The new generation of Isuzu D-MAX has set off a wave in the global pickup truck market as soon as it was listed, and has created a hard-to-find grand situation in Australia, Thailand and other places. Indeed, this generation of D-MAX has been greatly improved in terms of body design, power matching, and configuration comfort, and has become one of the best products in the global mid-size pickup truck market. It is also in this way that the new generation is Isuzu D-MAX officially launched in China in May 2021, produced by Jiangxi Isuzu.
On this occasion, the news about The Qingling will also be domestically produced D-MAX on the Internet, although the news of the production of the D-MAX by Qingling has not been officially confirmed, but on many public occasions, Qingling has mentioned the model many times, but in public, the car is only synonymous with "RG09", and "RG09" is the model code name of D-MAX inside Isuzu. It is precisely such a vague statement that has triggered widespread speculation among many fans, including the author.
Guess 1: Is it the Isuzu brand?
Although the joint venture relationship between Keiming and Isuzu of Japan has a long history, but the current product focus is mainly on light trucks, medium trucks and heavy trucks, pickup truck products still hang Isuzu "ISUZU" brand models only using 140 chassis TF, and according to the official website of Keiming, 140 pickup products in 1997 on the occasion of the replacement of 940 pickup trucks on the historical stage, from now has a history of 24 years, it can be seen that the real pickup truck products from Isuzu have not been updated for a long time. Moreover, at present, is the latest pickup truck products under Isuzu are produced by Isuzu Jiangxi, coupled with the current vague name and title of Qingling, so that many people have begun to have the most fundamental questions, that is, whether the "RG09" produced by Isuzu will not use the brand of Isuzu "ISUZU" at all.
If you do not use the Isuzu brand, then there is a high probability that the current "TΛGΛ Daka" brand will be used, but the current acceptance of Qingling's Daka products in the market is not high, and the products on sale have lagged behind the entire era of passenger pickup trucks in terms of development and concept, so even if the current product strength of the "RG09" can settle in the Daca brand may be difficult to correct the current brand image, it will also indirectly affect the sales of new cars in the future.
At the same time, after not using the Isuzu brand, the good aspects may have a positive impact on the selling price, and the guidance price may be lower than the current Jiangxi Isuzu D-MAX; but on the bad side, after not hanging the "ISUZU" logo, there is no need to follow the strict "IMM" production management system of the Isuzu brand, which will have a great impact on the quality control and supplier level of the whole vehicle. Because under the "IMM" production management system, the quality of products has a very high standard, in the face of efficiency, cost and quality, Isuzu's "IMM" production management system is always the first to put quality first. If the overall quality control or supplier level cannot reach the same Jiangxi Isuzu D-MAX level, it will also have a negative impact on the "RG09" of the future Qingling.
Guess 2: Will the name continue the classic?
Of course, it is still a speculation about whether the Isuzu brand will be used, but the choice of name has touched the hearts of many car fans. In fact, things like the production of the same model in different joint venture plants abound in the passenger car market, such as The North-South Toyota or the North-South Volkswagen. These brands will choose the names of different joint venture factories for the same model, some will use different market names, such as Passat and Magotan, and some will use some models that have appeared in history and have special historical significance and heritage, such as Corolla and Raling.
In the author's opinion, if you can use the Isuzu brand, then the latter may be more suitable for the promotion of the new car "RG09", and for D-MAX and its predecessors in the world has used a number of names, "Faster" and "Rodeo" have a historical heritage, especially the name "Rodeo" competitor has a high reputation among the older generation of off-road people, but the "Rodeo" competitor introduced by Qingling at that time was not a pickup truck. It is a hardcore SUV based on the D-MAX predecessor Faster pickup chassis, and has achieved excellent reputation and praise in the domestic off-road circle. If the name "Rodeo" can be revived, it will be conducive to the market promotion of "RG09" in the later period and raise the cultural heritage to a new level.
Guess 3: Is the model different from Jiangxi Isuzu?
Another is the imagination of the car, the new generation of D-MAX in Thailand sales, single-row Spark, a row and a half of Spacecab, double-row Cab4, high-end single/double-row Hi-Lander, top-of-the-line V-Cross and customized X-Series six models. At present, the D-MAX produced by Isuzu in Jiangxi can be seen through the shape and configuration of the Thai version of Hi-Lander, rather than the top off-road version of the V-Cross, which currently has the highest rate of appearance in advertising and evaluation videos around the world, and the easiest way to distinguish Hi-Lander and V-Cross is that V-Cross has black wheel eyebrows, wheel hubs and nets.
In fact, different models of the same model are handed over to different joint venture factories, which is also more common in the passenger car market, such as toyota's current Domestic Highlander and Crown Land Release, in fact, Crown Land Release is the sport version of the American version of Highlander. Therefore, at present, the off-road version of the V-Cross is still missing in China, and the "RG09" produced by Qingling may use the shape of V-Cross to distinguish it from the D-MAX products of Jiangxi Isuzu. Especially in the body size data, Qingling's "RG09" is 5190×1870×1790mm, which is different from the Jiangxi Isuzu D-MAX's 5265×1870×1850mm, of course, the wheelbase of the two is comparable.
In addition, the power is also the most concerned point of many people, because the current Jiangxi Isuzu D-MAX is powered by 1.9T diesel, and many friends who like large-displacement models prefer the 3.0T 4JJ3 diesel power on the current Thai version, with a maximum power of 140kW and a maximum torque of 450N·m. However, from the analysis of the parameters exposed on the network, Qingling's "RG09" may be the same as Jiangxi Isuzu D-MAX, and will continue to use RZ4E's 1.9T power.
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