When local automakers fled Australia in 2017, car-based utes died and mid-sized pickups took over. Now, it seems like everyone wants a piece of the action in Australia’s truck market, with large American imports flooding in and cheap Chinese options fighting for the bottom dollar. The Jac T9 is the latest rig on the Aussie scene, and it’s firmly aimed at the budget market. It’s becoming a crowded space with a number of homely options on the market.
If you haven’t heard of Jac, well … neither had I. It’s a smaller automaker from China, having produced 592,500 vehicles in 2023. The company produces a great proportion of vehicles for export. It also runs an operation in China in partnership with Volkswagen and produces vehicles for Nio as well.
The company has actually been producing the T9 for some time, sold as the JAC Hunter in China since 2021. It’s been slated for an Australian release for some time, with the pickup finally heading to Australian shores in 2024.
The T9 will first be available in Australia as a four-wheel-drive model with a 2.0-liter turbodiesel engine with 167 horsepower (125 kW) and 302 pound-feet (410 Nm) of torque. As a guide, that’s line ball with what you’d get on a base model Ford Ranger in Australia, but well below the optional bi-turbo or V6 models. Jac quotes a single fuel economy figure of 30 mpg (7.6 L/100 km) without clarifying whether that’s for city, highway, or combined use.
Payload is rated at 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg), slightly beneath big-name rivals like the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger. Towing capacity is typical for the class though, sitting at 7,700 pounds (3,500 kg).
Where the T9 really competes is on price. It’s hitting the market at $42,662 AUD ($27,854 USD) for the Oasis base model. The higher-trim Haven model will set you back $45,630 AUD ($29,794 USD). Compare that to the Toyota Hilux, Mitsubishi Triton, and Ford Ranger, which start at well over $50,000 for the cheapest four-door, four-wheel-drive configuration.
Nobody would judge you for wanting to stick with a bigger brand. Maybe you want peace of mind when it comes to warranty, service, and parts. Or maybe you just want a truck that you’re not embarrassed to stand next to in the parking lot. The Jac T9 has a kind of weird, off-kilter look. It’s as if someone stuck a random plastic front end from a different truck onto a poorly styled body. Adrian could explain it better than I.
Credit where it’s due, though, Jac didn’t get everything wrong. The tailgate has “JAC” stamped into it in big letters, so that gets a tick. The interior also looks pretty good, though I’d want to see if the fit and finish are up to snuff in person before committing to a solid opinion.
So far, we know the T9 is kind of cheap and kind of ugly. It won’t be the cheapest thing on the market, though, nor the ugliest. 4×2 pickups can still be had at a cheaper price, of course.
Beyond that, the GMW Cannon and SsangYong Musso are similarly ugly bargain-basement options that should still undercut the T9.
If you really have zero fashion sense, you could always spring for a Mahindra PiKUp, though. Barely changed from its Australian launch in 2009, it starts at a whisker under $40,000 AUD ($26,000 USD) before on-road costs. It only just got an automatic transmission in the last couple of years. It’s so hideous I’ve never seen one in real life.
You might think cheap work vehicles make sense, whatever they look like. However, tradies in Australia are often doing pretty well for themselves, and they’re by no means ignorant of fashion. A nice truck is a status symbol, and a cheap import from a dodgy brand can quickly become a joke on the job site. There’s also a reluctance to take a punt on an unknown brand. An unreliable truck makes for an unreliable tradesperson, and a missed job or two can quickly hurt the bottom line.
As much as I tease the aesthetics, it’s likely a capable truck. You’d expect most of the bugs are sorted, as well, given the truck has been on sale in China for some time now. Australia has been open to Chinese imports for a long time, unlike in the United States where the chicken tax and anti-Chinese tariffs keep affordable machines like the Jac T9 away from consumers. In any case, I wish Jac all the best as they enter the Australian market. If you’re lucky, and you finish your oil change, I might even try and review one before the year’s out.
Image credits: Jac
The GMW Cannon looks like a 2019 Tundra ordered off Temu
“We have Tundra at home”
The Mahindra has a strong ‘dad-truck’ vibe where you’d happily embarrass your child by dropping them off directly in front of the school to ensure maximum visibility.
I really like that Mahindra minus the brush guards for the lights. Get a bit of mud on the side, toss in some bales of hay/straw, and an old hat on the dash – it’d fit into middle-America as a farm-truck quite well.
I’m in Canada, so these are, like the US, not available here. But man I’d really like to see something like any of these show up here, if only to drive down prices. You can hardly get a 7 year old sub-compact for less than 20k here. You’re looking at 30k for any truck less than 10 years old in decent condition right now.
