South Africa hosting preview of new Mahindra bakkie on 15 August

In a surprise development, Mahindra has released a short teaser video providing the first glimpse of the replacement for its venerable Pik Up bakkie.

Watch teaser below

Get ready to go global.

Experience freedom. Break boundaries. Our new Global Pik Up vision is ready to be unleashed. #Futurescape #GoGlobal

📌Cape Town, South Africa
🗓️15th August, 2023 pic.twitter.com/5BEDzDU9D2

— Mahindra Automotive (@Mahindra_Auto) July 29, 2023

While only expected to enter series production in 2025 and not 2026 as alleged last month, the 19 second clip posted on X, formerly Twitter, shows little of the newcomer’s exterior, apart from confirming the reveal date as 15 August in Cape Town.

Importance of South Africa

A date that coincides with Independence Day in India, the reveal reportedly forms part of Mahindra’s strategy to exhibit or preview incoming models in former Commonwealth nations, which last year involved debuting a number of new electric vehicles in the United Kingdom.

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The decision on selecting South Africa being as a result of the brand’s skyrocketing sales based around production of the current Pik Up taking place in Durban, plus importance of the local market as a whole, the clip goes further by describing the new bakkie as a “global pik up vision” and one that will “break boundaries” once revealed.

Scorpio-N as base

Although not named outright, Autocar India reports that the next generation Pik Up, known internally as Z121, will be called Scorpio-N Pik Up in reference to being based on the same body-on-frame platform as the Scorpio-N SUV that went on-sale in South Africa earlier this year.

A move that comes as little surprise based on the current iteration being spun-off of the original Scorpio, renamed as the Scorpio Classic in India, the Scorpio-N Pik Up will replace the current model that went on-sale 17 years ago as the Scorpio Getaway, and which has been marketed in South Africa as the Mahindra Pik Up since 2017.

“This is a product not being engineered for India, but a platform and a product being truly engineered as a global pick-up,” Mahindra’s Global Automotive Head Veejay Nakra told Australia carexpert.com.au in an interview when asked about the Z121 last month.

“We will use it as a base and then whatever we need to do to make it relevant for the markets that we will take it to, we will do it on that platform. That process is already done”.

Aimed at Hilux and Ranger

Reportedly aimed at the Ford Ranger, Isuzu D-Max, Volkswagen Amarok, the new Mitsubishi Triton and the 2025 bound new Toyota Hilux, the Scorpio-N Pik Up will initially be powered by an internal combustion engine, more than likely the 2.2-litre mHawk turbodiesel that makes 96kW/300Nm and 128kW/370Nm in the Scorpio-N SUV.

Clock is ticking

With just over two weeks still remaining, expectations are that more details regarding the “Scorpio-N Pik Up” could emerge within the coming days.

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