Isuzu Arctic AT 35 The Toughest D-Max Thus Far

Isuzu Motors South Africa (Imsaf) has expanded its bakkie offering with an exclusive new flagship model aimed at avid off-roaders, professionals who need to travel to inaccessible places and city dwellers looking to make a bold statement.

The Isuzu Arctic AT35 bakkie is now available through Isuzu dealers on an exclusive order-only basis with a projected 50 units to be built annually in Port Elizabeth.

“Arctic Trucks are engineered for people who need to do tough jobs in tough environments. Combining this attribute with Isuzu’s heritage of engineering tough, reliable bakkies is guaranteed to surprise and delight our customers,” says Dominic Rimmer, Imsaf executive for technical services.

Hand Built

Imsaf’s factory is the first and currently the only Isuzu Motors facility globally to receive Arctic Trucks International’s stamp of approval to build a production Arctic Truck model.

“The D-Max is a very capable platform and we are very proud to be part of this partnership. For us, it’s very important for the Arctic Trucks brand to not be seen as an aftermarket solution. As a result, everything we do is integrated with the manufacturer,” says Patrik von Sydow, chief executive officer of Arctic Trucks International.

The Arctic AT35 begins life inside the Struandale body shop where it is welded together with a combination of robotic welding machines and handheld tools alongside regular D-Max models. Once the cabin and load bay are completed, the body in white (unpainted metal) is then moved into a special Arctic Trucks conversion area within the body shop. It’s here where the real work begins as a select group of hand-picked Isuzu artisans and technicians begin the process of transforming a D-Max into an Arctic AT35.

“The Arctic AT35 is built from the ground up on the same production line as regular D-Max bakkies. This process allows us to ensure strict quality control measures are in place at an early stage, which, in turn, means no compromise on the structural integrity or rust proofing on this vehicle,” says Johan Vermeulen, Imsaf executive of manufacturing and supply chain.

The conversion is carried out by a team of highly experienced Isuzu manufacturing tool makers who ply their meticulous skill in crafting bigger wheel wells and arches to accommodate the larger tyres and beefed up suspension. Working alongside them is a manufacturing system engineer whose job is to ensure compliance to Isuzu standards and processes.

“The three artisans who are responsible for the work done in the body shop have more than 60 years’ experience between them. Their core responsibilities before joining this project included ensuring dimensional conformance of work done in the body shop as well as carrying out maintenance on manufacturing related tools and equipment.”

At Home Both on and Off-Road

Based on the D-Max three-litre double cab 4×4 LX automatic, the Arctic AT35 takes the D-Max’s legendary toughness and off-road capabilities to a new level with the fitment of Fox Performance suspension and dampers, giving the vehicle unsurpassed off-road capability.

The Arctic Trucks package includes:

• An increase in vehicle height from

1 860 mm to 1 980 mm with an impressive 268 mm of ground clearance (up from 220 mm) with a wading depth of 718 mm (up from 600 mm).

• The breakover angle increases from 22,4 degrees to 31,4 degrees.

• This additional height delivers massive improvements to the standard D-Max’s approach and departure angles with 36 degrees and 28 degrees respectively.

• The re-engineered wheel arches to accommodate the 17 inch AT alloy wheels and 35 inch tyres

• Heavy duty Arctic Trucks mud flaps.

• In addition to a 245/70R16 spare wheel, there is an emergency ResQ puncture repair kit as standard.

The end result is firmer damping at high speed, enhanced suppleness at low speeds, great on-road and off-road performance and the ability to traverse technical and soft terrain with minimal ground or vehicle impact.

The interior is shared with the standard D-Max along with Isuzu’s familiar three-litre intercooled turbo-diesel engine and six-speed automatic transmission.

Gear ratios remain the same with only the odometer requiring calibration to compensate for the larger tyres.

– QuickPic