduled to be in Thailand in late April to watch the first kiwi models roll off the assembly line.

 But thanks to Covid-19 the assembly plant was shut down, and the trip had to be cancelled. Isuzu Utes NZ Ltd marketing manager Kathyrn Hayward said the company is now working with the factory to confirm a new arrival date for the D-Max.

“We will provide more information when we can,” she added.

A feature of the new ute is that it will be powered by a beefed-up version of the excellent 3.0-litre four cylinder turbo diesel that is under the bonnet of the current model. Power has gone up to 140 kilowatts and torque has risen to 450 Newton metres. It’s also going to have improved safety specification and more infotainment.

During last year’s Tokyo Motor Show, Isuzu told the attending media that the new D-Max was developed solely by Isuzu as the original equipment manufacturer, with the finished product then provided to Mazda.

A shared disclosure agreement with Isuzu means Mazda New Zealand is unable to disclose any specifics about how the brand has BT-50-ised the ute. That will become clear when the vehicle is launched here later this year.

 But Mazda NZ product and sales planning manager Tim Nalden did confirm that the current BT-50 is enjoying such a “halo” period at the moment – it’s achieving its highest monthly segment share levels since its first year on the market in 2011 – that it is leading the company to consider selling both models side-by-side for a period of time.

It’s going to be interesting how both these new models perform on the New Zealand ute market.

Last year the BT-50 was the sixth biggest selling ute here with 2325 sales, and the D-Max one place behind with 1802 sales. But in 2020/2021 a combination of the fact they are brand-new, and the imminent disappearance from the market of the volume-selling Holden Colorado,  could see a rise in registrations of both of these models.