Next-gen utes take shape

Australia's booming ute market will take on a very different look after Ford's and Holden's car-based load-luggers become extinct – along with the nation's car-making industry -- within 18 months.

Just two weeks after Mazda and Isuzu revealed the next-generation BT-50 and D-MAX will in effect be twins under the skin, General Motors and Isuzu have now confirmed the end of their long-running ute partnership.

GM and Isuzu said on Friday that the two companies will not jointly develop their next-generation one-tonners, which are currently sold in Australia as the Holden Colorado and Isuzu D-MAX, both of which will soon be facelifted.

“Both GM and Isuzu agree that due to unique requirements for each company, joint development of the next-generation midsize pick-up truck for [global] markets is no longer the optimal model for this project," said GM in a statement.

A GM spokesperson indicated to Reuters that the next Colorado and Trailblazer would be more upmarket than both their predecessors and Japanese-branded, Thai-built rivals.

“It doesn’t make sense for us trying to copy the business strategy of the Japanese rivals in Southeast Asia," said the unnamed GM executive.

Meantime, an Isuzu spokesman told the news agency that “the [global ute] direction each company wanted to take was changing”, adding that the next D-MAX will continue to be a workhorse in key ute markets like Australia and Southeast Asia.

The split between GM and Isuzu, which build their utes in separate Thai factories but have co-developed commercial vehicles since the 1970s, comes as at least two all-new European dual-cabs are being developed from the same base as Nissan's latest NP300 Navara.

They include the Renault Alaskan, which arrives here next year, and the Mercedes-Benz 'GLT-Class', which is due on sale Down Under by early 2018.

Meantime, two all-new dual-cab utes from French giant PSA, this time likely to be based on Toyota's latest HiLux, are on the wishlist of the Australian importer of Peugeot and Citroen vehicles.

Fiat's new Fullback ute is also a chance for Australia, although it's based on Mitsubishi's latest Triton, which could eventually be paired with the Navara following Nissan's takeover of the troubled Japanese car-maker.

That said, there are reports Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is also developing an all-new mid-size global pick-up based on its next-generation RAM 1500, which is itself due for global release from 2018.

Although Nissan's Patrol ute has just months to live, new model action in Australia's lucrative ute sector doesn't stop there, with facelifted versions of Toyota's stalwart 70 Series and Volkswagen's Amarok – now with V6 power – due by year's end.

And heading the Chinese charge will be the new Steed ute line-up from dormant player Great Wall in October.

It could be followed by a similarly budget-focussed Chinese offering from LDV, the LCV brand of giant automotive conglomerate SAIC Motor, with word that an all-new pick-up is in the final stages of development ahead of its domestic release as a Maxus next year.

The news was leaked via a senior Thai government minister, who said that SAIC – which already makes MG cars in Thailand -- has plans to build up to 100,000 utes annually in the Asian kingdom, which has become known as the global hub of one-tonne pick-up manufacturing.

If it's sold here, the unnamed Thai-built ute would rival not only the new Great Wall Steed, but other cut-price Asian-brand utes such as the Foton Tunland, JMC Vigus, Mahindra Pik-Up and Genio, Tata Xenon and Ssangyong Actyon.

In the meantime, in the absence of a genuine one-tonne pick-up from Korean juggernaut Hyundai, Ford's Ranger – which could eventually be the only mainstream ute not to be shared with another brand – appears likely to be the only model to threaten Toyota's dominance of Australia's second largest new vehicle segment.