In the Philippines, having mixed genes can often be a good thing. Catriona Gray and Pia Wurtzbach have international backgrounds that, most people would agree, worked in their favor—and I don’t just mean the looks department. So, what chance does a Chinese-Japanese-French contender (with a distant German uncle) have to make it big around here? We’re not talking about a Miss Universe contestant, of course, but about the Dongfeng Rich 7, a pickup truck that is looking for trust and acceptance among the car-buying public on our shores.

If the shape of this truck looks familiar, then that’s because Dongfeng and Nissan have a joint venture, and what you’re looking at here is essentially a Navara with a different cabin and a Renault M9T engine mated to an eight-speed automatic box from ZF. Its distant German relative is the (short-lived) Mercedes X-Class, which the Rich 7 is seemingly trying to recreate with its plush-looking interior.

So, yes, technically, it’s another car from the Big Red State up north, but its body and mechanical underpinnings are about as Chinese as my German grandparents. Even the instruction manual still refers to Nissan this and Navara that. Having said that, there are bits that—directly and indirectly—give away that this pickup was assembled in the shadow of the Great Wall. Chinese text pops up on the center screen on startup, and a few clumsy typos and mistranslations have made it into the English menu. Instead of telling you that one of the doors is open, it politely says, “Door unclosed,” for example.

Other oddities include that it won’t move an inch unless you have your seatbelt on (a good thing, I’d argue), that it comes without Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (instead featuring basic Bluetooth connectivity), and that the tailgate doesn’t have a lock. The cabin is nice and comfortable, but looks more premium than it really feels upon closer inspection. Having driven a few cars from the Land of Tea and Terracotta over the years now, the best way to describe this one is that it feels a generation behind. Not bad, just not as polished as some of the newer wares from our northern neighbor.

Mechanically, you’re unlikely to have any trouble. The 2.3-liter turbodiesel generates 164hp and 420Nm of torque, which is plenty enough to get you anywhere with adequate speed and power. The ZF box does a decent job, and in case anything does go pear-shaped, a five-year/150,000km warranty should keep things worry-free.

We actually drove this workhorse twice—once during the Dongfeng media drive and then again a few weeks later, where it came in handy as tough cargo carrier for some errands around the city. Both times I did enjoy being behind the wheel of it, even if it felt a bit more basic than some of its competitors. Or maybe because of that. More than once did it remind me of an old Nissan Patrol we used to blast around town in years ago, but nostalgia alone isn’t a good enough reason to spend P1,488,000, which is the sticker price of the Rich 7 Upper 4×4 that we tried.

If you look at similar vehicles vying for buyers in local showrooms, then it comes in slightly cheaper than most comparable products, which seems fair as it feels like it offers slightly less to buyers. As an honest everyday workhorse in an industrial, construction or farm setting, it will probably be a reliable truck to get man and machine from A to B in good comfort. As a family pickup, it feels just a step behind other brands, and it wouldn’t be my first choice.

Others seem to agree with that assessment, or at least one customer of Dongfeng who apparently bought a whole fleet of Rich 7s recently to help in the upcoming elections. Ours was the midrange model, but there’s also the 4×2 Upper for just P1,388,000, and the range-topping 4×4 Tiger that is currently plastered on billboards across the NCR and beyond (P1,738,000). All of them have the same power output and auto box, with the Tiger also featuring a snorkel, off-road protection bits, and a different rear suspension setup (instead of leaf springs, you’ll get five-link coil suspension for better ride quality).

Dongfeng is definitely capable of making decent cars, as we saw when we took some of its other models for a drive recently. The Rich 7 doesn’t seem quite as developed or smooth as its newer siblings, but you could argue it doesn’t have to be. It still has some creature comforts, ice-cold air-conditioning, and things like a 360° camera, so life with it can be pleasant and productive. With a slightly lower price point than some competitors and a plush cabin, it might just have a chance to find favor with local buyers.