JAC T9 UTE vs Nissan Navara

What's the difference?

Although Chinese manufacturer JAC Motors (Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Company Ltd) is a relatively new player in Australia’s 4x4 ute market, it has more than six decades of experience in automotive design and production and is one of China’s largest exporters of utes and other light commercials.

Its local T9 range of 4x4 dual cab utes launched in 2024 has recently expanded to include a cab-chassis variant, given company estimates that around 60 per cent of its tradie audience customise their vehicles. So, in offering what JAC calls a ‘blank canvas’ for T9 buyers, the cab-chassis provides an ideal platform for installation of a custom-made tray or other service body to suit specific owner requirements.

We recently put this new work-focused model to the test from a tradie’s perspective to see if it has the credentials to be a compelling alternative to its many rivals.

Developing a new motor vehicle from scratch costs billions which is why manufacturers are increasingly sharing vehicle platforms and technology to spread these ever-increasing costs across two (or more) strategically aligned automotive brands.

This ‘badge engineering’ strategy is becoming popular in the light-commercial vehicle (LCV) segment as evidenced by partnerships between Ford and Volkswagen with their Ranger/Amarok and Transit Custom/Transporter pairings, Isuzu and Mazda with their D-Max/BT-50 duo and Chinese contenders MG and LDV with their U9/Terron 9 tie-up.

Mitsubishi and Nissan have recently established a similar relationship, with Mitsubishi’s Triton donating its underpinnings for the latest Nissan Navara. We recently spent a week with Nissan’s new entry-level model grade to assess its credentials from a tradie’s perspective.