Keywords: Light Commercial Vehicles
Tags: Ford
The locally assembled Ford Ranger remained one of South Africa’s most popular new vehicles and the country’s leading light commercial vehicle (LCV) export throughout 2020, despite the constrained economic climate, exacerbated by the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 18,846 Ford Rangers were sold in South Africa last year, placing it amongst the overall top three models on the local sales charts – with the number of units retailed recovering rapidly from June 2020 once the nationwide hard-lockdown was eased.
The Ranger recorded its peak sales for the 2020 year in September (2,188 units), October (2,203) and November (2,100) – thus reaffirming its position within the top two LCV contenders in the highly competitive South African market. This success was supported by the mid-year launch of the luxurious limited-edition Ranger Thunder, followed by the Ranger XL Sport in October – the latter adding a significant dose of style and appeal to Ford’s value-oriented Ranger XL line-up.
“Last year will certainly go down as one of the most challenging in history, and it impacted the automotive industry particularly hard, especially during the hard lockdown during which new vehicle sales almost ground to a halt, followed by the economic fall-out over the ensuing months,” says Neale Hill, MD of Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA). “This was reflected in the 29.1-percent decline in total market sales compared to 2019.
“However, the market showed remarkable resilience and began a rapid recovery as soon as the lockdown restrictions were eased, and we recorded our highest volumes for the Ford Ranger in September, October and November,” Hill adds.
A total of 45,790 Ford Rangers, produced at Ford’s Silverton Assembly Plant in Pretoria, were exported in 2020 – once again ranking it amongst the top two exported vehicles overall, and ensuring it remains the leading LCV export. November 2020 saw the highest monthly export volume of 6,920 vehicles, followed by September (6,681) and March (6,353).
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