We will be seeing more Made In China pickup trucks making a strong push this coming 12 months
The pickup truck segment in Malaysia and ASEAN has been dominated by Japanese brands for decades.
Until the arrival of the lifestyle pickup truck, first invented by Ford Malaysia, the pickup truck was a utility vehicle with little cabin and ride comfort.
Let us share some history. Our very first encounter with a pickup truck was the Ford Courier a few months after its launch in 1999. It was a normal aspirated 2.5 diesel engine that was designed as a pure workhorse and so there was hardly any refinement in its ride, comfort and looks.
It was however a vehicle that provided its flexibility off the beaten track in a logging camp, rubber estate and even fruit orchard. The marketing team at Ford Malaysia decided to give it a new segment in the Malaysian automotive market place and thus the urban lifestyle pickup was born with the introduction of its replacement the ‘Ford Ranger’ that now came with a torque filled turbo-diesel engine.
This truck was dressed up to like trendy and desirable, and with a more car like interior, Ford marketing captured the imagination of many car drivers with a pent up desire to be ‘Steve Austin’ of the six million dollar fame where he drove a brute looking pickup truck and flew over cars and curbs every week on his hit TV show ‘Fall Guy’.
Our first test drive impression of the Ford pickup truck at its launch decades ago left us wondering why would a family man want to invest in a pickup truck that spewed diesel fumes in the garage every morning at startup, was difficult to climb into if your lady wore a tight skirt, had limited luggage space if a family holiday was intended, had limited comfort for rear passengers and incurred a high road tax value.
The upside was its’ ‘on demand’ power, ability to forge frequent flash floods in Klang Valley, take in a camping trip without blinking an eyelid and all this while consuming less fuel (in terms of cost) than the average compact car.
We were somewhat unsold on the pickup phenomena as we were happy to stay on tarmac and have a flushed toilet to use on holidays even though thousands other were taken in by the outdoors possibility and back to nature prospect for their kids and we could easily understand why.
Today the Ford Ranger is still alive and kicking and an all-new 10-speed automatic version with a SUV like cabin experience and safety features that can be found in a basic Volvo SUV.
Fast forward to more recent times and we have seen the scattered arrival of early Chinese made pickup trucks like the Tiger, Foton, Changan and Haval models in the last 15 years with little sales success. Yes, there have been some fleet sales due to its low asking price and then disappearance from our roads due to lack luster after sales.
All the above will change starting 2024 when the all new Chinese made pickup trucks arrive in Malaysia starting with the recent arrival of the GWM Cannon X and in a couple of months you will see the JAC T9 pickup (pictured above) with diesel power and also a full electric pickup truck. Yes, this will be the very first all electric pickup truck on sale in Malaysia.
