A donation is being made to help protect animals in the wild for every new SsangYong Rhino ute sold.
TransportTalk was invited to test drive the vehicle at Kitenui Deer Farm, Wairakei, north of Taupo and hear about the unique marketing campaign.
Great Lake Motor Distributors has teamed up with new brand ambassador Jamie Joseph, founder of organisation Saving the Wild, as part of the New Zealand launch.
Joseph is dedicated to protecting rhinos in the wild and has spent a lot of time in Africa to secure convictions of key people involved in illegal hunting activities and black market trade.
Great Lake Motor Distributors general manager Andrew Bayliss says it’s an exciting partnership and he’s proud to be supporting the cause.
“We like to think that with our contribution we can help [Joseph] save the wild rhino.”
The ute, renamed from the original Musso and Actyon Sport, saw a number of orders taken at last year’s Mystery Creek Fieldays.
However, a global production backlog of up to 30,000 units from its South Korean manufactures meant the New Zealand launch was six months behind schedule.
The new Rhino sees SsangYong making its stand in the scarce petrol ute market which accounted for 45% of 2.3L Actyon volume in 2015.
Another point of difference is the largest deck in its class with a 1.61m long and 1.57m wide deck size option.
The vehicle is aimed for the commercial tradie as well as for lifestyle and leisure, Bayliss says.
It comes in 2WD petrol auto and manual with 2.0L 166kW/350 Nm engine, 4WD diesel manual and auto and the premium 4WD diesel auto with 2.2L 133kW/400 Nm engine.
Price ranges from $25,990 plus GST to $43,490 plus GST. It comes with a five year/100,000km factory warranty.
