ISUZU D-MAX

Just how tough is this adventurer-spec, Arctic Trucks-fettled pick-up?

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Europe’s market for ‘one-tonne’ pickup trucks remains small in global terms - but it’s evidently large enough to invite its various players to experiment in fairly novel ways to boost profit margins.

In a similar fashion to the niche’s forays into electrification, a few of these experiments have resulted in flatbed light commercial vehicles of lesser utility - specifically, without the one-tonne payload that allows them to be registered, taxed and used viably as working vehicles. But this week the road test focus turns to one about which that can’t be said.

The Isuzu D-Max Arctic Trucks AT35 is a UK-market special derivative that first appeared in 2016, and was released earlier this year based on the version of the D-Max facelifted in 2024. It is essentially a double-cab D-Max modified so the base vehicle's not-inconsiderable capability is taken to a level that many might consider outlandish. Many - though not all.

For this modification process, Isuzu’s UK distributor, International Motors, turns to Icelandic off-road conversion specialist Arctic Trucks - a company that claims to have engineered the first commercially available vehicles to reach the magnetic North Pole, and to have successfully crossed the Antarctic.

Arctic Trucks offers unsanctioned aftermarket conversions for the likes of the Land Rover Defender, Volkswagen Transporter and Toyota Land Cruiser, but Isuzu is one of few brands that have officially partnered with the firm, to offer something fully factory-backed and warranted. Read on to find out what it means for one of the hardest-working pickup trucks on the market.

DESIGN & ENGINEERING