South African bakkie buyers are very brand loyal, which is why it would take a lot for a new bakkie brand to disrupt the establishment – many have tried and failed. However, there is a trio of new bakkies on the horizon – produced by Hyundai, Great Wall Motor (GWM) and LDV – that could change consumers' minds, because these bakkies offer something notably different to what's currently available in the market.

The upcoming secondgen Hyundai Santa Cruz will be built in righthanddrive guise, which will make it viable for our market. As it has a unibody platform, as opposed to a traditional ladderframe chassis, the Santa Cruz is not a workhorse, but a stylish and fairly practical lifestyle bakkie.

Read more about the nextgen Hyundai Santa Cruz
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Next up is the supersized GWM P500 doublecab, which is expected to arrive in South Africa at some point in 2024. The P500 is almost 5.5metres long and 2 metres wide, powered by a 2.0litre turbopetrol hybrid engine and will sit above the PSeries bakkie in GWM's local lineup.

Read more about the GWM P500
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And finally, Chinese bakkie brand LDV recently launched its T60 range in South Africa. The top versions of this keenly priced, attractively styled and wellspecced double cab is powered by a 2.0litre 4cylinder turbodiesel engine that is notably more powerful (160 kW) than the 2.0litre 4cylinder biturbodiesel in the Ford Ranger and the 2.8litre 4cylinder turbodiesel in the Toyota Hilux!

Read more about the LDV T60
https://www.cars.co.za/motoringnews/...