The double-cab pick-up market is in a funny place right now. HMRC’s change of heart on lifestyle trucks has turned a lot of “company car” pick-ups back into cars for tax. Enter forward-thinking Isuzu with the Isuzu D-Max V-Cross Commercial, a double-cab pick-up with a difference.
Just as manufacturers are experimenting with electric models (that can’t always match diesel for payload or towing), HMRC pulled the rug from under the pick-up market with its changes to the double-cab pick-up tax.
So while, scores of site managers, company directors and even accountants are left scratching their head about what to do about the enormous BIK taxes heading their way, Isuzu has looked at what the market needs and what its customers want. It's served up a proper working pick-up truck. The D-Max Commercial is not just a way around the BIK rules, it's an uncompromised two-seat working truck.
Rather than rip the rear seats out in a dealer’s workshop or accept the compromises of an EV, the D-Max V-Cross Commercial is a factory-approved, permanently converted two-seater that keeps full working-truck capability, and crucially, full commercial vehicle tax status.
So is this the sweet spot between plush lifestyle truck, HMRC compliance and proper workhorse?
At heart, this is the range-topping D-Max V-Cross with the same 1.9-litre diesel with 164PS, same 4x4 drivetrain and 3.5-tonne towing capacity. It's just been turned into a dedicated two-seat commercial pick-up truck.
It has all the things you'd expect of a normal pick-up too. There's a one-tonne-plus payload, a maximum 3.5-tonne towing capacity, with standard tow bar and electrics fitted from the factory, and best of all it's still all under 2,040kg. That means that despite it being a proper commercial vehicle, it still qualifies for passenger-car speed limits for a pick-up truck, rather than the slower light-goods limits that catch many pick-ups out.
On top of that you get a lightweight commercial canopy, load-bed liner, rear door tints, protective seat covers and “Commercial” badging as standard.
This isn’t a lifestyle truck with a few bolt-on bits, it’s been specced from day one to graft. As well as save you tax.
Where the V-Cross Commercial really differs from most “take the seats out” specials is in how permanent it is.
That matters because HMRC has been looking very closely at double cabs that pretend to be vans during the week and family cars at the weekend.
Isuzu’s answer is simple, they've built something that unambiguously meets the commercial definition. It has a payload over a tonne, no rear seats, permanent structural changes. It's also all done officially by Isuzu at the import factory, rather than via an aftermarket bodge.
Because it’s a genuine commercial from day one, the numbers look very different to a high-spec double cab that’s fallen on the wrong side of HMRC’s new rules.
For 2025/26 the V-Cross Commercial qualifies for:
Compare that to the BEV discussion in the transcript: yes, an electric pick-up will be on the favourable EV BIK rate, but as soon as it’s classed as a car you lose VAT reclaim and you’re carrying the cost of something that often won’t tow or haul like a proper truck – and whose range can nosedive with a trailer on the back.
For a lot of SMEs, farmers and trades who are more interested in keeping HMRC happy than impressing the neighbours, those commercial numbers will matter more than an EV tax carrot.
Isuzu has listened to what operators usually end up fitting themselves and just bundled it into the spec:
It’s an unusually honest spec list – the stuff you’d normally be haggling over at the parts counter is already included, which should make life easier for fleet managers trying to budget a whole-life cost.
Where some EV pick-ups are being pitched at niche fleets with short daily routes and onsite charging (think utilities or farms towing for 40 miles then plugging in overnight) the D-Max Commercial is unapologetically old-school in what it’ll do.
In other words, where early EV pick-ups have compromised on payload and towing to make room for batteries, the V-Cross Commercial keeps the hard numbers that matter to most truck customers.
The big draw of the V-Cross has always been that it feels more “SUV with a back end” than farm hack, and Isuzu hasn’t stripped any of that away. You still get:
It’s the kind of cab you can happily spend all day in, whether you’re a director doing site visits or a contractor running between jobs. And because this is a permanent two-seater, the space behind the front seats is all about secure cargo rather than half-hearted occasional seating.
The D-Max range has leaned heavily on safety in recent years and the Commercial inherits the full suite of ADAS:
On top of that there are front, side, curtain, driver’s knee and even a centre airbag between the front occupants. For fleets writing risk assessments and chasing low insurance premiums, that’s a very appealing proposition.
Isuzu backs the V-Cross Commercial with a five-year / 125,000-mile warranty and five years of UK & EU roadside assistance, plus a 12-year anti-corrosion warranty.
The diesel engine won’t deliver the pennies-per-mile energy costs you can get from a depot-charged BEV, but it does avoid the range-and-towing compromises fleet managers worry about. That's especially true when loaded or towing all day rather than doing short, predictable loops.
Price at launch is £41,995 for an automatic (that's the only option on the V-Cross trim), the full conversion and all the extra equipment, like the tow bar electrics. That's a pretty decent price, considering the amount of work that's gone into it, the equipment level and the fact that it is just over £1k more than a standard D-Max V-Cross.
Isuzu describes the D-Max V-Cross Commercial as “premium comfort plus serious capability plus commercial compliance”, and that’s pretty much the nail on the head.
Isuzu has gone for a more pragmatic solution to the post-April 2025 tax landscape:
If your operation is ready for a BEV pick-up with limited range and carefully managed duty cycles, there are interesting electric options emerging.
But if you need a truck that can tow hard, carry big and still keep the taxman on side, the Isuzu D-Max V-Cross Commercial looks like one of the smartest, most joined-up answers on the market right now.