I definitely get that. I think it’s funny that even the bargain basement options are still punching well into the 40s though. But I guess a 4×4 truck does cost more.
“Seriously though. “JAC T9.” What a miserable attempt at a name.”
JAC KAROO seems fitting for its target market:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackaroo
Holden used that name years ago – on a re-badged Trooper…
Well Holden is no more so that name might be up for grabs…
oh my god it’s so easy were they even trying
Now if you want to sneak in the suggested name, you name the standard version H1T for the H frame ladder Truck, then handle all the lawsuits from GM even though an H1T has never existed and they’ve moving away from the H# naming convention…. Then to settle the lawsuit launch a Sport H1T with a V6.
Alternatively, launch a naturally aspirated Sport H-frame 1, and then add a Turbo.
That thing looks terrible, I don’t feel like we’re missing out on that particular Chinese truck. The Mahindra on the other hand looks ridiculous in a good way.
I really like the type of truck bed like on the Mahindra, I wish we got those here. A lot easier to reach in when the side is not already at shoulder length, can’t imagine how shorter people use it.
I’m also willing to bet that these are also hot pieces of garbage. That and as with many Chinese vehicles, good luck getting parts if you need them. Chinese automakers seldom if ever have consistent suppliers so if something breaks you could be looking at months waiting to get the part.
I like that Mahindra, more than any of the other three you shared. Its got a bit of a cheerful vibe to it, something that isn’t reflected in the more current designs of the other three. It looks like a Jimny with a bed basically. Those rims suck, and I would remove the headlight bars from the front bumper, but otherwise, I could see myself driving that. But I also have a soft spot for small squared off trucks. My favorite is the Nissan/Datsun 720.
Absolutely read my mind
In red it almost reminds me of the Changli.
How does it compare crash-test-wise to the more traditional Toyotas and Fords?
Isn’t it photographed post-crash? Hate to think it’s supposed to look like that…
It’s going through ANCAP testing now and is expected to be a five star car, and it has seven airbags, forward collision warning, AEB, lane assist and so on so it will be fine.
Mahindra PiKUp FTW.
I’m not sure I could get used to the look of this thing. The front end is just plain ugly, looks completely tacked on. Although I’d still take it over the new Hyundai Kona.
I’d take the GWM Cannon though, looks like a Hilux body with a 2nd gen facelift Tundra face. Not great, but at least it doesn’t look terrible.
An unreliable truck makes for an unreliable tradesperson, and a missed job or two can quickly hurt the bottom line.
I guess Australian expectations haven’t been properly conditioned by their utility companies:
“Our repair guy should be there sometime between 9AM Monday and 6 PM Thursday. Someone needs to be home.
Oh that not convenient for you? Oh that’s too bad, we’re very busy. Well the next window we have is in 2 months. You’ll just have to do without internet/TV/power till then.”
And when you sit at home for 3 days straight and they don’t show up, you can sit on hold for 2 hours. All for the pleasure of having someone who very obviously doesn’t give a shit schedule you a new 3-day “appointment”!
All I can think of is Kramer messing around w/ the cable guy then later they become friends ha ha
GMW Cannon? Seriously? I sense a pending lawsuit.
It’s GWM actually, which stands for Great Wall Motors.
I am Jac’s cheap Chinese truck.
I am Jac’s complete lack of surprise.
Banger.
I live in a border town in the US and I see weird cars from Mexico up here all the time. This was in a Target parking lot one weekend and I thought it looked alright in person, the size reminded me of 80s Japanese trucks.
Saw a Chevy Cheyenne pickup with Mexico plates in Arkansas last year.
And if you buy one, then you can say you got The Jac…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq_GSIw0X0w
Will they sell a performance variant of it to compete against the Ranger Raptor? JAC The Ripper.
I’d love to get the Chinese market JAC Golf.
That truck is Jac’ed up looking.
Hopefully they come out with an offroad package for the JAC, which owners can casually refer to as the JAC-Off.
I don’t mind the styling. It’s a bit busy, but at least they tried something different from the giant brick of death front end that you see on most American trucks.
The JAC T9: The Colorado ZR2 we have at home
I’d name it the JAC Rabbit, except you’ve got all those fences to keep them out And VW would probably whine.
While they’re not the best looking trucks it’s not like any of the big name brands are really bastions of design either.
I’m curious how this big influx of cheaper cars will affect insurance and how much waste there will be in scrapped cars because it’s easier to just build/buy new ones.
“I’m curious how this big influx of cheaper cars will affect insurance and how much waste there will be in scrapped cars because it’s easier to just build/buy new ones.”
