VW Group Africa’s boss has revealed that an SA-built half-tonne bakkie derived from Kariega’s upcoming small SUV is looking “a bit more unlikely” than before…
Back in April 2023, the head of Volkswagen Group Africa told us “there is hope” that an SA-built half-tonne bakkie spun off the upcoming new small SUV could be produced at the Kariega plant. Now, however, she has revealed that such a scenario is – though “not decided” – a “bit more unlikely” than before.
Martina Biene, Chairperson and Managing Director of Volkswagen Group Africa, told Cars.co.za about these latest developments during a wide-ranging interview conducted in a custom-built podcast booth at Naamsa’s recent South African Auto Week 2024 in Cape Town.
Thanks to the Wolfsburg-based automaker’s R4-billion investment in its South African operations, production of the as-yet-unrevealed new small SUV (which VW refers to as the “A0 Entry SUV”) is scheduled to commence at the Kariega facility in the Eastern Cape in early 2027. But is the half-tonne bakkie spin-off still on the cards?
“Unfortunately, we are still investigating [the bakkie]. It was quite close that there would have been a model derived out of that car which we are bringing – the ‘A0 Entry SUV’ – which would be quite similar … up to the B-pillar, and we could derive a bakkie out of that. Unfortunately, our sister plant [in] Brazil has changed their mind on how they do it, so we are still rethinking,” Biene told us.
As a reminder, VW’s Brazilian division is leading “the design and development” of the left-hand-drive version of the upcoming small SUV, though the Kariega-built (right-hand-drive) iteration – which will be produced alongside the Polo hatch and Polo Vivo – will eventually be adapted to “local and continental requirements”, according to VW Group Africa.
Interestingly, in June 2024, Volkswagen announced a fresh investment in its São José dos Pinhais factory in Brazil, confirming plans to build a “new pick-up” at this plant. It’s worth noting that the Brazilian-spec version of the new small SUV is set to be produced not at that facility but at the Taubaté factory instead. This fact – alongside Biene’s latest comments – suggests the aforementioned new pick-up might not be as closely related to the “A0 Entry SUV” as we previously thought.
Still, Biene hasn’t ruled out the possibility of eventually building some sort of half-tonne bakkie in the Eastern Cape, calling on South Africans to make their voices heard should they be keen to buy such a vehicle.
“We are looking for a car – and that can be a half-tonne bakkie and I need a lot of listeners to vote for it – that we can sell approximately 50 000 times per year in Africa. Then we’ve got the right car for Africa. If this is a half-tonne bakkie, please let me know – please send us your orders – then we know already how [many] we can sell and then it’s something we can progress,” she said, adding that “it’s not decided but it’s also become a bit more unlikely”.
Of course, VW has offered a small bakkie in Mzansi before in the form of the Mk1 Golf-based Caddy, which traced its origins all the way back to 1978. Volkswagen’s facility in Kariega (then named Uitenhage) produced this model from 1981 until 2007.
In addition, the German firm currently has an SA-built bakkie in its range, since the 2nd-generation Amarok is manufactured by Ford alongside the latest Ranger at the Blue Oval brand’s Silverton factory in Gauteng.
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