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Cape Town - The Ford Ranger kicked off the new year by outselling South Africa's top bakkie for 2016, the Toyota Hilux.
The Ranger registered 2677 sold units for the first month of 2017 over the Hilux's 2398.
Big battles await
Nissan joined the fray with its NP200 half-tonner in third and Hardbody in fourth place. The NP200 found 1150 new owners and the Hardbody 1062.
The Isuzu KB, General Motors SA's offering in this highly competitive market segment, sold the fifth most units (772) in January. In sixth place was the Chevrolet Ute, managing to only sell 609 units. This is way off the figure its direct competitor, the NP200, achieved.
Perhaps the toughest bakkie in Mzansi, the Toyota Land Cruiser, found 286 new owners in seventh, followed by the Volkswagen Amarok (237), Mahindra Scorpio (101) and Mahindra Bolero (86).
The latest bakkie to join the battle is Mitsubishi's brand new Triton, launched in SA in January 2017. In 2016 the Triton made little to no impact on the bakkie market, but the Japanese company hopes its latest offering will find favour among SA's bakkie-lovers. The outgoing Triton, still on sale in January, did not make the top 10 list and the new version's figures will only reflect in February 2017.
READ: SA bakkie war - Will Mitsubishi's new Triton give Hilux, Ranger sleepless nights?
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The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (Naamsa) statement reflected on LCV sales, it read: "Domestic sales of industry new light commercial vehicles (LCV), bakkies and mini-buses at 11 977 units during January 2017 reflected an improvement of 187 units or a gain of 1.6% compared to the 11 790 light commercial vehicles sold during the corresponding month last year."
This is especially enlightening given the strain the tough economic conditions placed on bakkie sales throughout 2016.
SA's best-selling bakkies for January 2017:
1. Ford Ranger - 2677 units
2. Toyota Hilux - 2398
3. Nissan NP200 - 1150
4. Nissan Hardbody - 1062
5. Isuzu KB - 772
6. Chevrolet Ute - 609
7. Toyota Land Cruiser pick-up - 286
8. Volkswagen Amarok - 237
9. Mahindra Scorpio pick-up - 101
10. Mahindra Bolero - 86
