Yesterday’s announcement by the Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia that they would only insure and finance vehicles that have been rated by ANCAP with 4 or 5 stars (reported here) could have some interesting ramifications for automotive sales in Australia.
If other insurance and finance companies follow suit then you can say goodbye to a number of brands that are trying to establish a foothold here. At least one Chinese brand has a range of vehicles on the market that rate no better than 3 stars and Indian manufacturer Mahindra has one that rates 4 stars while the Manindra Pik Up can only muster 3.
But don’t for a moment think that this is a problem faced by some of the fringe brands … the previous Isuzu D-Max ute could only muster 3 stars.
Big 4WD utes like the Mahnindra Pik Up may look sturdy but when it comes to keeping passengers safe some of them don’t do as good a job as you might think. Just look at what intrudes into the driver’s side of the cab in this Mahindra Pik Up crash test.