Isuzu D-Max Pick Up Truck range launched in India

The Isuzu D-Max pick up truck range has been launched in India at an attractive price tag of 5.99 lakh rupees. The price of top end D-Max Space Cab pick up variant go up to 7.09 lakh rupees, and both price points are introductory, which means that the probability of a price hike in the times to come is quite high. The prices reflect ex-showroom Mumbai figures and Isuzu has just inaugurated its 9th Indian dealership at Mumbai.

 

The Japanese utility vehicle marque has 8 other dealerships spread across the four Southern states of India with plans of taking this tally to 60 dealerships nationwide by 2016. 2016 is also the year when Isuzu’s factory, which is currently under construction, will go on stream. The factory, situated at Sri City, in present-day Andhra Pradesh (due to become Seemandhra shortly), will churn out 120,000 pick up trucks each year.

The Isuzu D-Max is available in three variants:

• Single Cab – 5.99 lakh rupees
• Space Cab with Flat Deck – 6.19 lakh rupees
• Space Cab with Arched Deck – 7.09 lakh rupees

All three variants of the D-Max come with a 2.5 liter-4 cylinder turbo diesel engine as standard. This engine outputs 134 Bhp-294 Nm and drives the rear wheels of the pick up truck by means of a manual gearbox with five forward gears and one reverse gear. The pick up truck’s payload is rated at 1,200 kilograms.

Top end variants get a chromed inserts on the front grille, body coloured bumpers and door handles, power windows, central locking, tilt steering, air-conditioning and a day-night inner rear-view mirror. A power steering comes as standard on all variants of the D-Max, which are assembled from completely knocked down (CKD) kits imported from Thailand.

Hindustan Motors’ factory at Tiruvallur, off Chennai handles the CKD assembly functions for the Isuzu D-Max. The pick up truck range’s pricing indicates that it is aimed squarely at the likes of the Mahindra Genio and the Tata 207 pick up trucks in India. The CKD assembly of the D-Max commenced at Tiruvallur from last week. The same factory also handles the CKD assembly of Isuzu’s flagship MU-7 SUV. The rear wheel driven SUV competes with the likes of the Toyota Fortuner and the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport. The MU-7 starts at 19.69 lakh rupees.