How this Chinese ute has raised a few eyebrows and closed a few mouths

Monday, 13 November 2017

The Chinese-built LDV T60 ute, introduced to New Zealand with favourable prices and a top safety rating.

One of the most significant new arrivals on the New Zealand new vehicle scene this year hasn't been an SUV or a sportscar - but a ute.

The significance isn't necessarily because it is a ute, but because the vehicle is Chinese.

Interior features quite a bit of hard plastics, but standard specification is high.

It's the LDV T60, a 4WD double-cab model built by SAIC Motor Corporation Ltd, which is the largest automotive manufacturer in China with an output last year of more than 6.5 million vehicles and a massive 22.5 per cent of the domestic market.

Formerly Leyland DAF, the then financially troubled LDV was purchased by SAIC in 2010. Since then the Chinese have grown the brand, firstly with the G10 and V80 vans, followed by the T60 which is now being introduced to a number of export markets around the world, and soon it will add the D90 SUV to its list of export product.

The T60 is about the same size as a Ford Ranger.

**READ MORE:

* New ute entry mocks high NZ prices

Expect to see this badging on the flanks of more products.

* Chinese-built ute, SUV get top Australasian crash-safety ratings

* How better-quality vehicles are taking the high road from China**

Rear load area is lined in thick acrylic.

When the T60 was officially launched in New Zealand late last month, its importer Great Lake Motor Distributors annoyed other players in the Kiwi ute market when it claimed that for too long New Zealanders have been paying too much for over-priced over-hyped utes, and that the new model would sort that out by being offered with far more reasonable prices.

That is understood to have caused a fair amount of angst. But the prices are indeed reasonable.

A big grille with a large LDV badge features on the front of the T60 ute.

Whereas prices for the likes of Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux and Holden Colorado utes top out in the high $60,000s, the T60 has been introduced with GST-inclusive prices that start at $33,350 for an entry Elite 4WD manual and top out at $40,250 for a 4WD automatic Luxury.

Not only that, but the utes are backed with a five-year, 130,000km fully transferable warranty

But this didn't stop the criticisms continuing, however. The T60 is Chinese, some commentators said - and everyone knows about the so-so build quality and average safety ratings of vehicles coming from that country. Aren't Chinese vehicles currently of a standard that Korean cars used to be, and Japanese cars before that?

But now a stop has been put to that, too.

A couple of weeks ago the T60 really raised a few eyebrows and shut a few mouths when it became one of the first two Chinese vehicles sold in New Zealand to be awarded a top five-star safety rating by the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (Ancap) - and the ute was the first Chinese vehicle to get the rating at a first attempt.

Not only that, but the T60 scored 35.46 points out of a possible maximum of 37, a score that exceeded that achieved by many of the more mainstream one-tonne utes sold here, including the Hilux, Colorado, Nissan Navara, Isuzu D-Max, and Volkswagen Amarok.

What all this means is that not only does the new LDV T60 ute cost a lot less to buy, but it has now been proven to be just as safe, too.

So it all leaves just one major consideration about the T60 - what it is like to drive, and can it be competitive in a market segment that is going absolutely gangbusters, with 4x4 utes enjoying a massive 14 per cent share of the new vehicle market.

While the Elite and Luxury models are essentially the same utes, one major difference between the two is that because LDV considers the Elite to be the workhorse model, it comes with heavy-duty double wishbone front and leaf spring rear suspension, while the Luxury gets softer standard settings.

As a result, the Elite's payload is rated at 1025kg for the manual and 995kg for the auto, while the Luxury - which is prepared more for lifestyle use - is rated at 875kg and 815kg.

Our first drive has been in a T60 Luxury with six-speed manual, and during a journey covering several hundred kilometres the ute proved to be quite soft in the ride and with more body roll under cornering. Not unduly so, but certainly softer than other top-end versions of one-tonne utes we've experienced.

The Luxury does feature a lot of driver assist technology though, including vehicle dynamics control, stability control, roll movement intervention and traction control, and all this does help provide a reasonable ride - and those softer suspension settings means it's not particularly ute-bouncy, even with no load in the back.

Interior feels comfortable, although a lot of hard plastic features on the dash area. At the Luxury level the leather front seats are electrically adjustable and heated, there's a 10-inch touch-screen entertainment system, smartphone integration with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, reversing camera and rear parking sensors, and keyless entry and start.

The T60 is powered by a VM Motori-sourced 2.8-litre turbodiesel that is already familiar to many New Zealand ute owners, as it is essentially the same engine as that under the bonnets of previous generation Colorados. In this case it offers 110kW power and 360Nm torque.

That's quite a bit less than the major opposition - for example the 147kW/470Nm offered by the Ranger and the Mazda BT-50, the 147kW/440Nm offered by the Colorado, and the Triton's 135kW/437Nm.

But turbo-diesels are all about torque curves and accessibility, and with T60 the maximum torque is available from 1600rpm through to 2800rpm. That makes it a solid performer, particularly when a Power setting is chosen. This LDV certainly doesn't have the same amount of grunt as say a Ranger which is a ute of roughly similar size, but it operates well all the same. And it has a tow rating of 3000kg braked.

Under normal circumstances the T60 operates as a rear-wheel driven ute, and 4WD High and Low can be selected using a knob on the centre console. At the Luxury level the vehicle has an electronic differential lock.

All the T60 models come with an acrylic liner for their rear tub, which has a 1188-litre capacity. They all also have tie-down hooks both on the deck and the wheel arches, and at the Luxury level the ute has a sports bar as standard.

It all adds up to what is a surprisingly good ute. It's not at quite the same level as such product as Hilux and Ranger, but it doesn't cost nearly as much either - and that's got to be a major attraction. Add to that the reliability of VM Motori powertrains and the fact this LDV has been awarded the five-star Ancap safety rating, and it is obvious the T60 has the goods to be easily accepted into New Zealand's burgeoning ute market.

Little wonder then that the opening three shipment of the ute have quickly sold out.