The first Euro 4 JAC Trucks to arrive in New Zealand hit the road recently and are being demonstrated to prospective customers ahead of the arrival of the trucks in Australia in the third quarter of 2011.
New Zealand has received its shipment of JAC trucks ahead of Australia because Kiwi legislation allows new Euro 4 specification trucks to be imported while Australia requires Euro 5 vehicles which will enter production in June this year.
The first trucks arrived by ship in Auckland in May while some pre-production models have been painted in a striking livery for test drive duty with prospective customers.
According to managing director of JAC Trucks for Australia and New Zealand, Jason Pecotic, the arrival will help satisfy the number of inquiries from potential customers all across the country.
“We already have ten firm purchase orders for JAC trucks in New Zealand and our dealer network is primed and ready to start selling our light-duty range,” he says.
The JAC light-duty range consists of three models starting with the car licence capable 4.5 tonne HFC1048 and moving up to the six and eight tonne HFC1061 models featuring full air ABS braking - a first in NZ for this class of truck.
All are powered by Cummins diesel engines and have manual transmissions. Allison fully automatic versions will be added to the range later in the year.
“We estimate our New Zealand sales projections for this year at approximately 50 to 60 trucks and with such strong pre-orders we believe we will easily meet these numbers,” says Jason Pecotic.
“So far we have five dealers in place covering major centres across the North and South Island so customers won’t have to travel far to access the nearest JAC dealer”.
With JAC light-duty trucks now starting to hit Kiwi roads, Australasian distributor WMC Group’s main focus now will be on expediting the arrival of Euro 5 spec trucks in Australia.
JAC, or Jianghuai Automobile Co., Ltd, was founded in 1964 and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2001. It manufactures light, medium and heavy-duty trucks as well as MPVs, SUVs, passenger cars and buses. The company also manufactures engineering machinery, engines, gearboxes and other components.
JAC Trucks NZ is part of the WMC Group which is based in Sydney and has been the Australian distributor for Higer buses and coaches since 2006.
Since securing the distribution rights in 2010, WMC established a new Australian head office and distribution centre at Milperra in Sydney and a NZ head office and parts centre at Penrose in Auckland to serve both its JAC and Higer operations.
