Go! Drive & Camp – September 2019

NEWWHEELS

28 | September 2019 go! Drive & Camp

Isuzu SouthAfricahasteamedupwithIcelandicfirmArcticTrucks to

bring a D-Max with the AT35 treatment straight from the factory.

Words Kyle Kock

ISUZUARCTICAT35

W

e all know just how popular

Isuzu is in the light commercial

vehicle segment. You need

only look around in traffic to

see a white single cab D-Max, delivering

courier parcels or furniture. And every

second old plaasbakkie with hundreds of

thousands of kilometres on the odometer

is an Isuzu, so that speaks highly of the

manufacturer’s reputation in the commercial

and agricultural sectors.

But even after the ageing previous-

generation KB/D-Max got a massive overhaul

in 2012 after an incredible 10-year life-cycle,

the attempt to put Isuzu on the map as

a premium double cab player has yet to bear

significant fruit. With rival manufacturers

launching special edition pickups here,

commemorative double-cabs there, and the

newest “performance truck” craze that’s doing

the rounds – Isuzu’s finally decided that it

will try its hand at making its own desirable

lifestyle bakkie.

EnterArcticTrucks,anIcelandictruck

customiser who specialises in making

conversions to bakkies and SUVs that allow

them to handle the most inhospitable

terrain in the Arctic Circle, and more recently,

expeditions across the vast inhospitable

whiteness of Antarctica. Isuzu South Africa

got the go-ahead from its Japanese parent

company to collaborate with Arctic Trucks

and the result of that is the D-Max Arctic AT35

4x4 monster.

Broad shoulders

The AT35 is quite easy to distinguish on the

road, not least because of the fat 35x12.50

R17 LT BF Goodrich rubber that it rides on.

The AT35 also rides significantly higher than

any other D-Max, with a ground clearance

48 mm taller than the 3.0 LX 4x4 Auto (which

rides on lower-profile 255/60 Continental

tyres and 18-inch alloy wheels).

But the height is only a small part of the

story because the AT35 barely fits into your

typical shopping mall parking bay. Sections

of the regular D-Max’s wheel arches are cut

out in a special booth at Isuzu’s Struandale

plant in Port Elizabeth, where the new Arctic

Truck widened units are fitted, and official

Arctic Truck plates are added to the chassis

to accommodate the beefed-up suspension

system courtesy of American specialists Fox.

Apart from those visual cues, there’s also an

Arctic Trucks logo on the tailgate, in case you

Bigfoot