10 best-selling bakkies in South Africa: April 2023

In HotWheels
May 4, 2023
Editor
14 Views
0 comments

The Toyota Hilux has been toppled – but only just! Let’s take a closer at South Africa’s best- and worst-selling bakkies for April 2023…

Despite South Africa’s overall new-vehicle market shrinking slightly year on year to 37 107 units in April 2023, the light-commercial segment (where volume is driven primarily by bakkies) posted 11% growth, ending the month on 10 611 units.

The big news, though, is the fact the Ford Ranger grabbed the monthly sales crown from the vehicle that has long been South Africa’s strongest seller. Yes, the Toyota Hilux found itself in an unfamiliar 2nd place in April 2023, with the Japanese bakkie’s total of 2 187 units seeing it finish a mere 14 registrations behind the Ranger (2 201 units).

The Ranger clinched the top spot despite the Blue Oval brand’s Silverton facility grappling with production interruptions in April owing to vandalised electricity pylons in Pretoria. In addition, the Hilux benefited from 315 sales to the rental industry last month, while Ford moved just 13 Ranger units through this channel.

For the record, the last time the Ranger outsold the Hilux was in July 2022, when Toyota’s Prospecton factory was still out of commission thanks to the devastating KwaZulu-Natal floods. According to our maths, the Hilux remains well ahead in the year-to-date race, having sold 12 211 units compared with the Ranger’s 7 523 units.

The close-fought Ford-Toyota battle at the very top saw the Struandale-built Isuzu D-Max – which slumped from March’s 2 289 units to 1 183 units in April – drop a place to 3rd, quite some way off the pace. In a protracted market, almost all contenders shed sales month on month, though the Nissan NP200 (910 units) and Mahindra Pik Up (548 units) managed to remain in 4th and 5th place, respectively.

The Toyota Land Cruiser 79 (369 units) climbed a position to 6th, with the 2nd-generation Volkswagen Amarok (339 units) close behind in 7th (also a spot up on March’s effort). The GWM P-Series (257 units) was likewise up a place to 8th (a facelifted version was recently revealed in China), with the Rosslyn-built Nissan Navara (218 units) falling 3 positions to 9th. The Mitsubishi Triton (71 units) returned to the table to seize the final spot.

Best of the rest in April 2023

*The GWM Steed fell from the top 10 in April 2023.*

So, what about the bakkies that failed to crack the top 10? Well, local sales of the GWM Steed fell to 68 units, which saw it pushed off the table by the Triton. The Jeep Gladiator, meanwhile, finished April on 11 units, ahead of the Peugeot Landtrek (10 units), Mazda BT-50 (7 units) and Mahindra Bolero (4 units).

Meanwhile, JAC’s T-badged bakkies – the Chinese automaker unfortunately reports a combined figure for its T6 and T8 line-ups – ended the month on a total of 30 units.

Bakkie export winners in April 2023

*Nearly 7 000 examples of the Toyota Hilux were shipped overseas in April 2023.*

What about the bakkie export market? Well, the figures suggest Toyota SA Motors prioritised exports over local sales in April 2023, sending 6 918 examples of the Prospecton-built Hilux overseas, a heady month-on-month increase of 3 330 units. That saw the Ranger fall to 2nd, as 2 951 units were shipped from Silverton.

The D-Max (603 units), Navara (302 units) and NP200 (21 units) again made up the numbers on the export charts. The official Naamsa report interestingly also showed a handful of imported models being exported from local shores in April 2023, in the form of the P-Series (15 units), Triton (10 units) and Steed (3 unit).