Chinese van brand expands

Chinese brand LDV will augment its V80 van series late next month with the arrival in Australian showrooms of the G10 van and its first passenger car, the G10 people-mover.

The arrival of the G10 duo coincides with the addition of six new LDV dealers, bringing the count to 40. That number will rise to 50 by early next year.

“We’ve got 34 dealers today," said the spokesman for LDV importer Ateco Automotive, Daniel Cotterill. "There’s paperwork in the system for another five or six. So 40 looks like coming to fruition by the end of this financial year rather than the end of the calendar year.

Cotterill said that the current dealer representation is split between about 65 per cent metro and 35 per cent rural, and added that Ateco is still working on strengthening its LDV dealer numbers.

“We’re in various levels of discussion with another eight to 10 [dealers], which will ultimately see the total come to about 50. But there’s a few mechanics to work through in terms of requirements of signage, showroom and a little back-end of the business for some.”

The new G10 van and people-mover are the first models designed since Chinese automotive giant Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) bought the once-British brand in 2010.

The G10 models will join the V80 van range, which will also be joined by new variants next month.

Both the V80 and G10 are sold in China under the Maxus brand. The V80 was launched there in September 2011 and the G10 hit its home market early last year.

Cotterill said there will be just one engine/transmission combination available when the G10 models go on sale.

“Initially we’re going to offer the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol that has 165kW and 330Nm, and that’s in front of a six-speed ZF automatic transmission.

"There’s some marketing spiel around here that talks about this thing having more get up and go than some passenger cars.”

A diesel engine will not be offered, for the time being at least.

The G10 van will be well specified, with standard safety equipment including a reversing camera, electronic stability control, anti-lock brakes, electronic brake-force distribution and electronic brake assist, with alloy wheels, air-conditioning and Bluetooth connectivity also on the standard specs list.

The two-seat G10 van weighs 1907kg and has a 1050kg payload.

Not only will the G10 van have plenty of standard gear, it will also be sharply priced at less than $30,000 for ABN holders, according to Cotterill.

“The van reminds me of — if you look back in history — things that used to sell their proverbials off in this country: the Kia Pregio, things like that. It’s a real value-for-money workhorse. Not necessarily exciting when it comes to the consumer side of it, but for business it's pretty good.”

The sharp pricing will undercut segment leaders the Toyota HiAce, which is priced from $32,990, and the Hyundai iLoad (from $30,990).

Sales in this segment are trending upwards, with VFACTS figures to the end of April showing a 9.4 per cent growth this year.

Cotterill said that, unlike the tall V80 van, the G10 will have broader appeal thanks to its relatively low overall height.

“Overall height is 1.93 metres — and that, they tell me, is very important for a commercial van, because of clearance. It’ll get into underground car parks. It makes it a high-volume proposition.”

Cotterill said he’s not concerned by the G10 and V80 vans selling for a similar price — the entry-level V80 2.5 SWB Low Roof is $29,990 — as they appeal to different buyers.

“The bottom of the V80 range, a short-wheelbase manual low-roof, is similar money to a G10 van, but even that is a bigger, boxier, taller thing. Once you start to get in any other of the permutations of the van, it’s for a different application.

"If you went to Fastway couriers, for example, and looked at all the different vans parked in there, there's the bloke who’s doing the inner-city run, in and out of underground car parks a lot, and then the bloke who heads west.”

Cotterill was not so forthcoming with information on the G10 people-mover, but said it shares the same 2.0-litre turbo-petrol and six-speed auto powertrain as the van and will have two variants on offer — seven-seat or nine-seat configurations.

Nine-seat people-movers are a rarity in Australia — until now only Volkswagen has offered one in its Caravelle range.

Featuring a sliding door on one side, the G10 rides on a 3210mm wheelbase and measures 5168mm long, 1980mm wide and 1928mm high.

While we can only speculate on price, you can expect that the G10 people-mover will be priced closer to Ateco’s own Ssangyong Stavic (from $29,990 drive-away) than segment leaders the Kia Grand Carnival (from $41,490), Honda Odyssey (from $37,610) and Hyundai iMax Shuttle (from $38,290).

Meanwhile, new versions of the V80 range, such as a cab-chassis, are due in showrooms about the same time as G10. The cab-chassis will be sub-$30,000 with a tray for ABN holders.

LDV is also well into the development phase of a new platform to serve as both a one-tonne ute and SUV.

Cotterill said that these models were “well progressed” and that both left-hand drive and right-hand drive models will be produced. A team of SAIC engineers spent considerable time in Australia assessing local conditions for the ute and SUV, both of which are expected to arrive here in late 2016 or early 2017.