The two-horse bakkie sales race was closely fought in 2016, with Toyota’s new Hilux beating the Ford Ranger by just under 3000 units when all the year’s totals had been tallied up.
Although it was a close race, technically Toyota’s one-tonne favourite has extended its lead over the Ford, which it beat by just 1775 units in 2015. Toyota launched an all-new Hilux in February last year, while the Ranger was facelifted in late 2015. Still, none of their rivals could even come close in outright sales terms, as you’ll see below:
1. Toyota Hilux
Total sold: 35 428
Best month: 3273 (Mar)
Worst month: 2260 (Feb)
Monthly average: 2952.3
2. Ford Ranger
Total sold: 32 468
Best Month: 3680 (Nov)
Worst month: 2260 (Feb)
Monthly average: 2705.7
3. Nissan NP200
Total sold: 12 616
Best Month: 1341 (Mar)
Worst month: 449 (Apr)
Monthly average: 1051.3
4. Isuzu KB
Total sold: 12 421
Best Month: 1424 (Aug)
Worst month: 598 (Jan)
Monthly average: 1035.1
5. Chevrolet Utility
Total sold: 12 252
Best Month: 1670 (Nov)
Worst month: 524 (Dec)
Monthly average: 1021
6. Nissan NP300 Hardbody
Total sold: 9963
Best Month: 1440 (Nov)
Worst month: 479 (Apr)
Monthly average: 830.2
7. Toyota Land Cruise PU
Total sold: 3709
Best Month: 392 (June)
Worst month: 185 (Dec)
Monthly average: 309.1
8. Volkswagen Amarok
Total sold: 3593
Best Month: 590 (Aug)
Worst month: 183 (Feb)
Monthly average: 299.4
9. Mahindra Scorpio Pik-Up
Total sold: 951
Best Month: 137 (Mar)
Worst month: 43 (Dec)
Monthly average: 79.2
10. Mahindra Bolero
Total sold: 889
Best Month: 98 (Jan)
Worst month: 41 (Dec)
Monthly average: 74.1
worst sellers of 2016
The bakkie that registered the least sales for the year, according to Naamsa, was the Changan Star with just seven sold during 2016 - in many months it wasn't even listed.
It was followed by the Ssangyong Actyon Sports (16), Nissan Patrol PU (31), JMC Vigus (73), JMC Boarding (93), Mahindra Genio (154), Tata Telcoline/Worker (161) and Tata Xenon (188).
What about the other one-tonners?
You might have noticed that a few of the traditional ‘mainstream’ one-tonners are missing from the top 10 list and there are various reasons for this.
Only 712 Nissan Navaras
were sold, for instance, but this was due to the previous-generation being in its run-out phase. The
, featuring coil-sprung rear suspension, is in fact quite overdue, but should hit our shores during the first half of this year.
Also delayed was
, which the company held off due to a weak rand (while the previous model ran out) but the wait will soon be over with the newcomer scheduled for launch at the end of January.
Another slow seller from 2016 was Mazda’s BT-50, of which just 661 were sold, but its fortunes could also change with the imminent release of the facelifted model. Incidentally the BT-50 will now be imported from Thailand rather than sourced from Ford’s local silverton plant.
Fiat’s Fullback
had a tough 2016 too, with just 257 of them finding homes during the year. It’s true that it was only launched mid-year, but even with that taken into account, the Triton-based Fiat sold just 37 a month. Currently only three derivatives are available, but a range expansion is thankfully on the horizon.
Will the Amarok make more friends in 2017?
Ford managed to sell more Rangers in its best month (3680 units in November) than VW sold Amaroks in the entire year (3593 units). But perhaps its popularity will grow with the release of the
around midyear, featuring a classier cabin and almost certainly sporting a V6 TDI engine option (the V6 is not yet confirmed for SA but we don't see why not).