New LDV ute to target Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger

Look out Toyota and Ford – a new contender will soon step up the heat in Australia’s hard-charging dual-cab 4x4 ute market.

LDV says its soon-to-arrive all-new ute will snatch sales from the market-leading Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux as competition ramps up in one of the world’s biggest mid-size pick-up markets.

Currently codenamed GST, the all-new LDV ute is set to arrive late in 2024 or early 2025, and will initially be a pure battery-electric vehicle before a diesel version arrives months later.

The all-electric ute has aspirations of taking advantage of the increasing interest in electrified vehicles Down Under – something set to accelerate following the government’s announcement of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) that’s due to come into force at the start of 2025.

Once the diesel version arrives – giving LDV a broad range of two- and four-wheel drive ute options – LDV sees some big sales numbers in its future.

“We aspire to take in the pick-up market somewhere between five to seven per cent share,” said Dinesh Chinnappa, general manager of LDV Australia, part of the broader Ateco Group.

“We’d be expecting to do with the GST… those sorts of numbers as a minimum.”

That would translate to about 15,000 sales annually – a figure that Chinnappa says won’t happen from day one but is in LDV’s medium-term planning.

While that’s well short of the circa-60,000 annual sales for the Ranger and HiLux, it would see LDV challenge or pull clear of the Nissan Navara and Mazda BT-50, and pile pressure onto others including the upcoming new Mitsubishi Triton.

And that’s only the start of the longer-term sales aspirations for LDV in Australia, which could include eventually challenge for the top spot.

“If somebody had said to you that we were going to launch the Deliver 9 and within a year and a half or two years we would displace [Mercedes-Benz] Sprinter as the number one selling large van in Australia you would have said [they’re crazy],” said Chinnappa.

“There’s nothing stopping SMCV [Shanghai Motor Commercial Vehicle Company] from doing the same in the ute market… because they’re capable and the proof of that is in the Deliver.”

Chinnappa has seen the new ute in the metal in China and believes it has the goods to make a serious impact Down Under.

“It’s an impressive vehicle – based on what I’ve just seen with the Deliver 7, why couldn’t they do it again? There’s no reason.”

Chinnappa said Ateco has a growth mentality – something it proved when it was the custodian of Kia in Australia.

“We’re in it to grow, grow, grow, grow, grow – that’s our objective.”

Chinnappa hints that tripling LDV’s local sales is within the realms of what the brand is thinking, and the new ute will be a key component of that.

“MG’s done 60,000 cars in Australia last year. It’s possible, it’s not a pipe dream.

“You’ve just got to get the balance. You’ve got to get the right product at the right price with the right spec.”

Chinnappa said the openness of the Australian market and consumer appetite for value helps challenger brands such as LDV.

“That’s the beauty of Australia – we’re open to new brands. We don’t have inbuilt prejudices.”

The challenge for the GST – which is set to adopt a new name that could be one of the 10 proposed by LDV Australia – will be pricing and positioning.

LDV plans to sell the new GST alongside the existing T60, offering a premium offering to take on Ranger and HiLux alongside a budget proposition aimed at GWM and SsangYong rivals at the entry-level of the 4x4 ute market.

The T60 could also soon be available in cab-chassis form, adding to its appeal.

But expect a higher price tag for the yet-to-be-revealed newcomer, albeit one that also promises a lot more substance.

Chinnappa says the EV variant will be more expensive than a diesel alternative initially, but that a premium of only about 10 per cent over an equivalent Toyota is the aspiration.

A fit-for-purpose all-electric ute – something the eT60 ute wasn’t – priced around the $60,000-70,000 mark could make a big impact on the market, especially as utes face the prospect of tighter CO2 emissions regulations that bring penalties with them.

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