- Five more BAIC models promised for NZ in next 2 years.
- Luxury Arcfox EV brand confirms in next 12 months.
- More SUVs, new ute are on the way.
Chinese maker BAIC has just launched in New Zealand with two SUV models, the petrol X55 urban-crossover and B30 petrol/hybrid SUV. But there are already plans under way to significantly expand the portfolio under local distributor Armstrong's Group, including "new energy" versions of the existing lineup, a new luxury brand and even a new ute/pickup truck.
Speaking at the brand launch in Auckland on Friday February 27, BAIC International chairman Wang Jianhui made a number of "firm commitments" to the Kiwi market on behalf of the company. The most tangible was around the model range: "In the next two years, BAIC will launch at least five new cars in NZ, including our Arcfox pure-electric, and off-road vehicles including SUV and pickup."
Individual model details have not been shared, but that's a definite green light for Arcfox, BAIC's premium-EV brand that was founded in 2017. While the current focus is on SUVs and sedans, Arcfox has also dabbled in city cars and in 2020 even created a concept supercar called the GT.
BAIC is distributed in NZ by Auto Distribution Holdings (a division of Armstrong's Group). Chief executive Simon Rutherford says Arcfox has been part of the planning from the start.
"We’re just debating [the timing] right now," says Rutherford. "We could go anywhere between the end of this year and early next year. What we’re trying to do is establish BAIC first, but we have built Arcfox into our dealer and distribution planning assumptions, so it’ll be an easy tuck-in."
Rutherford says it's likely there will be two Arcfox models initially, the other three kindly promised by chairman Wang likely to be BAIC-branded.
The emphasis is on off-road-themed models for NZ. Rutherford has already confirmed the Kiwi operation is keen on the BAIC BJ40, a hard-core 4x4 that started out as a Jeep Wrangler knock-off in 2014 but has evolved into something with its own style - a style that seems nicely aligned with the look of the B30 crossover-SUV just launched here.
What else? "There are a number of baby, mid-size and larger options in the SUV space".
Also on the table are REEV (plug-in range extender) versions of the models we already have, X55 and B30, if there's market-demand.
The forthcoming pickup truck is an unknown quantity. BAIC owns Foton, which already has a separate distributor in NZ (a division of the Hamilton-based Ebbett Group of companies, which also has a number of new-car retail operations). That will remain as-is, says Rutherford.
The new (presumably BAIC-branded) ute is "an unknown right now," says Rutherford. "There’s a shortcut route, which is to use a Foton donor platform, but it’s not decided. They’re talking about an all-new one as well. We don't have a full answer on that yet."
