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A new report on the United States suggests that Ford is working hard to develop a new small unibody bakkie that, if it were finally offered in South Africa, would serve as a long-awaited replacement for the half-ton of Bantam. .
According to Automobile Magazine the Blue Ovale brand plans to introduce the new model by 2022, placing it below the Ranger.
The sources of the publication suggest that the new unibody pickup will be built on the latest Focus platform, and serves to replace the Brazilian built Courier (and Fiesta). The latter, of course, was linked to the locally offered Bantam bakkie, although its load and door box design differed.
Interestingly, the report speculates that the new bakkie will be slightly larger than the Courier (and therefore the Bantam), but smaller than the Ranger to scale. Automobile Magazine believes that the van will be built at the brand's Cuautitlan plant in Mexico, where a Focus-based crossover should also be produced.
The Ford Bantam launched in South Africa 1983 and came out of production at the end of 2011. It was also offered as a Mazda wearing the Rustler badge. With the Fiat Strada and Chevrolet Utility also leaving the local shores, the only player currently offered in the half-ton bakkie segment in South Africa is the Nissan NP200.
Article written by Ryan Bubear
Ryan has spent most of his career in online media writing about everything from sports to politics and other forms of crime. But his true pbadion – revived by a 1971 Austin Mini Mk3 still tucked away in a dark corner of his garage – is of the automotive variety.
Follow @Ryan_Bubear on Twitter.
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