From the editor
Is bigger necessarily better?
As far as the New Zealand new car market is concerned, this hoary old chestnut would, indeed, appear to be true.
“It’s not too big is it?” the young ‘concierge’ at my local Z servo asked as the two of us stood back and drank in the sheer height, width and shadow the latest Ford Ranger cast on the forecourt.
“Nah,” was what I said. But as I drove back the office, the kid’s question got me thinking.
When, for instance, does ‘bigger stop being better’ and start becoming ‘too big?’
For a while there, for instance, Volkswagen’s Amarok and Ford’s Ranger were widely regarded as the ‘biggest’ TD DC Utes available here. They certainly ‘ feel’ larger than Mitsubishi’s recently superseded ‘narrow track’ Gen 3 Triton, and Isuzu’s D-max.
None of the current crop, in my direct driving experience on and off the road, however, feels ‘ungainly’ or ‘too big.’ I’m obviously not alone, either, as TD DC utes continue to dominate the sales figures here.
In the latest (March 19) new commercial rego figures out (as I write this), Ford retained the market lead with 20 percent market share ( 982 units) followed by Toyota with 15 percent (737 units) and Mitsubishi third with 12 percent market share ( 594 units).
In terms of individual models the Ford Ranger retained the top spot as the bestselling commercial model with 18 percent market share ( 850 units) followed by the new-look Mitsubishi Triton with a 12 percent share ( 594 units) and Toyota’s Hilux in third also with 12 percent of the market ( 581 units).
Year to date the three top selling models are (again) all utes, with the Ford Ranger in the lead with 2,385 units, followed by the Toyota Hilux with 1,698 units and the Mitsubishi Triton in third with 1,541 units.
Sure, compared with the relatively tiny Suziki Jimny a Ranger, Hilux or Triton might appear to be huge, but really,compared with what’s coming next, even they are going to look small.
Already RAM dealers around the country are trying to work out how to try and fit more than one RAM 2500 or 1500 ‘ute’ in their showrooms at the same time.
HSV dealers are also finding a ready demand for their new ‘biggie,’ a RHD Chevrolet Silverado.
Whether Ford can join the fun by building RHD F150s is a moot point. Though there appear to be plenty arriving here as private imports in LHD and/or for local conversion to RHD.
And with Jeep here confirming that we will indeed be getting its all-new Gladiator ute in 2020 the ‘Super-size-me’ sector is only going to get bigger.
I can certainly see the appeal of owning one of these behemoths though, particularly if your job requires you to be mobile (visiting various work sites) during the week, and be able to enjoy the luxury of owning a ‘big’ boat which needs towing to and from its launch site of a weekend.
Are they ‘too big’ though?
For some they might be. For others they will be just right.
After all, ‘big’ is such a relative term. Compared to his old Honda Concerto (remember them?) any high ridin’ current TD DC ute is going to block out the sun when my young concierge mate is on forecourt duty.
Yet as I sat at the lights waiting to get onto Auckland’s Western Ring Road from Constellation Drive later the same day I was struck with how dextrous and ‘light on their feet’ some of the drivers made Auckland Transport’s fleet of Northern Busway double decker buses look.
So yeah, on balance big IS good. Just don’t blame me if you get the same sort of evil looks I did when I ended up taking up a designated parking space PLUS half of the footpath behind it ( the cause of all the grief apparently) when I popped into my local Countdown supermarket the last time I had a RAM 2500 on test!