I’ve wondered about that with vehicles like Nissan Altimas and Rogues with their awful CVTs. How many of them end up getting new transmissions versus going to the scrapyard? If the car has depreciated to $10k or less and replacing the CVT costs something like $6k, are auction buyers getting them on the cheap and reselling them with new transmissions? I imagine most owners just trade them in and that most dealerships don’t want the hassle of doing such an expensive and labor intensive fix in the hopes of making a small profit when they resell the vehicle.
Pretty sure junkyards have rows of PowerShift Focueses and Fiestas right now
I’ve been noticing that non-ST Fiestas are starting to get a bit uncommon around me. I need a headlight for my ST and checked the one local junkyard’s stock list and they have quite a few Fiestas for me to choose from, even a last year 2019 like mine. I guess that’s where they all went and will continue to go.
The name isn’t any worse than GMC/F150/1500, and it’s not any uglier than a Tundra. I’m not opposed to seeing Chinese cars in the US if only to drive competition and lower MSRP’s, because the cars are too damn expensive.
Maybe Adrian could answer this, but just what exactly is wrong with Chinese designers? Why is everything SO ugly?
They have spent a lot of time doing straight copies of well-known international brands. This is fine for the domestic market where foreign IP rights are meaningless, but those things do matter where they want to export these.
I guess they either don’t have their own sense of styling figured out yet or they are intentionally styling the things unlike existing competing models just to avoid comparisons and lawsuits.
They all seem to look like a mashup of other peoples designs ran through AI and then had all the proportions ruined.
The ones they sell domestically look very close to what they’re copying. I remember a picture taken on a Chinese street that seemed to be lined with Mercedes(es), but they were actually Geely (I think) knock-offs.
It seems like Mercedes either didn’t mind or got over it because they are in some kind of joint-venture with Geely involving the Smart brand since 2020.
Here’s some other copycats. https://carbuzz.com/features/chinese-copycats-the-good-and-the-bad/
I’d disagree, though that used to be true. A Zeekr 009, for example, looks like nothing else. It looks terrible, make no mistake, but you’re not going to confuse it with anyone else’s design.
Ford Flex meets cheese grater
I had to look it up and yeah, “Ford Flex meets cheese grater” checks out.
It looks happy though. Which is a lot more than I can say about a lot of western cars.
I think you might be onto it on the second part. Because Chinese designs that are part of non-Chinese brands are actually pretty good. I believe the Buick Envista is a Chinese design, for example, and while Geely’s Chinese brands are a dog’s breakfast Volvo, Polestar, and Smart are all putting out some pretty great looking cars.
It might also explain why Chinese cars all have badges that are a bit too big. It’s probably the one thing that defines the country’s designs right now, and it does feel like a bit of a statement – proud to be a Chinese brand, don’t want to be confused with a Western one.
It’s easy to say that Chinese designers have no talent, but these people are trying to sell cars just like any other manufacturer. I wonder if the sensibilities are just different. They seem to gravitate to organic flowy shapes with big dragon faces, as opposed to the American taste for military posturing. Maybe the Chinese stuff just doesn’t translate when exported.
1) People in other countries have different tastes, and even despite globalization, there is a difference in styling and expectations across different markets. Major regions may include NA & Europe & MENA, East & SE Asia, and South Asia.
2) People in other countries value function over form, especially in places like South Asia and Japan where space is tight. This is opposed to NA & Europe, where designers will sacrifice rear visibility, headroom and cargo space just to have an incrementally ‘prettier’ roofline, and will have long and tall hoods purely for styling proportions, yet will still somehow manage to have a cramped engine bay.
3) North America has relatively few vehicles for hire compared to other regions. Additionally, the income bracket needed to be chauffeured is much lower.
4) People in different markets have different expectations out of a vehicle. In Europe, people expect their cars to be light and nimble like a sports car, which not only informs suspension tuning (firmer & less comfort) but also the styling of the car. People in continental East Asia (China, Japan, etc) expect their cars to very cushy and comfortable, so cars are styled to look like luxury vehicles, which is why you see things like the Toyota Alphard with its obnoxiously big grill. Americans want their vehicles to look offroady, which is why things as mundane as the new Chevy Equinox have huge, square truckish grilles, plastic cladding, and squared off wheel wells.
Why are you injecting considered analysis & reasoning when we’re enjoying dumping on them??
/s -I hadn’t thought of it that way, and it sounds reasonable
Some of the old SsangYongs are insanely bad. I’m not sure what it was but they looked liked they were doing it on purpose.