The Isuzu D-Max Blade is just one week away from its market debut, and Isuzu Ute Australia (IUA) says expressions of interest have recorded “quite strong numbers”.
The Blade has been produced through a collaboration between IUA and Melbourne-based manufacturer Walkinshaw, with three years of testing and development culminating in a new off-road ready flagship D-Max ute.
With deliveries starting on November 1, IUA PR manager Mark Harman says the model has received strong interest from potential customers.
“It’s three weeks into the EOI program, and the numbers have exceeded what we wanted. They’re quite strong numbers, I believe,” he said.
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Walkinshaw’s added goodies include bespoke lifted suspension, large all-terrain tyres on new 17-inch wheels, 3mm-thick underbody protection, and various cosmetic tweaks intended to make the D-Max Blade appear as tough as possible.
A notable omission is any additional power, as Isuzu and Walkinshaw decided against changing the engine or adjusting the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel’s outputs for the new special model.
Despite that, Mr Harman says the strong demand is a result of Australia’s appetite for a locally-tuned ute – especially in the context of other Australian-bred utes like the Ford Ranger and Nissan Navara Warrior variants.
“It’s a testament to the fact that the public wanted something like this,” he said.
“And it’s not just the public … [we’ve been asked] ‘what is Isuzu going to do about this? Are you going to bring something into the market to go toe-to-toe with the Warrior and so forth?’.
“That’s why we were working on this, that’s what we’ve done here. 100 per cent there is that appetite for this halo model, and the EOIs have been quite strong.”
Walkinshaw is expecting to roll out 400 D-Max Blade units this year, with hopes that number will increase through 2025.
Walkinshaw chief engineer Trevor Barallon says the limited production is “typical” for one of the company’s programs, with the intention to make sure the “processes are nice and robust before going into full volume”.
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