Where three players have for years been used to taking 95% of half-ton bakkie sales, the rules have suddenly changed. The arrival of Fiat and Proton’s small pickups has caused a moderate stir, and Ford, General Motors and Nissan will in future all have to work harder for smaller slices of the growing sub-one-ton pie.
Ford and GM are unlikely to give up without a fight, while Nissan’s evergreen 1400 pickup plods stolidly but successfully on in basically unaltered form, month after month.
Volkswagen’s Golf I derived pickup seems destined to be pensioned off soon, with about 75 vehicles being sold each month.
Bantam gets a face-lifted
Hot on the heels of its brand-new Focus and face-lifted Fiesta, Ford has given the Bantam bakkie a nip-and-tuck. The range is made up of the 1.3i, 1.3i XL, 1.6i, 1.6 XLT and 1.6 XLE, priced at between R77Â 950 and R127Â 600. The face-lift involves new head- and tail-light design, a revised front grille, new mud flaps and restyled rear bumpers. Further changes include:
- Body colour exterior door handles (XLE)
- New rear step bumper and new body side mouldings (1.3i XL, 1.6i XLT, 1.6i XLE)
- New wheel lip mouldings (FR, RR) (1.3i XL, 1.6i XLT, 1.6i XLE)
- New fog lamps (1.6i XLE)
- New alloy wheels (1.3i XL, 1.6i XLT, 1.6i XLE)
- New seat fabrics and door trim panels
- New cloth and sliding backlite on base
- New PVC floor mats (1.6i XLE)
- New remote central locking (1.6i XLT, 1.6i XLE)
The factory blurb says that the Bantam, with its 650kg payload and car-like on-road performance, hopes to do well with small businessmen and the corporate sector. Emphasis has been placed on comfort and convenience features to help make the little pickup an equally popular choice with private buyers.
Mechanically the Bantam remains unchanged, driven by locally manufactured RoCam power plants, with two engine variations to choose from. The 1,3-litre RoCam produces 55kW @ 5Â 500rpm and 110Nm @ 3Â 000rpm, while the 1,6-litre RoCam unit offers 70kW at 5Â 500rpm and 137Nm from 2Â 500rpm.
Who sold what in April?
Opel led the way, with 1Â 765 Corsa and Corsa Lite bakkie sales, followed by Ford, which moved 1Â 071 Bantams. The ancient but still popular Nissan 1400 pickup managed a respectable 701 sales, while Fiat sold 278 of its new Strada pickups.
VW scored below its monthly average, with just 54 Golf pickups finding homes. Proton does not reveal sales figures, but we’d guess that its sales reach between 200 and 300 a month.