Zhongxing pickup Grand Tiger to roll into Poland

Shanghai, July 31 (Gasgoo.com) Polish carmaker Pol-Mot Holding is to start assembling the Chinese pick-up Grand Tiger, with the annual output expected to reach 1,500 units, and the first batch of the vehicles will roll off line in September, reported China Business News yesterday.

The Grand Tiger pickup is a new model of Hebei Zhongxing Automobile Manufacture Co.Ltd., designed according to the world's latest pickup trend. It belongs to the fifth-generation pickup range as the Toyota Tundra pickup model popular in North America and Nissan Frontier 2006 pickup. The Grand Tiger has editions powered by the 2.7L Toyota (gasoline) engine and the 3.2L Nissan turbo (diesel) engine.

There were 5,900 pickup trucks sold in Poland in 2007, up 160% year on year, with the Nissan Navara pickup as the best-selling brand, which sold 2,500 units that year. Industry expert said that the pickup sales in the Polish market are largely decided by the vehicle's price.

With a population of almost 40 million, Poland is the largest market in Central and Eastern Europe. Since the country became a EU member in 2004, the Polish car market has been flooded with imports of used cars, which reached almost 1 million in 2007. It is only since 2007, that the new car market rebounds.