Discontinued Nissan NP200 bakkie hot property in used car market

The Nissan NP200, which bowed out of production as the last of the so-called half-ton bakkies earlier this year, is in high demand in the pre-owned space.

According to AutoTrader’s year-on-year data from September 2024, the used Nissan NP200 sold for the month showed an incredible 43.9% increase. What makes this even more remarkable is that overall pre-owned sales in September fell by 9.6% year-on-year.

Other models that also enjoyed an upward curve for the month are the Suzuki Swift (+21.7%), the VW Polo Vivo (10.7%) and the Toyota Starlet (+5.6%).

Reasons for growth

“While used car sales have seen a decline in September 2024, several models have seen growth in the used car market,” said AutoTrader CEO George Mienie.

“The sales uptick for used cars like the Suzuki Swift, Toyota Starlet, Volkswagen Polo Vivo and Nissan NP200 highlight the strong demand for well-priced, fuel-efficient vehicles.”

The Nissan NP200 was the last of a long line of half-tonners which includes the likes of the Ford Bantam, Opel Corsa/GM Utility, Mazda Rustler, Proton Arena, Fiat Strada and VW Caddy bakkie.

Since its production ended at the Nissan assembly plant in Rosslyn its vacant space has been absorbed by a variety of other commercial offerings. These include regular half-ton bakkies, the Suzuki Super Carry and Eeco and the Hyundai Grand i10 Cargo.

Nissan NP200 successor on the table

Nissan has since indicated that it plans to build a second bakkie alongside the Navara in Rosslyn. This could be a half-tonner bases on the Renault Niagara, but production as not set to start before 2027.

The top three best-selling pre-owned car in Mzansi in September where the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux and VW Polo.

ALSO READ: PODCAST: Rosslyn plant ready to build Nissan NP200 successor?

The brand recording the most used cars sales during the month is Toyota, followed by Volkswagen and Ford. Yet all three’s used sales went down year-on-year. Toyota’s decrease was only 2%, with VW showing an 8% decline and Ford a massive 13% slump.

AutoTrader data for September also shows that the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series experiences the biggest year-on-year decreases.