Meet Chinese Brands Hunting Toyota HiLux: Price Cut Contenders Are Coming to Shake Up the ute Market

Chinese car brands have targeted the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger.

It seems not too long ago that Chinese car brands were simply not considered a threat to big name brands in Australia.

They were too far behind, they needed to catch up so they could be seen as true contenders for the larger automakers.

But those days are certainly gone, and a quick look at the Australian sales charts shows that Chinese brands are catching up with some serious growth.

Take MG, for example, which is reporting year-to-date sales growth of more than 250% this year, bringing about 4420 units to August. Or LDV, which moved 3646 vehicles this year, up nearly 10% from last year, and is led by its locally tuned LDV T60 Trailrider. Or, for that matter, the Great Wall, where Chinese brand ute sold 788 vehicles this year, more than 100% more than in 2018.

It's no secret that Australia's booming car market is a major draw for carmakers and Chinese brands will soon have no shortage of new entrants, with brands like Great Wall especially making no bones about comparing their upcoming product as with Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux.

Great Wall is convinced they can produce vehicles that match or exceed the quality and capability of our best-selling vehicles, and what's more, they can do it at a fraction of the cost.

"This is a move to reposition the brand to where Australians and New Zealanders use their cars today, not yesterday," a spokesperson said. Cars Guide. "It will make a lot of people think, 'Why am I paying this kind of money to operate when someone like Great Wall can build something with this level of comfort and capability?'

The rewards are huge, of course; our ute market is over 210,000 sales every year. So naturally, Chinese brands want a piece of this lucrative pie.

Here's how they plan to do it.

Great Wall "Model P" - Available late 2020.

Great Wall says its double cab was designed for Australia.

Great Wall has no illusions about who leads the Australian double cab market, so the Chinese brand turned to sales leaders Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger in an engineering benchmarking process to develop its all-new model.

"They've done a great job of benchmarking different models and taking the best lines from them, but it's also in line with that American big-box look that's taking the world by storm," a brand spokesperson said. Cars Guide. "It has been compared to the HiLux and Ranger for its off-road capabilities."

The Great Wall ute, which has not yet received a model name for our market, will also have greater payload and towing capacity, with Great Wall promising "a payload of one ton and a minimum pulling capacity of three tons."

What's more, the Great Wall will undergo a suspension tuning process that, while not specific to Australia, was designed with Australia in mind.

“We had several of our engineers testing it on a range of different surfaces and this information was passed on to head office to get the right suspension settings for our market,” says a GWM spokesperson.

“Especially things like our corrugations, which they are not familiar with, and so we continue to work on this with the head office. Although it is not an Australian specific tune, it is tuned with Australia in mind."

While there is an EV variant on the cards (the brand promises a range of 500 km), the 2.0-liter turbo-petrol (180 kW/350 Nm) and turbo-diesel (140 kW/440 Nm) versions will appear first.

Foton Tunland - Estimated Arrival 2021

Foton admits it needs to review its warranty and safety features for a planned all-new model expected to arrive around 2021.

Foton may be best known as a truck company (the largest in China, no less), but the brand has already dipped its toe into truck waters with its Funland ute, which has just been updated for 2019.

But this car is acting like just a stepping stone, and the brand is acknowledging that it needs to review its warranty and safety features for a planned all-new model expected to arrive around 2021.

In fact it is this car, and not the current facelift model, that will spearhead the brand's true breakthrough into our double cab market, with Foton planning to expand its dealer footprint to attract more customers and suggesting ute prices will be offset by its successful truck business, which means high prices. 

We don't yet know what will work on the new ute, but we expect a version of the current powertrain (a 2.8kW, 130Nm 365-litre Cummins turbocharged diesel) to appear in the all-new truck. MG, Foton will focus on a one-ton payload and a three-ton towing capacity.

This engine is currently mated to a ZF automatic transmission, while other notable elements include a Borg Warner transfer case and a Dana limited slip rear differential, showing Foton's willingness to rely on experts where needed. 

JMC Vigus

JMC is planning a comeback with the new Vigus 9 ute.

You may remember JMC, which left Australia with its tail between its legs in 2018 after staggeringly slow sales of its Vigus 5 ute.

Well, it turns out JMC is plotting a comeback, this time leaving the old 5 at home and arriving with the new Vigus 9, which solves one of the egregious problems with the brand's old ute that only came with a manual transmission.

Not so the Vigus 9, which is powered (in China) by a Ford-sourced 2.0-litre turbocharged EcoBoost petrol engine that delivers 153kW and 325Nm via a six-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission.

There's no confirmed arrival time yet, and it's currently only offered in left-hand drive, but the brand is said to be looking into the move closely.