Official Tata Motors distributor DRB-Hicom Commercial Vehicles (DHCV) has expanded its lineup with the launch of the Tata Super Ace and Ultra. The mini and light trucks join the Xenon pick-up trucks and Prima prime movers, and will be locally assembled (CKD) in Pekan in the third quarter of the year.
According to Berita Harian, preparing the facility for local assembly of these models represented an initial investment of RM10 million. “We have already received approval from Tata Motors and we are now in the process of creating the production network at the Pekan plant, where I believe production will begin in the third quarter of this year.
“The plan for CKD is important as we believe that the light commercial vehicle market in Malaysia will see increased growth in the years to come,” said DRB-Hicom’s chief operating officer of automotive distribution, defence and manufacturing and engineering, Datuk Abdul Harith Abdullah.
Onwards to the vehicles themselves, and their prices. The one-tonne Super Ace is priced at RM46,990, while the Ultra is priced at RM86,990 for the eight-tonne Ultra 814 and RM97,990 for the Ultra 1014. Both prices are without GST and on-the-road costs, and can be customised with different body options to suit the customer’s needs.
The Super Ace is powered by a 1.4 litre turbodiesel producing 70 hp at 4,500 rpm and 135 Nm of torque at 2,500 rpm, mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. Meanwhile, the Ultra 814 – with a 4.5-tonne payload and a highest body option of 5.5 metres – and Ultra 1014 both come with a 3.0 litre turbodiesel making 140 hp at 2,600 rpm and 390 Nm from 1,400 to 2,000 rpm, paired to a six-speed manual gearbox.
“With our partner Tata Motors, we are confident about making a significant impact in the selected commercial vehicle categories and thus grabbing market share incrementally in what is a very competitive niche market,” said Abdul Harith. “The economy is poised to grow this year which bodes well for our joint venture.”
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Never knew PT cover news for commercial vehicles. Perhaps can cover launches for buses and other trucks too?
The most honest DRB Proton CEO, Datuk Abdul Harith who admitted that it quietly replacing faulty parts only when owners brought their cars in for maintenance.
100,000-vehicle recall involving its Preve, Exora and Suprima models. What Proton did was to wait for the customers to come in to send their car in for the next service, log in and see pop up in our computer ‘Okay this car to change this item because of the service fix programme.’ If the customers doesn’t come, then the problems happened.
Problematic CFE oil cooler hose that would burst after 40,000km mileage, information that was not conveyed to Proton owners.
Sigh, some pipu crawl out of somewhere and dun bother to read. https://paultan.org/2016/02/16/proton-recalls-suprima-s-preve-exora-cfe-powered-variants-equipped-with-faulty-oil-cooler-hoses/
Datuk Harith Abdullah had an outstanding performance as Proton CEO, he should stay
Spot on Operation Manager. This is why everybody is buying the 2018 Perodua Myvi. Proton is irrelevant already
No wonder Toyota SA got so much free time come here tokok. All their customers go buy Mivi or Mazda instead.
This is a truck article. Ur crap is IRRELEVANT!
Wow a diesel mini truck! Should give the Daihatsu GranMax a run for their money, and should send the Chinese trucks home I guess.
Always wondered why trucks only ever come in two colours, white or red…. anyone has an answer?