After three years of development with Walkinshaw – the company behind Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) – the 2025 Isuzu D-Max Blade has launched as the brand’s range-topping off-road ute, designed to provide greater capability for those who like to hit the bush.
Since the current-generation D-Max was launched in 2020, Isuzu says it’s been inundated with requests from customers and the media for a dedicated off-road hero.
Until now, Isuzu has been one of the few without a dedicated bush-basher.
Despite the D-Max being one of Australia’s best-selling utes, when it comes to more expensive variants, Ford has almost 50 per cent of the market with the Ranger, while Toyota and Isuzu hold 17 and 11 per cent respectively with the HiLux and D-Max. And Isuzu wants a bigger piece of the pie.
But while all of the above utes claim to be rugged four-wheel-drives, some of those variants offer little more than cosmetic changes. This is where the …