Johannesburg - With unibody half-tonne bakkies like the Chevrolet Utility, Ford Bantam and Fiat Strada all having departed in the last decade, the segment is currently left with just one player in the form of the Nissan NP200.
But that’s set to change in 2023 as Renault South Africa is planning to launch a single cab version of the Oroch.
Renault has wanted to bring the Oroch to local shores for some time now, but it’s currently only built in left-hand drive format for Brazil. The latter is based on the previous-generation Duster, but we suspect the model coming to South Africa is based on the newer-generation Dacia/Renault Duster. Of course, we can only speculate for now as Renault SA has yet to confirm any of the details surrounding its new bakkie offering.
But we suspect it could be something similar to the Dacia Duster single cab that was launched in Romania in 2017, albeit in limited numbers and produced in conjunction with coachbuilder Romturingia.
That vehicle had a 500kg payload and was powered by the familiar 1.5-litre dCi turbodiesel motor and was offered in 4WD guise with a 224mm ground clearance. It’s almost a given that most of the SA derivatives would be front-wheel driven in order to cater for cost conscious consumers.
If there was ever an inclination to build it in South Africa through Renault’s Alliance ties, then the Duster bakkie could also make a neat replacement for Nissan’s ageing NP200, which is in fact based on the older-generation Dacia Logan pick-up that the new Duster model supersedes.
But that’s enough speculation for now. While we will have to wait until 2023 for the bakkie, Renault has confirmed five other new model introductions for 2022. These include the all-new Renault Clio and Captur in the first half of the year as well as (TBC) model year updates for the Kwid, Triber and Trafic.