Chery questions the future of full-size American pickups in Australia as emissions rules tighten and mid-size utes dominate sales charts
Sales of full-size American pickups are sliding in Australia . Mid-size utes outsell big American trucks by a wide margin. Chery will launch a mid-size plug-in hybrid pickup locally. Full-size American-made pickups have become a familiar sight on Australia n roads in recent years.
Yet according to the local boss of Chery, these oversized imports could be living on borrowed time, especially as the Chinese brand prepares to enter the mid-size pickup market with its KP31. The new model is set to arrive in showrooms later this year as a diesel plug-in hybrid. Models like the Ford F-150, Toyota Tundra, Chevrolet Silverado HD, and Ram 2500 are all on sale in Australia, but there is a catch. Each one has to be converted to right-hand drive locally before it can be registered and sold. That extra step is not cheap, which is why even the most attainable option, the F-150, starts at nearly AU$115,000 . Read: China Built The Bronco Pickup Ford Won’t According to Chery Australia chief operating officer Lucas Harris, demand for these trucks is hardly robust. And with tighter emissions regulations looming, it may soon become much harder for manufacturers to justify keeping them on the books. “I'm not sure if there's much of a market for those super-sized utes,” Harris told Drive.com.au. “They certainly don't seem to be selling in any great volumes here, and as all of those emissions rules come into play, I think you'll naturally see vehicles get smaller, and so they might be a little bit awkward having those ultra super-sized utes.” Sales Decline Last year, sales of full-size American trucks in Australia fell 17.4 percent to 8,763 vehicles. For context, more than 230,000 mid-size pickups, including the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, Isuzu D-Max, Mitsubishi Triton, BYD Shark 6, and Kia Tasman, were sold over the same period. It’s a good thing, then, that Chery is looking to throw its hat into the mid-size pickup race. Earlier this week, it unveiled the eye-catching KP31 as a concept, positioning it directly as a rival to the BYD Shark 6, and the market’s more traditional contenders. When the production model lands later this year, it will initially be sold exclusively as a diesel plug-in hybrid, with a 2.5-liter turbodiesel engine, followed by a petrol plug-in hybrid in 2027. Chery is promising the truck will have a payload of 1,000 kg and a towing capacity of 3.5 tonnes .
Chery Chevrolet Chevrolet Silverado Ford Ford F-150 Reports Toyota Toyota Tundra Trucks
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