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Wednesday / 12 February 2025
HomeFeaturesRenault cancels South African launch of compact Oroch bakkie – Here’s why

Renault cancels South African launch of compact Oroch bakkie – Here’s why

Renault has put a hold on the launch of its Duster-based Oroch bakkie in South Africa primarily due to the continued deterioration of the rand.

“One of the key factors that have made it challenging for us to competitively launch Oroch locally is the degradation of the exchange rate,” a spokesperson for the French automaker said in response to queries from TopAuto.

“The exchange rate influences and has a direct impact on competitive market pricing.”

In the three years since the Oroch was first confirmed for our market in early 2021, the rand has depreciated substantially against all major currencies.

Compared to the US dollar, it went from around R15/dollar in 2021 to well upwards of R18/dollar today. Versus the Euro, from R18 to over R20; and against the Pound, from R20 to R23.

The result is that the Renault bakkie would have been far more expensive to launch in 2024 than initially planned, which likely would have caused its sales volumes to be notably lower and not worth the investment to bring it to our roads.

The bright side, however, is that the Oroch isn’t binned for South Africa indefinitely.

“Until such a stage that market conditions improve (exchange rate) and are favourable to competitively launch Oroch locally, the project is on hold,” said the brand.

South Africa losing its last compact bakkie this year

The sad news that the Oroch is no longer coming to South Africa is indeed a blow to the local industry and the compact-bakkie segment.

Currently, there is only one small bakkie on the new-car market in the form of the Nissan NP200, but by the end of the year, there won’t be any left.

The NP200 is being discontinued in March as it has reached the end of its extended 16-year lifecycle, and initially, Nissan had a replacement in line but this has also been shelved for the foreseeable future due to the conflict in Eastern Europe as the vehicle would have been produced in Russia.

The company said that it is investigating the possibility of introducing another model in the same segment to our market, but has yet to make any announcements in this regard.

Fiat Strada

There are two other possible candidates that could enter the small-bakkie sector in South Africa, one from Fiat and one from VW, but this will only be at a much later date.

In November last year, Fiat re-launched its Strada in the Sub-Saharan African region, the caveat being that it was only introduced to left-hand-drive countries.

At the time, the brand said that South Africa must unfortunately wait for the next generation of its compact utility vehicle for a right-hand-drive model, with an estimated time of arrival stretching into 2025, possibly even later.

In the same breath, VW recently announced that it will commence the manufacturing of a new entry-level crossover that will slot in below the T-Cross, which could potentially spawn a bakkie of a similar size.

However, the crossover is only going into production at VW’s Eastern Cape plant in late 2025/early 2026, it said, with the bakkie to follow at a later date should it become a feasible option.

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