Johannesburg - It has been an eventful few years to say the least, full of occurrences that have impacted new car supply and created shortages.
Pandemic lockdowns shuttered manufacturing plants across the world, and semi-conductor supply constraints continue to have a ripple effect. In 2022, new challenges arose, foremost among these the war in Europe with its knock-on effect on supply chains.
Closer to home, floods in KwaZulu-Natal devastated one of the country’s largest car manufacturing plants, which produces the country’s most popular bakkie, the Toyota Hilux, and the country has been in the grip of rolling power shortages, further impacting supply.
Unsurprisingly, bakkie devotees are turning to the used car market to score their beloved bakkies.
“Bakkies continue to retain the title for the highest searches when combining both single and double-cabs,” says AutoTrader CEO George Mienie. “In the first half of the year, the most searched for bakkies in both the single- and double-cab category were the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, Volkswagen Amarok and Toyota Landcruiser.” Searches are an indicator of popularity, of course.
The two bakkie body-types have a different market appeal, and different pricing structure, with the less costly single cab workhorses focusing on maximum load space and double-cabs having taken on a level of sophistication that has found appeal with families, the lifestyle-orientated and the trendy.
But despite ageing, these popular and robust bakkies, both single- and double-cabs, continue to hold their value… in some instances even gaining value.
Comparing AutoTrader January 2022 prices to August 2022 prices, it appears that bakkie shoppers will likely pay a similar price, or even a somewhat elevated price for a bakkie that has aged a further six months.
A case in point is the single-cab Toyota Landcruiser which in January listed for an average price of R643 129. In August, same year models with almost identical average mileages to those of January listed for an average price of just under R700 000.
It’s a similar scenario in the double-cab space, where the average price of a Toyota Hilux rose by 12%, or over R63 000, from R513 992 to R577 730.
And despite ageing six months, both Ford Ranger and VW Amarok same year models with similar mileages, gained in value, the Ranger experiencing an uplift of R38 700 and the Amarok R34 700.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months, with the new versions of both of these bakkies due soon, while the Toyota Hilux supply situation is set to improve following the reopening of Toyota’s Prospecton plant.