We’ve laid our paws on detailed Naamsa figures and picked out the country’s best-selling bakkies for the month. Here’s what you need to know!

While the year-on-year sales performance of South Africa’s total new vehicle market fell 3.5% in December 2021, the decline was a little more aggressive in the light-commercial space at 16.6%. This part of the market, of course, is dominated by bakkies, with a handful of dropside workhorses and commercial vans thrown in for good measure.

Here, we’ll concentrate on exactly how the individual players in the traditional bakkie market fared in the final month of 2021. We’ve combed through the statistics to identify the models that proved most popular with local buyers as well as those that found themselves languishing at the very foot of the table.

Predictably, the venerable Toyota Hilux was the strongest-selling bakkie in December, with 2 426 units registered. The Prospecton-built Hilux finished 2021 with a considerable tally of 36 085 units, again making it the country’s top-selling vehicle by quite some margin. With a new flagship GR-S version set to hit the market towards the middle of the year, the Hilux’s crushing dominance shows no signs of abating.

Despite a new model being just a few months away, the old D-Max continues to sell well.

Despite its advanced age and the fact a new-generation version is scheduled to (finally!) launch in the second quarter of 2022, the Struandale-produced Isuzu D-Max snaffled second spot for the second month on the trot, with its total of 1 247 units putting it 318 sales ahead of the third-placed Ford Ranger, which ended the month on lower-than-usual 929 units. It’s worth noting the current Ranger will soldier on until late in 2022, when the new version (complete with V6 power) is expected to start rolling off the upgraded Silverton line for the local market.

GWM’s P-Series (724 units) continued its strong run, again grabbing an impressive fourth place, while the Nissan NP200 – long the sole surviving half-tonne bakkie on the local market and thus virtually unchallenged in its sub-segment – moved up one spot to fifth with a solid 565 units.

Meanwhile, the facelifted Nissan Navara (477 units) fell one place to sixth, with the Rosslyn-built bakkie ending up just a handful of units ahead of the seventh-placed Mahindra Pik Up (463 units). Toyota’s evergreen Land Cruiser 79 range – which now includes a pair of 70th Anniversary Edition derivatives – was eighth with 163 units, pushing the recently upgraded GWM Steed (138 units) down to ninth.

The Volkswagen Amarok – which will be replaced by an as-yet-unrevealed second-generation model based on the new Ranger and likewise produced right here in South Africa – rounded out the top 10 with 124 examples registered.

Best of the rest in December 2021

So, what about the bit-part players? Well, the Mahindra Bolero found 52 buyers in December. Peugeot registered 38 units of its Landtrek in what was the Chinese-built bakkie’s first full month on sale, enough to put it just ahead of the often-overlooked Mitsubishi Triton (32). The Mazda BT-50, meanwhile, continued to disappoint on the sales charts, with the imported D-Max-based bakkie settling for a mere 14 units for the month.

Export winners in December 2021

While the Ranger found itself quite some way off the pace in terms of local sales in the final month of 2021, its export figure of 5 093 units wasn’t far behind the Hilux’s tally of 5 771 units. The D-Max (292) was third in the export race, ahead of the facelifted Navara (232). Interestingly, Nissan also shipped off 158 examples of its Hardbody – a model that has since been discontinued locally – during the month.

10 best-selling bakkies in South Africa for December 2021

1. Toyota Hilux – 2 426 units

2. Isuzu D-Max – 1 247 units

3. Ford Ranger – 929 units

4. GWM P-Series – 724 units

5. Nissan NP200 – 565 units

6. Nissan Navara – 477 units

7. Mahindra Pik Up – 463 units

8. Toyota Land Cruiser 79 – 163 units

9. GWM Steed – 138 units

10. Volkswagen Amarok – 124 units