BAIC Philippines has officially launched their 12-seat Kalayaan jeepney during the Land Transportation Office’s 106th anniversary motor show last month. The Kalayaan prototype puts an Almazora-built body on the rear deck of a Freedom compact truck.
BAIC Philippines President George Chua describes this latest introduction as a “smart man’s pick-up.”
Intended as compact transport for short routes on crowded inner-city roads, the Kalayaan can seat 12 people, including the driver and a front-seat passenger, with 10 people in the rear cabin provided with 40cm wide seating on side-facing benches.
The Kalayaan is built by the BAIC’s Changhe joint-venture with Suzuki Motors of Japan, most obvious in its license-built Suzuki K14B-A 1.4 liter gasoline engine, which then delivers peak numbers of 94hp at 6000rpm and 115Nm at 3200rpm. Its cleaner that burns Euro 4 compliant gasoline engine could be advantageous on the short, crowded inner-city routes it’s meant to serve. And, the engine’s conventional valve-train, eschewing the K14B’s variable valve timing (VVT) option, could translate to easier, less complicated maintenance.
The Kalaayan jeepney benefits from a semi-forward cabin layout that enhances its handling as well as its engine-cooling characteristics. Putting the driver behind the front wheel axle line (instead of on it like on cab-over trucks) makes for a more stable and comfortable driving position. The engine is set back to an under-seat location, improving the vehicle’s front-rear weight balance. And the water-cooling radiator is kept up front under the hood and in normal airflow’s direct path, keeping the system separate and less affected by the engine heat-source–a definite plus on hot and crowded inner-city routes.
Another feature of the Kalayaan jeepney is its body-on-frame single-body construction. Unlike modular two-box implementations with the front cabin and the rear body separately bolted down to the chassis-frame, the Kalayaan features front and rear cabin compartments that are welded together into a single body. This contributes to the body’s overall rigidity, making the Kalayaan resistant to body twisting and delivering greater stability that’s critical on the modern jeepney with its mandatory high ceiling and consequently higher center of gravity.
According to BAIC Philippines AVP for Corporate Communication Honeymae Limjap, the 12-seat Kalayaan jeepney was developed explicitly to list at around P600k in its base configuration. She adds that operators can expect to spend another P50k for the CCTV cameras, GPS tracker, and BEEP payment system being mandated for modernized jeepney franchises.
