Pickup trucks have been in China for a long time, in fact, they are not for individual consumers, but for enterprises and institutions such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, electric power, water power, and construction sites. People's stereotyped pickup trucks are that they are public, and almost no one thinks of buying a pickup. Therefore, it is difficult for pickup truck sales to break through the 100,000 mark for a long time. Although the number of pickup trucks purchased by large customers is huge, it is far from enough to rely on B-end procurement if a product wants to really develop and grow. So at that time, pickup trucks were only niche products, far from going to the masses.
With the explosive growth of China's economy, there are more and more self-employed people, the number of individual consumers buying pickup trucks has begun to increase, and the sales of pickup trucks have also begun to grow vigorously. At this time, the pickup truck was still used as a tool cart. Around how to become a more desirable tool in people's hands, pickups have also been continuously developed and improved in terms of instrumentalized attributes. From standard containers to extended containers, from bulging containers to flat-bottomed containers, from high to low containers, pickup trucks are becoming more and more useful as tool carts.
The scope of application of pickup trucks as tool carts has been greatly expanded. Far from being just an industry used in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, electricity, and water construction sites, the development of the economy has given birth to more and more market segments, and self-employed people have grown explosively. All businessmen and self-employed people who have light loading needs in densely populated areas such as towns, townships, districts, counties, and cities need a tool cart similar to a pickup truck to help production and operation. However, at this time, consumers still use pickup trucks as a tool cart, and tool pickup trucks within 6-100,000 yuan are the main force of sales.
One of the major features of the tool pickup era is the unified market for manual transmission. It was not until December 2014 that Jiangxi Isuzu D-MAX was launched, bringing the first automatic transmission model to the domestic market. The model is equipped with a 5AT automatic transmission, which brings the concept of pickup truck life to Chinese pickups. In November 2016, SAIC MAXUS T60 was launched, becoming the first self-owned brand automatic transmission pickup truck in China, equipped with a 6AT automatic transmission. In June 2017, Zhengzhou Nissan Navarra was launched, equipped with a 7AT gearbox, becoming the first gasoline joint venture automatic transmission pickup truck in China. These pickups are groundbreaking, but they are still not enough to change the market, and tool-based pickups are still dominant.
In the 40 years of Chinese pickup trucks, the truly epoch-making product that has entered the era of passenger use from the era of tool carts is the Great Wall Cannon launched in August 2019. The launch of this model has opened an era of comprehensive passenger use of pickup trucks in China. The Great Wall Cannon is not only equipped with ZF's 8AT gearbox, but also adopts a multi-link rear overhang, BorgWarner TOD four-wheel drive, L2 autonomous driving and many other configurations that are only loaded on high-end SUV models. The most important thing is that the Great Wall Cannon adopts a new car-making platform, which is completely different from the pickup trucks in the past, and only upgrades the pickup trucks on the old platform. Only the new car-making platform can bring the real upgrade of pickup truck models and replace shotguns.
The Great Wall cannon is like a bamboo, not only self-employed people are crazy to buy the model, but many users who originally planned to buy a passenger car also turned to buy the model. The sales share of Great Wall pickup trucks quickly increased to about 50% until today. Other brands have followed suit, and after several years of development, all powerful brands have created new car-making platforms and launched new passenger pickups. Market share is preserved. However, a number of pickup truck brands have failed to keep up with the pace in this round of upgrading, and have been completely left behind by the times.
These behind-the-times pickup truck products are not out of the truck R&D thinking, and the chassis architecture, ergonomics, and configuration experience are not much different from the old models. These products have only been improved at the level of appearance and configuration that are most easily observed by consumers, and most of the so-called high-end passenger models are still based on the old technology that has been used for many years, so not only can they not impress the discerning mainstream consumer group, but also it is impossible to attract passenger car consumers.
In the process of upgrading the entire industry, the mainstay of pickup trucks has changed from 6-100,000 yuan to 10-140,000 yuan, and mid-range models have begun to become hot spots in the market. High-end products with a price of more than 150,000 yuan are also gradually accepted by consumers.
The economy is growing, and the demand for pickup trucks is also escalating. Today, when pickup trucks are fully multi-occupied, pickup trucks will also develop in the direction of more intelligent and new energy. With the increasing maturity of autonomous driving technology and intelligent cockpit, new energy will also fundamentally solve the stubborn drawbacks of fuel consumption and environmental protection in the use of pickup trucks. Among the new business opportunities, a number of mainstream passenger car brands such as Geely, Changan, Tesla, BYD, and Chery are also actively entering the game and competing to build pickup trucks. The next 40 years will be more exciting!