Tiger Trucks: From China With Love

With the emergence of the Chinese auto industry, it’s no surprise that there are a few American companies beginning to import Chinese vehicles. While some companies are importing completed vehicles fully assembled and ready for sale, others are licensing Chinese vehicle designs and producing them in the USA. One of these companies producing Chinese designed vehicles in the USA is Tiger Trucks.

While they might not look heavy duty, the Tiger Truck Star (left) and Champ 4500 (right) are efficient and powerful. The Star (left) is comparable to most small pickups in terms of payload, while the Champ 4500 (right) can haul more than most 1/2 ton trucks currently on the road – including the Tundra.

Based in Oklahoma, Tiger Trucks is taking advantage of Chinese technology and innovation to create jobs in the United States. The man behind Tiger Trucks is Mike Ward, an experienced international businessman who had previously worked sourcing parts for JM Family Enterprises (JM Family Enterprises is the owner of Southeast Toyota Distributors). While traveling in China, Ward saw an opportunity to market vehicles designed by ChangAn (one of China’s largest automakers) in the United States. Realizing that ChangAn’s trucks offered many advantages over vehicles available in the US, Ward founded Tiger Trucks in 1999.

Placing his base of operations in Poteau, Oklahoma, Ward started off small by importing and modifying ChangAn’s trucks for the US domestic market. Gradually, his company expanded to include an assembly plant which currently employs 100 workers and is capable of producing over 8500 Tiger trucks and vans per year.

While the current trend in pickup trucks is to go bigger in every respect when compared to the competition, Tiger Trucks has elected to seek the opposite route. Their vehicles are small and powered by low-horsepower diesel engines sourced from the Caterpillar corporation. While only generating a maximum of 35 horsepower and 54 lb-ft of torque, the low weight of the trucks produced by Tiger means that their top speeds are more than enough for getting around most rural roads. The vehicles are also quite adept at hauling cargo, and their utility has caused them to replace smaller ATV-based vehicles at golf courses, military bases, and college campuses across the state. In addition to their usefulness, the fuel efficiency of these trucks is also eye-catching, with some of them reaching the 43 miles per gallon mark in highway driving – a number that no major manufacturer can come close to.

In addition to offering very economical gas and diesel engined trucks, Tiger also offers electric versions of every version of their Star pickup. On the left, from top to bottom, a Star reg. cab, crew cab, and extra cab. On the right, a Star van.

Tiger Trucks are legal for use in Oklahoma due to a special law which was put into place by the governor of the state in 2008. Essentially, the vehicles can be driven almost anywhere with the exception of federal highways and roads with speed limits of 55 miles per hour or greater. While this might seem like a handicap, Tiger Trucks knows its market and understands that most owners will have no need to bring their trucks anywhere near these types of roads. The company does sell their products outside of the state, but in those territories the vehicles are considered off-road trucks, and their top speed is governed at 25 miles per hour (the vehicles are capable of traveling faster, but federal and local laws prohibit higher speeds for off-road vehicles).

With the decision to handle all assembly in the U.S., Tiger Trucks has taken a big step towards legitimizing the offerings of Chinese automotive designers in this country. Ward has serious plans to expand the sales of Tiger Trucks by a factor of 10 over the course of the next year, which should help to bring the company into the national spotlight.

The next big question: When will Tiger start making trucks that compete with Toyota, Ford, GM, and Chrysler? The market for inexpensive and fuel efficient trucks is getting bigger by the minute…

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