10 best-selling bakkies in South Africa: January 2023

In HotWheels
February 3, 2023
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We’ve sorted through January 2023’s sales figures and identified South Africa’s best- and worst-selling bakkies for the opening month of the year…

South Africa’s new-vehicle market posted 4.8% of year-on-year growth in January 2023 to end the month on 43 509 units. The light-commercial vehicle segment, meanwhile, grew 10.4% to 10 622 units, which much of the volume coming courtesy of bakkies.

So, what happened on the list of SA’s best-selling bakkies? Well, there was a little movement. At the summit, however, the Prospecton-built Toyota Hilux picked up right where it left off in 2022, comfortably securing the top spot with 2 769 registrations in the opening month of the new year. As a reminder, the Japanese bakkie was the country’s most popular new vehicle last year, with a whopping 32 203 units sold (despite a 3-month production stoppage in KwaZulu-Natal).

The Struandale-produced Isuzu D-Max (1 273 units) improved its tally month on month to climb a position to 2nd, squeezing past the Ford Ranger (1 269 units), which fell to 3rd. It seems the Blue Oval brand’s gradual switchover to the new-generation Ranger – the single- and extended-cab derivatives will launch locally only in March, for instance – continued to impact its performance.

Nissan’s Rosslyn-manufactured NP200 (886 units) again found itself in 4th position, though the Mahindra Pik Up was a mere 67 units behind on 819 registrations. The evergreen Toyota Land Cruiser 79’s recent sales surge continued in January 2023, with its 468-unit tally enough to secure 6th place, a spot higher than it achieved in December.

That saw the Rosslyn-built Nissan Navara (351 units) drop a position to 7th, with the GWM P-Series (286 units) and GWM Steed (87 units) holding steady in 8th and 9th, respectively – despite a marked month-on-month fall in registrations for the latter. Finally, the Mitsubishi Triton (65 units) made a return to the top 10, grabbing the last slot on the list.

Best of the rest in January 2023

*VW’s outgoing Amarok fell from the top 10 in January 2023.*

What about the bakkies that failed to make the cut in January 2023? Well, with 51 units registered, the outgoing Volkswagen Amarok – which is due to be replaced by a Ranger-based, 2nd-generation model in the next couple of months – dropped out of the top 10.

The Mahindra Bolero (47 units) was right on the Amarok’s tail, while the Jeep Gladiator improved to 32 units (a figure matched by JAC’s T-badged bakkies, with the Chinese automaker reporting a combined figure for its T6 and T8 line-ups). Next came the Peugeot Landtrek (19 units), with the Mazda BT-50 (7 units) yet again bringing up the rear.

Bakkie export winners in January 2023

What happened on the bakkie export market? As many as 6 959 examples of the Hilux were shipped overseas in January 2023, pushing the Ranger (1 682 units) into the runner-up position. For the record, Ford says it has just commenced shipments of the new-generation model to international markets.

The D-Max (291 units), Navara (207 units) and NP200 (71 units) again made up the numbers on the export charts. As we’ve seen over the past few months, the official Naamsa report interestingly also showed a handful of imported models being exported in January 2023, in the form of the P-Series (23 units), Triton (8 units) and Steed (2 units).