Australia's most powerful ute gets a tray in 2027

JAC Motors Australia will add a cab-chassis version of its Hunter PHEV dual-cab petrol-electric ute in early 2027, after more than half of the fleet customers it's been courting said a dual-cab tub wasn't going to cut it.

It's a fast turnaround, but not an unexpected one. Former Toyota exec and now JAC Motors Australia managing director Ahmed Mahmoud told us back in April that a cab-chassis version of the petrol-electric JAC Hunter ute was looming.

At the same time as he declared JAC was ‘unapologetically’ chasing fleet volume.

We’ve just reviewed the JAC Hunter PHEV dual-cab which has started landing in dealerships and the cab-chassis follow-up is already locked in.

"More than half of the prospective fleet customers we are speaking with want a cab chassis. That is a clear signal that Australian businesses are looking for a more flexible PHEV work platform," Mahmoud said.

What they'll be getting, assuming the dual-cab's hardware carries across unchanged, is a strong equipment list and an even strong powertrain.

The Hunter pairs an all-new in-house 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder with a 130kW front motor and a 150kW rear motor, drawing on a 31.2kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery and driving through a four-speed dedicated hybrid transmission.

Drive to the rear axle is electric only and there's no mechanical driveshaft between the axles, and no low-range transfer case.

Combined, that's 360kW and 1010Nm claims JAC, which makes it the most powerful ute you can buy in this country. The BYD Shark 6 Performance manages 350kW/700Nm, the GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV 300kW/750Nm and the Ford Ranger PHEV 207kW/697Nm

Work-focused numbers stack up too: 3500kg braked towing, 6430kg GCM, 200mm of ground clearance, 550mm wading depth and a 77-litre tank feeding an E10-compatible engine.

There's 3.3kW of vehicle-to-load for running tools, although the dual-cab version doesn’t have power points in the tray. But it does have an Idle Charge mode that lets the petrol engine replenish the battery while parked if you can’t find a public charger when out and about.

The dual-cab's 915kg payload will need careful management once a steel tray and toolboxes go on. And that 1.6L/100km claim is an NEDC figure — our week with the car found consumption climbs considerably once the battery drops to 25 per cent.

Mahmoud knows price alone won't convince a risk-averse fleet manager to gamble on an unfamiliar badge, which is why the ownership pitch does the heavy lifting: seven years of unlimited-kilometre warranty covering commercial use, seven years of capped-price servicing and roadside assist, an eight-year/150,000km battery warranty and a Ute-for-Ute loan program.

Specs, configurations, pricing and a firm date all come closer to launch.

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