The central business district of New Zealand's largest city might not strike you as the ideal place to launch a new light commercial vehicle. But maybe The Tuesday Club in Auckland, where trendy urban types go to make anything from motorcycle parts to jewellery on a certain evening of the week, works for the Jac T9.

Jac NZ general manager Andrew Craw is adamant that the new ute is a proper commercial: "It's a workhorse, not a show pony". It comes as standard with 4WD and differential lock, low-range, 1-tonne payload with tray liner, and 3-tonne tow rating - 500kg shy of the very best in the class, but still up there.
However, the single specification being offered here is also pretty lavish: leather upholstery with power-adjustable/heated front seats, wireless phone charger, 360-degree camera system and a full suite of 18 different ADAS features.
The perfect symbol of the T9's dual-purpose might be the standard hot/cool-box in the centre console, which the company calls a "pie warmer" (of course). But it could equally keep your iced latte chilled.

As you might expect of a new ute from China, the price is very sharp given the specification: $49,990 when pre-sales kick off in January. That's $12,500 less than Ford's entry-level double-cab 4WD Ranger XL and $5500 under Toyota's Hilux SR 4WD; both are pretty basic next to the T9's bells-and-whistles specification.
With WLTP fuel economy of 7.9l/100km, the T9 also sips diesel a little more lightly than the Ranger or Hilux mild-hybrid (8.4-8.7l/100km). The only mainstream utes to achieve figures in the 7s are Mitsubishi Triton and Nissan Navara.

All quite lofty company to compare the T9 to, but local Jac people reckon this newcomer brings its own kind of credibility that truck-savvy people will appreciate. Jac celebrates its 60th anniversary as a truck-maker in China this year and although the ute thing is fairly new for the company - the first-gen T6 was launched in 2015 - it's now made 320,000. Jac accounts for 20% of ute exports from China.
The truck-connection means T9 uses some components that should elicit approving noises from ute-types: the 125kW/410Nm 2.0-litre diesel is matched to an 8-speed ZF transmission/drivetrain with BorgWarner bits and the differential-lock is Eaton, for example.

While we're on the big-name connections, Jac's parent company is 50% owned by Volkswagen Group; the two make a variety of joint-project models for China, including some passenger-EVs.
The T9 has some substantial backing in NZ, too. Jac is distributed by NZ Automotive Limited (NZAL), a Kiwi subsidiary of the century-old Colonial Motor Company (CMC), which owns a 19-strong network of car dealerships, and heavy truck specialist Southpac. It also distributes agricultural equipment.
Jac NZ already offers larger (but still "light duty") pure-electric and Cummins diesel-powered trucks.
The T9 will come with a 5-year/200,000km warranty for Kiwi customers.