Did you know that the Chinese pickup truck trend for local China residents started taking off prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and it has really boomed after the Covid-19 lockdown as consumers started traveling domestically?
Places such as Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Ningxia have become very popular as residents from large Chinese cities look to get out into the great outdoors away from crowded cities.
This is why Great Wall Motors, Changan and SAIC pickup trucks are leading the way with both design and innovation.
Meanwhile, Great Wall Motors is China’s No 1 off-road vehicle and SUV manufacturer. Great Wall has invested deeply in research and development, partnering with several European leading manufacturers such BorgWarner and Robert Bosch Germany to improve quality and reliability.
A May and October 2022 a China State Council notice signaled an easing of restrictions on pick-up trucks’ driving regulations in the city.
Under Central Government guidance, Shanghai, Chongqing, Tianjin, Hebei, Hainan, Fujian, Guangxi, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have all eased their pick-up truck driving restriction regulations, and over half of the provincial capital cities have recently lifted their restrictions.
Some of the major cities now allow pick-up trucks to either enjoy the same treatment as passenger vehicles or allow pick-up trucks with local car plates and access placards to enter the central areas during peak hours.
The recent trends of these lifted restrictions and the change of young people’s perception of pick-up trucks, from a utilitarian tool to a symbol of free and active lifestyle, have triggered this market’s upward momentum in China.
China become the world’s second largest pickup truck market in 2020, with reported sales of 452,000 units. China sold 550,000 units of pick-up trucks in 2021, with a year-on-year growth of 14 percent, and sold over 265,000 units in the first half of 2022, with a year-on-year decrease of 5.19 percent due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
The sales numbers for 2023 for pickup trucks in China stood at 512,000. A total of 48,000 pickup trucks were sold in China in December 2023, up 5 percent compared with that of November 2023, according to the China Passenger Car Association.
Interestingly, in the first four months of 2024, China’s domestic pickup truck sales reached 173,000 units, up 5.1 percent year-on-year.
So, as domestic China demand increases, Chinese manufacturers are stepping up design, engineering and production of more lifestyle pickup trucks to take across Asia Pacific which has a high pickup truck demand.
Stay tuned for more upmarket and fuel efficient and even electric pickup trucks coming to ASEAN and Malaysia. This will start a price war as the long running market leaders from Japan and also USA will have to compete head on with lower priced high tech offerings from China.
