By Moses Akaigwe
One of Nigeria’s fastest growing auto companies, Mikano International (Motors Division), has unveiled a new vehicle, Maxus T60, which industry watchers believe will set off ripples in the light commercial vehicles market.
This is because, apart from being a beneficiary of Maxus’ enviable 126-year history in the auto industry, the T60 is endowed with enviable off-road capabilities and sedan-like features to alter the status quo in the pickup segment
At an unveiling ceremony held recently at Mikano Motors’ magnificient showroom on Adeola Odeku street, Victoria Island, both the General Manager, Palph Haidar, and the Head of Marketing, Karima Okunola, sounded confident that the new offering would endear itself to the pickup market and possibly overtake rivals, taking advantage of its unique selling points.
“We at Mikano Motors are excited about welcoming the Maxus brand into our fold.”
Interestingly, only minutes later, T60 gave an early practical foretaste of what users in Nigeria stand to benefit as variants of the new light duty truck thrilled drivers and onlookers at a test-drive that was organised as part of the launch.
Maxus brand
The Maxus Auto brand is naturally following the success trail blazed by Mikano Motors with the now popular Geely cars and the ZNA (Rich6); two brands which the company has made popular in various segments of the market.
Maxus was introduced to the guests as a brand that epitomises the positive benefits of a British heritage, having been born more than a decade ago in 1896.
This was under the popular ‘Leyland’ marque which then excelled in the production of commercial vehicles.
“Subsequently, the company expanded its line-up to include passenger vehicles and a wider array of commercial vehicles such as buses, delivery vans, etc. By then, the name had evolved to Leyland Daf Vans (LDV),’ through mergers.
“LDV-Maxus has become one of Europe’s most recognisable and reliable brands for commercial vehicles and in 2010, the brand was acquired by China’s largest automaker, SAIC Motors – a Fortune 500 company which owns several of the largest brands in the world’s largest automotive market – China,.
“SAIC also has long-term joint venture partnerships with Volkswagen (Volkswagen, Skoda, Audi) and General Motors (Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac).
“With the powerful global support from SAIC, the Maxus brand is a success story across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and many others. The brand retains the LDV-Maxus name for the UK, Australian and New Zealand markets where it remains the top selling Chinese automotive brand.
“In Africa, the Maxus brand is already making waves, most especially in Ivory Coast where it has gained vast popularity. Now, Nigerians are set to enjoy the durability and reliability the mid-size pickup truck with advanced technology and an intelligent operating system offers, for their personal and business needs.”
T60 variants
The new T60 is entering the Nigerian market in three petrol variations; Comfort, Elite and Luxury with manual and automatic options.
The Mitsubishi-powered engines are available in 2.4litre or 2.0T, with a Borg-Warner 4WD system and other parts supplied by International Fortune 500 global companies.
Providing more information on the vehicle, Haidar stoked the curiosity of many of the journalists at the event when he described Maxus Autos as “a brand with great potential to become a market leader.”
But, the curiosity was satisfied later when some units of the new T60 pickup were test-driven on the rough terrain of the area of Eko Atlantic City overlooking the sea.
Local assembly
Haidar further stated that, like the other brands under Mikano Motors, the Maxus T60 – would be assembled locally at the company’s auto plant located in the Mikano Group’s Karameh Industrial City in Ogun State.
The mental rating of Maxus T60 among the guests shot even higher when the General Manager Mikano disclosed that it is the only Chinese pickup permitted to be sold in European markets like Spain and Italy.
Five-Star safety rating
According to Haidar, T60 is also the first Chinese-manufactured utility pick-up truck to earn a 5-star rating in the Australian HYPERLINK “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasian_New_Car_Assessment_Program” \hANCAP safety tests.
He extolled the tried and tested strength, durability and quality of the T60 and announced that the vehicles would be on sale for the Yuletide season at prices starting from N15.9M, till December, 31, 2022.
Five-year/130,000km warranty
The National Sales Manager for Mikano Motors; Chijioke Mbonu added: “From Mikano Motors, the T60 offers a five-year/ 130,000km warranty – the highest warranty offer for any pick-up brand in the Nigerian auto industry”.
Mbonu added that the T60 warranty and the Maxus brand legacy have led to impressive pre-launch sales figures, stating that “over 150 units had already been sold to state governments and private sector fleet purchases”.
The National Sales Manager hinted that the T-60 is the first of many remarkable vehicles to expect from the Maxus brand, adding that the Maxus brand embodies “technology, innovation and transformation, continually working to provide top- of- the line auto products and mobility services.”
Under the Mikano Motors banner, the Maxus Autos will join Geely and ZNA to offer the best warranty and world-class after-sales services to all customers, providing an efficient and pocket- friendly alternative with better value and peace of mind to all customers.
Test-drive
Following the official reveal in the Mikano Motors showroom, guests, including Nollywood stars, Jemima Osunde and Akah Nnanni and car enthusiasts, Ladi Okunola of SuperCars of Nigeria, Akpovire Okugbere of Car Continent and Dionette Ezimorah of RideWith Miee, as well as members of the press, moved to the site of the test-drive activity on the shores of the Eko Atlantic City.
Here, on the sand dunes, the T60 was put to the test by all and sundry and impressively proved its mettle with little or no effort, showcasing the strength of its McPherson suspension system and the Bosch electronic stability control system.
Experiencing the 4WD is not only for use as a dependable functional utility truck for heavy carrying and loading, but also a thrill seekers’ dream!
Defying sand dunes
The deep sand dunes of the Eko Atlantic seaside was just the perfect terrain to task the new Maxus T60 pick-up variants Not only did the new kid on the block defy the deep, quick-sand almost with effortless ease, the 4X4 version in particular, thrilled the participants with a remarkable climb of the steep (sandy) uphill, and a slow, but confident descent.
Along with the journalists and other guests, Ralph Haidar, Karima Okunola; and another Mikano Motors Manager, Majid Nasraoui, ‘conspired’ to give the T60 vehicles very hard tasks, during the off-road drive, but the pick-up was impressive in proving its mettle.
Not even during the scary horizontal drive along the side of the upland (which many feared would make T60 roll over), did the pick-up disappoint.
It was all thanks to an innovative four-wheel drive system, an impressive leaf spring technology and the efficient 2.4 litre Mitsubishi engine that works in tandem with the five-speed manual transmission {six-speed for the automatic version}.
Maxus Autos is expected to follow the road to success as paved by the high-riding Geely brand to the Nigerian market. Geely was successfully introduced a few years ago by Mikano Motors and was soon followed by ZNA