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Cape Town - The latest sales data confirms that South Africans prefer to buy, well, South African.
With the overall bakkie market up by double figures year-on-year, September could be considered a good month for the automotive industry. For some, though, it was an incredibly good month.
Championing the notion that local is lekker, some of the best-selling vehicles last month were also built locally, bolstering job security and economic activity. Here are the bakkies that are rebuilding South Africa’s economy – built by South Africans.
Toyota Hilux - 3995 units in September 2017
A spectacular month for the Prospecton facility in Durban. Toyota dealers managed to deliver nearly 4000 new bakkies to owners in September. What makes that number especially impressive is when it is viewed in context with Hilux’s closest rival, Ford’s Ranger. Statistically, Toyota managed to sell nearly two Hilux bakkies for each new Ranger. Exports were excellent too, accounting for a further 4871 bakkies, giving Toyota a cumulative production number of 8866.
Image: Motorpress
Ford Ranger - 2337
Silverton built 2337 Rangers for South African customers in September, not an insignificant number, but way short of Toyota’s local sales. Domestic sales are only half Ford’s strategy, though. With the Rand vulnerable in September (as it is now), Ford ramped its export production, to ensure the best possible business case for Ranger. As such, they exported an amazing 7746 Ranger, allowing the Silverton factory to claim a victory of sorts over Toyota, with total bakkie production of 10083.
Image: Quickpic
Nissan NP200 - 1638
Can a front-wheel drive bakkie ever really be considering a bakkie? Philosophical questions aside, Nissan’s factory is close to Ford’s, and the Rosslyn line built a not insignificant 1638 NP200s for South African small business owners in September. Obviously, there’s a very limited export potential for NV200, due to its size and FWD configuration, but Nissan did manage to secure orders for 90 of these compact bakkies, from beyond South Africa’s borders.
Image: Motorpress
Isuzu KB - 1440
This was always going to be a difficult year for Isuzu, with the restructuring of its local production and dealer network. That said, the brand which is more bakkie than any other – it’s all they sell, after all – didn’t have a terrible ninth month of 2017. With only 1440 units, Isuzu is hardly going to bother Toyota or Ford, but what is concerning, are the export numbers. A mere 300 Isuzus were built for export, which means that the Port Elizabeth factory only produced 1740 KBs in total last month – which is a bit low.
Image: Wheels24
Nissan NP300 - 947
Another Nissan? Indeed. Fifth place goes to the ‘proper’ bakkie product assembled by Nissan South Africa. If you like your bakkies honest, slightly utilitarian and charmingly uncomplicated, well, NP300 manages to find the intersection point between price and loadability for a great many. Rosslyn produced 947 NP300s for its dealer network to distribute in September, with a further 12 being exported.
Image: Motorpress
