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• The Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger are two of SA's best-selling vehicles.
• These bakkies' double cab variants are favourites among local buyers.
• The Hilux and Ranger enjoy 35% and 33% of the double cab segment sales, respectively.
• For more motoring stories, go to www.Wheels24.co.za
The Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux are age-old rivals, with the two bakkies always coming to blows when sales are tallied. Month after month, the two segment leaders battle it out for sales supremacy, and it's always an interesting bag of results at the end of each calendar year.
2020, with all its drama and setbacks, was a year no different to the rest, and was it again a fight to the end between two of South Africa's best-selling vehicles.
According to statistics released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa), the Hilux sold an impressive 31 263 units in 2020, while the Ranger managed 18 846. Interestingly, the Volkswagen Polo Vivo sold the second most vehicles in 2020, with 19 750 units leaving showroom floors. Impressive as these figures are, they could have been far higher had it not been for Covid-19.
The breakdown
In South Africa, most bakkie buyers are inclined to opt for the double cab variant, followed by single- and extended cab variants. As much as 57% of bakkie buyers purchased a double cab in 2020, equating to a figure of 43 422 units finding new owners. Single- and extended cab bakkies made up the bakkie market's remaining percentages: 32% (24 225 units) and 11% (8660 units).
The 'battle of the double cabs' between the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger is even closer than we're led to believe, with the two bakkies each enjoying a fair share of the pie. In 2020, the Hilux and Ranger had a 35% and 33% share of the double cab market, respectively, followed by the Isuzu D-Max (13%), the soon-to-be-discontinued Nissan NP300 (5%), and Volkswagen Amarok (4%). The other double cabs in South Africa made up the remaining 10% of sales last year.
WATCH: Hilux vs Ranger - SA's top-selling bakkies go head-to-head
Another interesting bit of data is which drivetrain double cab buyers opted for between 4x4 and 4x2. The Hilux registered 7746 4x2 units in 2020, whereas the Ranger bested it with a sales figure of 9250 units. However, the Hilux clawed back some ground with its double cab 4x4 models, selling a total of 7590 units last year. The Ranger managed 5243 units of its 4x4 double cabs.
In total, Toyota sold 15 336 Hilux double cabs in 2020, while Ford managed to sell 14 493 Ranger double cabs. The difference: 843 units.
