Best bakkies in SA
Best bakkies in SA
By Lawrence Minnie
As far as lifestyle and brand bias go, South Africans will argue to the death over which manufacturer makes the best Light Commercial Vehicle or “bakkie, as we South Africans affectionately call it.
We decided to do some digging and rank the best bakkies available in South Africa as new models, according to the biggest indicator of all: total sales volume. The ranking is by total units sold to date this year as of March 2018, and we start at 12, with the least amount of units sold. We’ll end with a special mention to those we have lost and to those that are about to change the game.
Units sold – 19
Units sold – 44
Units sold – 98
Units sold – 163
Units sold – 176
Units sold – 196
Units sold – 262
Units sold – 447
Units sold - 1273
10. Nissan NP
Units sold – 1562
Units sold – 2753
Units sold – 3825
Special Mentions
Datsun 1400 – Everyone remembers the 1400 - you either had one or had a friend or family member that had one, these die hard little work horses were eventually phased out in favour the NP series in the late 90’s
Chevrolet UTE – GM recently ceased production of the Chevrolet UTE or Opel Corsa bakkie as it was known locally, handing the total market share to Nissan for the NP200. These UTEs were a favourite of businesses (as delivery vehicles) that didn’t require transportation of loads more than 800kgs. We were sorry to see them go and hope that Isuzu might pick up the torch for them locally.
Merc X Class – The X Class will be landing on our shores soon and its anyone’s guess as to how this will affect the list. We highly doubt that it’s going to unseat the top four, but it is definitely going to give the likes of the Nissan Navara and VW Amarok a hard time.