Hit the road JAC

JAC is the latest Chinese auto maker to announce plans to conquest the Australian market.

Making its debut at the Melbourne International Truck, trailer and Equipment Show held at the Melbourne showgrounds in March, JAC displayed two multi-purpose commercial vans it intends to sell in Australia.

JAC’s range here will kick off with the Sunray, a 3.6-metre wheelbase van that appears to owe a lot to the design of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. Sunray will be sold here in two forms: As a large-capacity commercial van, or as a 15-seater mini bus, in either standard or luxury trim.

Powered by either an in-house 2.7-litre direct injection turbodiesel developing 88kW/280Nm, or a 2.8-litre Cummins diesel with 110kW/360Nm, the Sunray comes with anti-lock brakes and SRS airbags. The press release doesn’t say, but the airbags are presumably limited to two in the front passenger compartment. Buyers will be offered the choice of five-speed manual or automatic transmissions. Load capacity, in van form, is quoted to be 14 cubic metres.

The smaller Refine van, similarly, is available either in commercial goods-carrying form with a load capacity of nine cubic metres, or as an 11-seat mini bus.

Powered by a 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine delivering 120kW/235Nm, the JAC Refine will be available with either a six-speed manual or an automatic transmission when it goes on sale. A turbodiesel engine is also expected to be on offer at launch in 2013.

The Sunray is claimed to be the “first Euro-style van to be engineered and developed by JAC in China” and is redolent with European influences: The styling is by JAC’s Turin design centre in Italy while the interior was created at the company’s Tokyo design centre in Japan.

JAC claims to be China’s most export-focussed commercial vehicle maker with vehicles that are said to offer “European styling, the latest emission compliant engines, advanced transmissions and international componentry.”

Both Sunray and Refine are expected to arrive in local showrooms during the first quarter of 2013. Dealers are yet to be announced.

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