Chinese JAC Trucks Go to Oz

The boom of the Chinese automotive industry has long crossed the borders of the Asian country, as do the ambitions of the local truck and carmakers. Whereas Geely's involvement in Volvo is becoming more and more a reality, other Chinese manufacturers chose a more traditional way of expansion in foreign markets.

It's the case of Jianghuai Automobile Co Motors (JAC0), the second largest Chinese manufacturer of light, medium and heavy-duty trucks, who recently granted import rights to Australia to White Motor Corporation (WMC). WMC will bring the first Chinese-made trucks to Australia next year. The trucks will be distributed through 24 truck retailers throughout Australia. Additionally, an independent retail network is being established.

“JAC will be the first Chinese manufacturer to market trucks in Australia in significant volume and across a range of models and variants,” Jason Pecotic, WMC CEO told GoAuto. “The arrival of JAC in Australia will inject new competition into the Australian truck market and mark a paradigm shift in truck pricing and value for money expectations amongst truck buyers.”

The first entries on the Australian market will be three models, all light and medium-duty trucks from 4.5 tons gross vehicle mass (GMV). All JAC trucks to be imported come equipped with Cummins diesel engines and Allison automatic transmissions, with a ZF manual transmission to be added to the range later.

“While offering competitive pricing and specifications JAC will deliver proven reliability, efficiency and safety standards using globally recognised components from the likes of Cummins, Allison and Wabco to name but a few,” added Pecotic.