Hindustan Motors, as well all know, is one of India’s most famous automobile companies - they brought us umpteen versions of the Ambassador, later the HM Trekker, and then the Contessa. Look at what they have just launched - its the HM shifeng Winner mini-truck! Yay!

Sorry about that note of well-hidden sarcasm there that you doubtless noticed as it was intended to. But let’s cut Hindustan Motors some slack. They are doing something; not just sitting tight wondering where the sales of their wondercar Ambassador vanished to in the last one year. And the mini truck market in India is quite lucrative - Tata Ace rules there, as we all know. And Bajaj is planning its own small truck in PV 1500 that market - but HM has beat them to it for sure.

Let’s look at this Chinese mini-truck properly.

Shandong Shifeng is the Chinese partner for HM in the mini-truck venture. There will be 1,000 units of the HM Winner produced monthly for while. In a couple of months from now, we can also see a CNG Winner and some unspecified variants. The CNG Winner will likely be sold only in New Delhi, which has a pretty good infrastructure of CNG filling stations.

The chassis and cabin assembly of the HM Winner were developed by Shandong Shifeng, while the engine and powertrain are from Hindustan Motors.

The Chinese chassis and cabin look quite good - Hindustan Motors claims that comfort and noise, vibration and harshness levels are car-like in the Winner.

The HM Shifeng Winner has a capacity of 1 tonnes and is now available in Kolkata for a price of Rs 3.9 lakhs ex-showroom. The reports about the Winner initially seemed to say that it is a 2.3 tonne truck. Not so. This is a 1 tonne truck firmly placed in the Tata Ace category.

Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Force Motors, Eicher, Piaggio, Ashok Leyland, Atul Auto and Swaraj Mazda are also planning their own four-wheel one-tonne mini trucks.