Australia's love affair with utes has clambered to new heights. Indeed, the 2010 Sydney motor show could well be called the Sydney Ute Muster given the number of global and Australian debuts.
It's a reflection of our changing taste in cars. Sales of utes are growing faster than any other vehicle category as buyers embrace their dual purpose functionality – weekday workhorse and weekend family car.
Over the past five years ute sales have risen by 14 per cent – while the overall Australian car market has grown by 5 per cent.
Indeed, so far this year (to September) utes are the second biggest vehicle category behind small cars.
When sales of 4x2 and 4x4 utes are combined, the tally to September is 126,000, compared with small cars (181,000), light cars (103,000), medium cars (61,000), large cars (74,000).
They even stack up well against SUVs: compact (82,000), medium (67,000) and luxury (18,000).
The Ford and Mazda ute twins-under-the-skin make their first public appearance in the Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre tomorrow, while Volkswagen will give Australians their first local glimpse of the Amarok pick-up.
All three utes are expected to be within a few millimetres of casting the same size shadow as the top-selling Toyota Hilux, currently the biggest truck and best seller in the class.
To stay current, Toyota had a revised version of its Hilux SR5 (curtain airbags, stability control and 17-inch wheels and tyres). And, to help draw attention to its stand, Toyota also air-freighted from Europe the Hilux that Top Gear TV UK drove to the North Pole and used in their volcano episode.
According to the Carsales tape measure, the box size of the Ford and Mazda (1500mm wide, 1500mm long, 1100mm wheel to wheel, 510mm high) is as long and wide as the Hilux, but the new trucks on the block have about 5cm of extra tray height. Ford and Mazda are also making big claims about payload, but final figures won't be released for some months.
The arrival of three all-new utes from Ford, Mazda and VW in showrooms mid-way through next year is likely to dramatically change the ute landscape in Australia.
The dominance of the Toyota Hilux is now under serious threat. The market leader in body-on-frame workhorse utilities for the past three decades will be under fire from all sides.
The cheap Chinese trucks will continue to nip away at the bottom end of the 4x2 market -- and Ford, Mazda and VW are all going to have a red-hot crack at the top-end (read: high profit margin) 4x4 dual cab market.
Toyota has an incredible 25 per cent share of the 4x2 ute market – and a 26 per cent share of the 4x4 ute market.
And while the Hilux may not lose its leadership in the ute category for many years to come, its share of ute sales will almost certainly slip.
The Nissan Navara is already on the Hilux's heels in the 4x4 ute market with 20 per cent share of all sales in that category so far this year. But consider this: both Mazda (5 per cent share) and Ford (10 per cent share) plan to significantly increase the sales rate of their new utes. The Volkswagen Amarok, meanwhile, isn't even on the radar yet. But it will be.
The Ford Ranger already outsold the Mitsubishi Triton in the 4x4 ute class last month (by just four sales) – and that was with an old vehicle.
Furthermore, the three newest trucks in the class (Hilux, Navara, Triton) will become among the three oldest as soon as the new rivals arrive.
Of the main contenders, only the Holden Colorado and Isuzu D Max will be older. They'll need to soldier on until early 2012 before their replacements are due.
It's a shame that utes have such long model cycles (the current model Ranger and its derivatives stretch back at least 15 years, maybe longer). But that is all about to change.
Typically, the lifecycle of these utes is about 10 years – passenger cars are replaced every five to six years. But with growing demand globally for this size of pick-up we could finally see more modern versions more often.
The other big hope is for these vehicles to finally step up to five-star NCAP safety standards – and decent driving dynamics. For five stars, it will be a race between the Amarok and the new Ford and Mazda twins. Given the Amarok is already on sale in some markets, it may just beat the twins to the body-on-frame ute category's first ever five star NCAP rating.
The question is: why has it taken so long for these type of utes to get to five star safety? After all, why should the life of a ute driver be worth any less than the life of someone in a car? And one more thing: when the five star safety rating does – eventually – come, it will be no thanks to federal government regulations. Incredibly, in Australia, utes still don't have to meet the same regulatory safety standards as passenger cars.
For our full coverage of the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney visit our minisite at carsales.com.au/aims.
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