Chinese commercial vehicle manufacturer LDV lifted its profile this week with the reveal of its new T60 dual-cab pickup. Until now local importer Ateco Automotive has only had its G10 and V80 Van range to sell. The T60 4 x 4 dual cab arrived in the burgeoning ute market that has grown by over 10 per cent this year. Chinese sourced utes have not had strong acceptance to date – the Foton Tunland and Great Wall Steed slow sellers compared to the Thai-sourced competition however LDV are hoping to sell 75 T60’sa month by next year. Two manual and two automatic T60 dual-cabs make up the model mix – the entry workhorse six-speed manual Pro kicking off the range at $30,516 drive-away, the better-equipped and lifestyle skewed T60 Luxe manual starts at $34,726 drive-away, automatic adding $2105 to both. All variants are powered by a 2.8-litre 110kW turbo-diesel. Maximum payload on the Pro model is 1025kgs in manual, 995kgs in auto while the Luxe can carry 875 and 815kgs respectively. The good news for LDV will come mid-November with the arrival of the large D90 seven-seat SUV – powered by a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder linked to a six-speed automatic and available in front or all-wheel-drive. All-wheel- drive models also gain high and low range as well as a differential lock. The D90 should really lift LDV’s profile in the marketplace – pricing expected to undercut its established competition. All models will be highly equipped with blind spot monitoring, autonomous emergency braking, front collision warning, a power tail gate and six airbags. I’m David Berthon

Download this podcast here