10 best-selling bakkies in South Africa: September 2022

Here’s a look at the list of South Africa’s best-selling bakkies for September 2022, which shows some movement on the podium as well as – rather unusually – a new entrant to the top 10…

September 2022 saw South Africa’s new-vehicle market put in another resilient performance, with industry sales increasing 10.8% year on year to 47 786 units. The country’s light-commercial vehicle segment (which includes bakkies) enjoyed even stronger growth, closing the month with year-on-year gains of 14.9% to reach 12 573 registrations.

So, what does that mean for our list of SA’s best-selling bakkies? Well, the Prospecton-built Toyota Hilux – which recently had its range bolstered by the arrival of the 165 kW GR-Sport derivative – was once again the star of the show, with 2 842 units registered in September. Though this figure was down somewhat on the number of registrations achieved in August, it still suggests Toyota’s factory in KwaZulu-Natal is almost back to full production capacity.

Meanwhile, the Struandale-produced Isuzu D-Max (1 968 units) came just short of cracking the 2 000-unit mark (its maker reports a combined figure that includes Gen 6 sales) but managed to climb one spot to second. That saw the outgoing version of the Ford Ranger – which will soon be replaced by the likewise Silverton-manufactured new-generation model – fall a place to third, with 1 604 units sold.

Toyota Land Cruiser 79 double cab
Toyota’s Land Cruiser 79 enjoyed another strong month, moving up to seventh place.

Though the Nissan NP200 (1 198 units), Mahindra Pik Up (666 units) and Nissan Navara (450 units) each lost a few sales compared with their performances in the preceding month, they managed to hang on to their fourth, fifth and sixth places, respectively. The Toyota Land Cruiser 79, however, put in an even stronger showing than it did in August, with its 403 registrations seeing it climb a position to seventh.

The GWM Steed (365 units) thus fell one place to eighth, while the Volkswagen Amarok (168 units) found itself a spot higher than usual in ninth. Finally, the Mitsubishi Triton (which is now offered in limited-edition Heritage form) entered the top 10 despite a sales figure of only 72 units, largely thanks to registrations of the normally popular GWM P-Series mysteriously plunging to a mere 36 units in September 2022. We can only speculate the Chinese brand’s local division is experiencing a few supply headaches at the moment.

Best of the rest in September 2022

GWM P-Series single cab
The GWM P-Series (seen here in single-cab guise) found itself outside of the top 10.

So, what about the bit-part players? Well, JAC’s T-badged bakkies (the company reports a combined figure for the T6 and T8 models) ended the month on 72 units, while the Mahindra Bolero managed a final tally of 32 units, putting it just behind the aforementioned P-Series. The Peugeot Landtrek contributed 21 sales to the Stellantis cause, putting it ahead of the Mazda BT-50 (7 units) and Jeep Gladiator (2 units).

Export winners in September 2022

Ford was once again at the very top of the export table, with a whopping 9 829 examples of its P375-generation Ranger shipped to overseas markets in September 2022. That puts it ahead of the Toyota Hilux (6 820 units); the Nissan Navara (596 units) and Isuzu D-Max (329 units) were next, while the Nissan NP200 (65) once again made up the numbers.