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Face off: Isuzu and Mazda step up the stakes

 

New Zealand is special in so many ways. Local vehicle buying trends are no different – they have shifted massively over the decades, and there’s no doubt this little market is unlike any other. New Zealand is the only market in the world where Ford’s Ranger is so dominant that it is both the DDC leader and the outright passenger vehicle star, month after month.

Utes are now the mainstream for work and play. Diesel double-cab utes (DDCs) are the dominant format among the ute market (94 per cent of all utes sold here) and they remain our most popular vehicle of all, roundly trouncing hatchbacks, estates, passenger cars and even SUVs.

The Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux are Captain America and Godzilla, battling for category dominance and in fact ‘best of the best’ month by month in the sales race.

The war between the Ranger and Hilux continues, but lurking behind those two there are a handful of top-end offerings that are equally deserving of close consideration. We may have farewelled the Colorado with the demise of GM Holden, but Mazda, Nissan and Isuzu are still robust challengers to the DDC ‘best of’ title.

New Zealanders love an SUV, but they buy DDCs. Why utes rather than an enclosed SUV? Practicality and price. A full-body SUV, even when based on a ute version, is more expensive and simply will not hold the gear a ute will. Add a canopy and you have a load space that is up to 30 per cent greater than the SUV or estate equivalent. Safe, secure, separate. No wonder tradies, families and professionals flock to these things.

So when Mazda shifts platforms from a long relationship and ties its future to Isuzu, it marks a seismic shift in the power struggle, and it makes sense to take a close look at the result.

 

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