When Ford’s Ranger usurped the Toyota HiLux as the nation’s best-selling dual-cab ute last year, it was celebrated as big a victory as Falcon pipping Holden Commodore back when the Aussie sales race was all about sedans.
But quite aside from each other, both Ranger and HiLux have a bigger battle on their hands.
More dual-cab utes are heading for the Australian market, almost all of them from brands without existing products in this hotly contested segment. They include the Kia Tasman and the new BYD Shark, and a dizzying amount of mooted new models from challenger Chinese brands.
All will steal sales from the incumbent, big ute players – and with 239,399 utes sold in Australia last year, there are plenty of sales to steal.
READ MORE: Best look yet at Kia’s Ford Ranger rival
We know the Kia Tasman will be built on a brand new, ladder-frame chassis and is expected to receive a 148kW/440Nm 2.2-litre turbodiesel four-cylinder. It will also offer cool, boxy styling, and is set to go on sale in Australia next year.
The Shark from BYD – one of the biggest and most reputable car-makers in China – could arrive before the end of this year. The Shark is expected to offer a hybrid powertrain from the get-go, combining a turbo-petrol engine with dual electric motors. Power could be as high as 365kW, while plug-in capability could provide electric-only range of up to 100km – beating Ford to the market with its own Ranger PHEV.
And you can bet the Shark, made in China, will be very sharply priced.
Both it and the Tasman (quite an aquatic naming theme going on here) will need to offer five-star ANCAP ratings, one-tonne payloads and 3.5-tonne braked towing capacities to really take the fight to not just Ranger and Hilux, but also the Isuzu D-Max, Mazda BT-50 and new Mitsubishi Triton.
READ MORE: BYD’s new Toyota HiLux rival spied uncovered
The next few years will see even more dual-cab ute models from Chinese brands. They could include vehicles from Chery, Geely, JMC and Foton, joining existing dual-cab utes from brands such as GWM, JAC and LDV.
READ MORE: China’s new ute challenger
If you’ve never heard of most of those brands, you’re not alone. But with the Chinese car industry increasing the quality of its products at a rapid pace – while keeping manufacturing costs down – the ultimate winner will be you, the consumer.
That’s even if the ultimate losers could be the existing dual-cab heavy-hitters like, yes, the Ranger and Hilux. Which should be of major concern to Ford Australia, given most of its sales are currently the Ranger. Of Ford Australia’s 87,800 sales in 2023, 63,356 were Rangers – nearly three quarters of all the vehicles it sold.
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