Technically known as a mid-size pick-up truck, the ute is part of New Zealand’s motoring history but it’s moved from the farm to the family.

Utes have long left the farms or building sites in New Zealand and are more frequently found in the city shopping centres or as a work vehicle – not just for tradies.

Making them as safe as possible, and visually appealing, in an important factory as car distributors aim for family buyers that would use it as an updated SUV. 

The new customers don’t need to worry about kids’ mountain bikes dirtying up the back of the SUV, instead it goes in the tray that can be hosed down.

But the ute also has to look good for the school drop off, and it has to be safe too.

The safety aspect also appeals to people who use their utes for big commutes. An AutoMuse family member uses his ute to commute two hours most days, and usually on motorways. So a ute that makes his commute safe thanks to advanced cruise control, brake warning, and blind-spot monitoring gives it big ticks as he is set up trade in his existing model.

And these points of looks and safety are where Mazda is set to conquer the lifestyle ute market with the all-new BT-50.

Priced from $47,490 for the two-wheel-drive to $60,990 for the Limited four-wheel-drive model, all BT-50s have a 3-litre diesel engine producing 140kW of power and 450Nm of torque.

The double-cab ute is paired with a six-speed auto transmission and with 3500kg towing.

David Hodge, Managing Director Mazda New Zealand, has watched the buyer mix for the Mazda BT-50 change significantly over the years.

“It was once pretty much solely the vehicle for farmers, tradies and those in the construction industry,” said Hodge.

“While they are still a very important buying segment for the all-new Mazda BT-50, we wanted to create a truck that was equally capable of being a tough workhorse and also doing the business of transporting the family in comfort to outdoor leisure activities. 

“A design that shines equally in all situations, all the way from rough off-road settings to passenger car-like comfort for active weekend life-stylers and families.”

There's an important factor to remember with the BT-50; it shares the same underpinnings as the recently launched Izusu D-Max, as the two Japanese companies have been working together since 1995.

But Mazda has literally made it its own thanks to the family grille and interior styling.

To bring this to life, there is a sophisticated yet tough style to the new Mazda BT-50 that is unmistakably Mazda. The design team worked very hard to achieve a presence that does not look out of place in any situation.

Mazda’s design team added Kodo (“Soul of Motion”) design features to the BT-50, and they wanted to create a ute that was “built for dress and jeans”. Meaning it could be a “nine to five workhorse” that you drive wearing jeans, but in the evening it was fancy enough to park outside a restaurant like you do your family SUV.

They also see potential BT-50 customers as a “user-chooser buyer” who uses it during the day, but in the weekend it tows the boat, goes to the tip or the hardware store. 

Mazda sees its BT-50 has a major point of difference; it’s the safest ute available thanks to a myriad of passive and active features that you’d find in most Mazda SUVs. Actually, Mazda says the BT-50 is the safest vehicle in the whole of its fleet and is class-leading.

Hodge said: “Whether on or off-road, the safety of the driver and passengers is critical and the All-New Mazda BT-50 is fully equipped with a suite of class-leading passive and active safety technologies not previously seen in this vehicle class. We know that buyers of this truck are going to come from a wide base and we want to ensure they feel confident in all conditions.

“The safety features of the All-New Mazda BT-50 were recently recognised when it was awarded a 5-Star ANCAP Safety Rating (2020 tested). Given the latency of safety equipment/system application in utility vehicles, as well as the increased rigor of 2020 ANCAP crash testing, this result is an incredible achievement – and provides a point of difference to other brands in this segment.” 

For the first time a driver’s knee airbag and a driver’s far-side airbag will feature in the trucks – giving it a total of eight airbags. Anti-whiplash front seats mitigate neck injuries in case of a rear end collision and pedestrian protection is improved by optimising the bonnet shape to minimise injury.

 The all-new BT-50’s Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) features a wide range of class-leading active safety technologies. These include Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) with Pedestrian/Bicycle Detection, Attention Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with Stop & Go, Traffic-Sign Recognition (TSR), Blind Spot Monitor (BSM), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Rear Cross Traffic Alert as well as Hill Descent Control (HDC), Hill Launch Assist (HLA), Roll Over Protection (ROP) and Trailer Sway Control (TSC).

To give it added value for business owners, it comes with the Mazda five year “bumper to bumper” factory warranty, five year fixed price service of $250 maximum per service and five-year roadside assistance. 

AutoMuse had the Limited to test and although it had already won us over at the launch, we were impressed with the usability of it, so much so that we forgot it was ute as it drove like a Mazda CX-5.

Of course, like all utes, they are built to have weight in the tray, but it handled impressively on the motorway with overtaking easy and despite its size, it could weave through traffic with ease. And peace of mind thanks to the blind spot monitoring.

The six-speed automatic transmission is smooth and while there is a bit of cabin noise due to the diesel engine and wind around the side mirrors, it’s not bad and no need to turn the radio up to drown out the noise!

The ride is clean and the electrically assisted steering is balanced, and refinement is ood but not perfect.

On the farm at Parihoa, the BT-50 stood out next to the tradies array of Toyota Hilux of varying age, and a few Isuzus. The tradies thought the BT-50 looked just like a Mazda SUV, and I reminded them that this was the point!

On the farm, the BT-50 easily coped with some gnarly dirt tracks and I engaged low four-wheel-drive to navigate the steep grass tracks up the hills.

My only niggle, and if you bought one you’d get over it, was the it had Izusu’s speedo system that defaults to angiogram. To use a digital speedo you have to scroll through six settings to engage it. 

The four-wheel-drive dial (like the Isuzu D-Max) is under the central console so for first time users, it’s hard to find. But again, every day owners would be used to it.

It’s going to be interesting over the next few months to see what impact the BT-50 has on the tough ute segment that sees Ford Ranger and Toyota’s new Hilux battle it out.