Ford’s first electric bakkie, the F-150 Lightning, won’t be coming to South Africa in an official capacity any time soon as it will only be built in left-hand drive (LHD) for the foreseeable future.
However, if you really want one of these American pickups, you can still get one, and you can even get it in right-hand drive (RHD).
Sri Lanka-based automotive converter Autogroup International recently announced that it has added the F-150 Lightning to its roster of vehicles.
The company has been in the business of converting LHD cars to RHD since 2003 and counts buyers from over 40 countries as its customers, including South Africa.
Autogroup allows one to buy virtually any Lightning model available in the United States – XLT, Flash, Lariat, or Platinum – all of which boast unique features and performance statistics based on their positioning in the line-up.
After you have made your choice, the bakkie is ordered from the supplier and shipped to Sri Lanka where it’s transformed into the RHD car of your dreams, and then sent to South Africa.
Autogroup manages all logistics and international sea freight to its government-approved HQ in Sri Lanka, the LHD-to-RHD conversion process, homologation, and export to your destination country including customs clearance, it said.
This process, on average, takes anywhere from three to 10 weeks, depending on the vehicle and factory waitlist.
What it all costs
So what does all this cost? I imagine you asking.
Well, Autogroup doesn’t like talking about that. We’ve enquired on pricing for various other conversions in the past, and a response remained elusive.
Nevertheless, we can always guesstimate.
In the US of A, the Lightning sells from a base price of $62,995 which equates to just over 1.1 million of your finest South African rands.
However, you won’t be getting one from Ford yourself, rather, Autogroup will source a Lightning on your behalf through its trusted channels, which, presumably, comes at a cost.
You’ll also have to flip the bill for flying the bakkie to Sri Lanka, the conversion process, shipping it to South Africa, and homologation, all of which will be accounted for in the final quote.
Autogroup doesn’t list its conversion fees nor those related to ferrying the vehicle all over the world, though these things are usually quite expensive.
MyBroadband recently did the calculation and found that import tariffs alone will tack another R760,000 to the price of the Lightning. Sri Lanka has more or less the same import tariff structures as South Africa, so we can double already add R1.5 million to the bill before the conversion even starts.
This process will then cost roughly $35,000, or R620,000, based on the rates provided by other converters.
You’re therefore looking at a cost of over R3.2 million to get a right-hand-drive F-150 Lightning in your South African driveway.
Fair warned, should you follow this route, the bakkie will lose all factory warranty and service plans.
Join the discussion