The turbodiesel and fully electric JAC T9 lands with early bird pricing of below RM 120,000 and RM 200,000 respectively.
Another day, another Chinese automaker has arrived in Malaysia. And this time the latest entrant is to be JAC (Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp.), with the star of its local commercial vehicle-centric debut lineup being its T9 Hilux-rivalling pickup.
Now getting straight to why Malaysians should take note of this new JAC T9 here, it is predominantly because this will be the first fully-electric (lifestyle-spec) pickup truck available locally. Though as the title of this piece suggests, this Chinese load-lugger can also be had with a more conventional turbodiesel as well.
While on the topic of the oil-burner too, the turbodiesel JAC T9 should pique the interest of prospective Hilux buyers from the simple fact that its introductory price tag of under RM 120,000 (for the first 300 orders made before the end of this year) undercuts the equivalently-equipped Toyota by over RM 40,000. The introductory price of the all-electric counterpart meanwhile is up for an introductory price of under RM 200,000 (applicable for the first 100 orders made before end 2024).
The turbodiesel T9 is currently offered with a 5-year unlimited milage warranty, while its EV equivalent nets a 6-year/200,000 km warranty. This is however to just be the tip of the iceberg of what has been loaded onto this truck as standard, as the available interior and safety kit on this JAC really could even put some cars worth 2 or 3 times more to shame.
Starting inside the T9 first, up front on the dashboard of both variants are a 7.0-inch digital instrument display and a Ranger-esque 10.4-inch portrait central infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration. A wireless charging pad and rear air-con vents are also to be found within this pickup, as well as a pair of power-adjustable front seats (driver’s only for the EV variant) and a climate-controlled centre console storage bin.
On the outside meanwhile, LED headlights and sequential turn signals on its similarly LED DRLs adds a touch of sophisticated class to the butch blacked-out face of this Chinese pickup. The red JAC grille lettering indicates for that particular T9 diesel, while blue signifies that it has no tailpipe. Both variants further hide four wheel disk brakes (a novelty in this segment) behind 18-inch dual-tone alloy wheels shod in all-terrain tyres, while a damped rear tailgate makes the process of getting into the bed a more gentle affair.
Though perhaps most impressive with the kit list on the T9 is for it to net a boat-load of active drivers aids, which includes among other things automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, blind spot detection, driver monitoring system, and intelligent high beam control. This is to all then be complemented by a set of 7 airbags and a similarly comprehensive suite of passive safety aids, thereby resulting in it achieving a five-star Australasian NCAP (ANCAP) rating.
Finally moving onto the nitty-gritty tech specs of this pickup, the turbodiesel T9 comes packing a 2.0-litre CTI turbocharged four-pot oil burner that powers all four wheels through an 8-speed ZF automatic transmission and part-time 4WD BorgWarner transfer case with rear differential lock. Peak power and torque of the Euro V-compliant engine is currently rated at 170 PS and 410 Nm respectively.
Its EV equivalent on the other hand is powered drive motor (95 PS front, 218 PS rear) on each of its two axles, which in turn is fed by a 88.0 kWh LFP battery from CATL. Combined torque output is rated at 518 Nm, with this 2-tonne+ pickup capable of a 8.4-second century and a 140 km/h top speed.
JAC currently claims that the fully-electric variant of T9 is capable of a WLTP-rated range of 340 km, with it to then accept up to 88 kW of DC and 11 kW of AC power when it comes time to recharge its battery. 35 minutes is the quoted time for this e-pickup to charge from 30-80% at its peak DC recharge rate, while it will take (a reasonably quick) 6 hours and 50 minutes for it to go from 15% to 100% on an 11 kW AC supply.
Both variations of T9 measure in at 5,330 mm long, 1,965 mm wide and 1,920 mm tall, with a 3,110 mm wheelbase. Its bed meanwhile comes in at 1,520 mm long, 1,590 mm wide and 470 mm tall. There will incidentally also be a frunk with the fully-electric variant, contrary to what the gaping holes in the pictures seen here might allude to.
5 colours are currently available with the JAC when it eventually arrives over here next year: red, black, dark grey, silver and white, as well as the novel (for the local pickup market at least) option of interior leather upholstery hues: black or brown. Customer deliveries of the petrol and fully-electric T9 will only begin early next year, with it to then promptly be followed up by a plug-in hybrid counterpart that is set to launch in the second quarter of 2025.
