The South African motorcycle industry in 2022 proves once again that Mzansi is definitely a bakkie country.
While there is a lot of activity in the SUV, hatchback and sedan segments, bakkies are the most popular. Bakkie news starts from Peugeot’s re-entry into the segment with the Landtrek, the first Jeep bakkie in Gladiator shape and the hottest production Toyota Hilux to the Isuzu D-Max, Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok.
In fact, five of the 10 most popular motoring topics The Warga‘s website this year they bakkies. During the last 10 days of December, Citizen Motoring look back at these five along with the rest of the Top 10 Motoring Newsmakers 2022.
Hilux is the hottest production
Considering Mzansi’s obsession with bakkies, the most popular motorcycle story online in 2022 is not surprising. The best-selling production version of South Africa’s best-selling bakkie, the Toyota Hilux GR-Sport (GR-S), has been attracting serious interest since it was announced in February.
The locally built Toyota Hilux GR-S was originally due to launch in May, but production was put on hold when Toyota’s Prospecton assembly plant was shut down due to flood damage in April.
With the factory reopening for production in August, the hot Hilux is back on track and finally rolled out in September.
Power Toyota Hilux GR-S
The Toyota Hilux GR-S is powered by a 2.8-liter turbodiesel engine like the others, but it has 15 kW of power over its sibling’s 150 kW. Along with the added power, the GR-S also comes with tweaked suspension and styling improvements.
With the arrival of the new Ford Ranger this month and the new VW Amarok early next year, the local bakkie segment is going strong.
The rest of the 2022 Motoring Newsmakers are:
No 10 – New Range Rover rolls on
No 9 – VW Amarok shows its face
No 8 – The new Kona N killer Golf GTI
No 7 – Isuzu outguns Hilux and Ranger
No. 6 – Sehol SUV butt all the jokes
No. 5 – New Ford Ranger arrives
No 4 – Kyalami flings with F1
No. 3 – Peugeot bakkie is short of breath
No. 2 – Luxury cars sleep with fish