Renault’s application to trademark the “Niagara” badge in South Africa suggests the production version of this concept bakkie may well be in the planning for Mzansi…
Back in October 2023, Renault whipped the wraps off an intriguing bakkie called the Niagara Concept. Now, Cars.co.za can confirm that the French automaker’s application to trademark the “Niagara” badge in South Africa is pending.
Fascinatingly, the Boulogne-Billancourt-based brand made the local filing in August 2023, a couple of months before the concept’s unveiling. At the time of writing in early May 2024, the application’s status was still listed as “pending” (bear in mind it generally takes at least 2 years to register a trademark in South Africa).
Of course, Renault’s filing is by no means proof that it will indeed use the Niagara badge in Mzansi; there’s still the ever-present hurdle of securing right-hand-drive production, after all. As a reminder, the company registered the “Duster Oroch” nameplate locally in April 2016 (having started the process back in March 2014), before applying to reserve the “Oroch” badge in January 2023.
As you’re no doubt aware, the Oroch bakkie has thus far failed to materialise in South Africa, despite long being in the planning for a local introduction (since at least 2016, in fact). Though we initially believed the production version of the Niagara concept would slot in above the Oroch, it’s now looking more likely to serve as a direct successor to this almost-decade-old model.
So, what do we know about the Niagara? Well, like the Oroch, it’s a unibody rather than ladder-frame bakkie, though in this case it rides on a new Renault Group modular platform that is expected to underpin a wide variety of upcoming vehicles (including the already revealed Kardian small crossover that’s seemingly off the menu for Mzansi).
Vehicles using this platform will be assembled in 4 industrial regions: Latin America, Türkiye, Morocco and India. Considering the popularity of unibody bakkies in markets such as Brazil, we’d expect the Niagara to be produced in Latin America, just like the Oroch.
Renault claims the flexibility of this fresh architecture – which has what the automaker describes as “an international scope” – will allow it to underpin vehicles measuring between 4 and 5 metres long, while also accommodating a broad range of powertrains (from internal combustion engines to mild- and conventional hybrids).
As we’ve previously reported, a Nissan-badged version of the likely half-tonne Niagara – courtesy of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance – is also very much on the cards. This model could, in theory at least, replace the NP200 half-tonner that went out of production at Rosslyn in March 2024.
When will we see the production version of the Niagara Concept? Well, Renault has said we can expect various models riding on this new platform to launch “by 2027”. And, judging by this trademark application, the automaker’s distributor in South Africa appears to have put up its hand…
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