The Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max have sat at South Africa’s top bakkie table for a long time. But an interesting fight is developing further down the food chain.
During April and May, the GWM P-Series has displaced the Mahindra Pik Up as Mzansi’s fourth best-selling bakkie. The Pik-Up held the fourth position for many years, too far behind the Isuzu to have any hope of catching the top three and comfortably ahead of the likes of the P-Series, Nissan Navara and VW Amarok.
GWM P-Series makes move
In March, 1 037 new Mahindra bakkies were sold compared to the 785 P-Series units. But when Mahindra sales tumbled to 563 in April, the P-Series swooped in with 588 units. The Pik-Up did recover somewhat in May with sales of 632, but the GWM P-Series‘ sales also increased to 689.
The Toyota led the way last month with sales of 2 488, followed by the Ford Ranger’s 2 073. Isuzu held on to third place despite its sales falling to 1 009, which was to be expected shortly before this month’s introduction of the new D-Max.
Following the P-Series and the Pik-Up in sixth place in May was the Toyota Land Cruiser PU with 466 units sold. The VW Amarok, built alongside the Ranger at the Ford assembly plant in Silverton, followed closely in seventh place with 417.
Top 10 tightly contested
The rest of the top 10 best-selling was a close affair. The Nissan Navara (288) edged out the JAC T-Series (261) and Peugeot Landtrek (230). The Foton Tunland (171) just missed out on the top 10.
Making steady progress is South Africa’s fastest production bakkie, the BYD Shark. It recorded sales of 94, 108 and 136 respectively in March, April and May.
Sales numbers of the JMC Vigus Pro and the JMC Vigus is not available yet. It should also make for interesting reading once included in the near future.
