The Felicity Ace shortly before it sank in March.
The South African motoring industry in 2022 proved once again that Mzansi is undoubtedly bakkie country.
While there were lots of activity in the SUV, hatchback and sedan segments, it was the bakkies that got the most attention.
Bakkie news spanned from Peugeot’s re-entry into the segment by virtue of the Landtrek, the first Jeep bakkie in the form of the Gladiator and the hottest production Toyota Hilux yet to the all-new Isuzu D-Max, Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok.
In fact, five of the 10 most popular motoring topics on The Citizen’s website this year were bakkies. Over the last 10 days of December, The Citizen Motoring looks back at these five along with the rest of the top 10 Motoring Newsmakers of 2022.
The second most-read online motoring topic in 2022 was the sinking of the Felicity Ace cargo ship. It sank in the Atlantic Ocean six days into its trip from Germany to the United States after a fire broke out which could not be contained.
Although the 22 crew members were rescued, the Felicity Ace took with it 3 965 vehicles, mostly from the Volkswagen Group, to the ocean floor estimated to be 3 000 metres below the surface.
The list included 590 Porsches, 165 Bentleys and 85 Lamborghinis of which 15 were Aventador Ultimaes, including the last non-electrically assisted V12 the Raging Bull built.
The ship also carried a rare 1996 Honda Prelude SiR, the 65th model of the fifth and last generation and an even rarer 1977 Land Rover which was made under licence by Spanish marque Santana.
The total damage was estimated at $438 million of which the cars made up all of $401 million.
The rest of our 2022 Motoring Newsmakers are:
No 10 – New Range Rover rolls in
No 8 – Kona N the new Golf GTI killer
No 7 – Isuzu outguns Hilux and Ranger
No 6 – Sehol SUV the butt of all jokes
No 5 – New Ford Ranger arrives
No 3 – Peugeot bakkie short on breath
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