Chinese utes take on Australia’s best-selling giants
Two new challengers from Chinese car giant JAC Motors: They’re green, clean, and ready to shake up the ute scene?
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Utes are as Aussie as a meat pie or a slab of beer, and you can see these rugged workhorses lined up across building sites and footy fields around the nation.
No wonder Chinese car makers have made this the new battleground for our hard-earned cash – after all, we bought around 230,000 new utes last year.
Enter JAC Motors, not exactly a household name here but they’re 61 years old – China’s number one light-duty truck and van exporter, and they reckon they’ve got what it takes to steal a chunk of the market from Australia’s top-selling utes, the legendary Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.
JAC has just unveiled its big play, two new dual-cab 4X4 utes, the plug-in hybrid Hunter and the electric JAC T9 EV.
The Hunter combines a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with dual electric motors to produce 385kW of power and 1000Nm of torque. It’s the performance pick.
Folks who don’t want to burn any fuel can choose the JAC T9 EV, which has 220kW / 516Nm electric outputs and can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 8.5 seconds.
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While these utes look tough enough to tackle everything from suburban streets to the outback, can they really stand up to the harsh realities of Aussie conditions like floods, drought, and well, finding a charging station?
JAC Motors’ Australian importer LTS Auto’s Managing Director, Ahmed Mahmoud says extensive Australian testing of the T9 prototype has ensured that its suspension, ADAS, powertrain, and cooling systems are validated for our demanding conditions.
“We’ve got the DNA of a truck company,” he says.
“We’ve been building tough trucks for 60 years. That same DNA is in our T9 diesel. So, we have every confidence that it can do more than a full day’s work.”
JAC is trying to compete with the iconic Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux – which are no surprise, Australia’s best-selling utes.
The biggest consumer gripe with green vehicles is of course, range. The Hunter is targeting an electric-only driving range of at least 100 km from a lithium-iron phosphate battery pack and is expected to have a total driving range of 1000 kms or more.
The T9 EV has a 330km zero-emission driving range, facilitates both AC and DC charging, and can replenish from 15-80 per cent in just 40 minutes.
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JAC hasn’t shared pricing yet but looking at Ford – which charges $4,000 to $7,000 more for its plug-in hybrid – and with the Hunter offering a big performance boost, we can expect the price might be under $60,000.
When it comes to grunt work, for the Hunter JAC is targeting 3.5 tonne towing and one tonne payload. As for the EV, they’re remaining tight-lipped.
JAC is not the only Chinese carmaker trying to cash in on our passion for utes. There is also LDV’s eT60 – the first electric ute to land in Australia in 2023 with 130kW of power, 310Nm of torque and a CATL battery. It has got a range of up to 330km before needing a recharge. But with a price tag north of $90k, they may have missed their market.
MG has not unveiled prices for its new U9 electric ute, but it will need to be sharp.
MORE: Chinese ‘Lamborghini’ hits Aussie roads
Then there’s the BYD Shark 6 plug-in hybrid. It has got more grunt, with 321kW of power and 650Nm of torque delivering a combined range of 800km per tank.
It’s the reigning winner of the News Corp Australia’s 2024 Car of the Year and strong bang for bucks too – priced from $57,900 plus on road costs.
The Hunter will arrive here in the first quarter of next year, but JAC Motors is evaluating demand before releasing the T9 EV for sale down under.
It’ll be an uphill battle if the right conditions don’t come into play in Australia – from the rollout of charging infrastructure to consumer trust in new brands. If not, the T9 EV will be doing more work gathering dust in a showroom lot than tearing through the mud on off-road adventures.
Originally published as Chinese utes take on Australia’s best-selling giants
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