After the introduction of the new facelifted Isuzu D-Max with a new 1.9-litre Ddi BluePower engine, Isuzu Malaysia have nearly doubled the sales of the D-Max pick-up in Peninsular Malaysia.

In just three months after the new D-Max’s launch, sales in Peninsular Malaysia had already grown by 97 percent, overtaking East Malaysia’s contribution. Overall, the new D-Max saw sales increasing by 25 percent, with monthly sales averaging 440 units.

Traditionally, the Isuzu D-Max have sold better in East Malaysia than Peninsular Malaysia.

As the terrain in East Malaysia in very different from Peninsular Malaysia, there is a distinct difference between the needs of pick-up owners living in the East vs those living in Peninsular Malaysia, the latter group is more easily swayed by comfort, convenience and safety features while the former cares a lot more about ease of repair and maintenance.  

Users in Sabah and Sarawak appreciated the Isuzu D-Max’s durability and reliability. Although lacking in many fancy features available in the Toyota Hilux, Mitsubishi Triton, or even the Ford Ranger, many pick-up users appreciated the Isuzu D-Max’s mechanically simple and robust construction.

At the same time, Isuzu Malaysia will of course want to improve its presence in Peninsular Malaysia. All leading pick-up truck models have a relatively even split in sales between Peninsular and East Malaysia.

So when the new D-Max’s more economical 1.9-litre engine BluePower engine replaced the previous 2.5-litre unit, it attracted a new group of buyers who were drawn to the D-Max’s class leading fuel efficiency.

Despite having a smaller capacity, the new 1.9-litre common rail direct injection turbodiesel engine actually makes more power than the previous 2.5-litre unit – 14 PS and 30 Nm more.

It offers more power, lower running cost, as well as lower road tax. Since users in Peninsular Malaysia pays higher road tax than users in East Malaysia, the smaller capacity engine became a strong selling point to budget conscious buyers. Road tax for the Isuzu D-Max 1.9 in Peninsular Malaysia have been reduced by over 50 percent to just RM399.20.