Mazda South Africa’s new managing director has revealed why he believes the BT-50 has struggled to gain traction in the local bakkie segment.
Speaking to CARmag.co.za at the recent launch of the new CX-5, Mazda SA MD Craig Roberts explained that while the local arm of the Japanese automaker had no intention of trying to match the sort of sales achieved by the segment leaders (think Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger), the company was “working hard” on increasing BT-50 volumes.
Naamsa statistics show that Mazda SA sold 62 units of the BT-50 in February – the month in which the facelifted version of the bakkie was launched – some 35 units in March and just 19 units in April.
In 2016, Mazda SA reported 661 registrations of the pre-facelift, second-generation model, compared to a whopping 32 428 units achieved by the Ford Ranger, on which the BT-50 is based. So, why has the Ranger outperformed the BT-50 by such a wide margin?
“I think there are a number of reasons and obviously we’ve studied it very closely. We’re working really hard on establishing what we can do to get those volumes up,” Roberts told CARmag.co.za.
“I think, importantly, we don’t have the same volume aspirations as a Ranger or a Hilux; we have no pretensions to that. We’re also not looking to play in that ‘commercial space’; we are primarily targeting the private buyer, which is the reason we’ve brought in the double-cab only to start with,” he explained.
“I think that the whole segment is very, very tough – very, very dominated at the moment – and it’s difficult to get traction.”
However, Roberts added that supply issues had also played a significant role in the facelifted BT-50’s slow start, particularly since the updated model is sourced from Thailand rather than built in South Africa.
“I have to be honest and say that we didn’t expect it [the facelifted model] to have as tough a re-entry to the market. But, in saying that, there’s also the fact that we didn’t have BT-50 in any sorts of numbers, with any sort of consistency of supply, for probably eight months while we transitioned from the locally built to the Thailand-built model,” he told us.
“It’s a fact that we weren’t out there in the domain, so we weren’t even on consideration lists for that period. And we also had a dealer network that basically didn’t have it to sell, and it wasn’t a focus for them. All those factors are taking a little long to be remedied. And, again, we don’t have huge volume aspirations for BT-50,” Roberts emphasised.
In July 2016, Mazda and Isuzu announced a “basic agreement” to collaborate on the development and production of their respective next-generation bakkies. Essentially, this means that Isuzu will produce the next-generation BT-50 for Mazda, basing it on the next-generation KB. Does Roberts expect this new model – which is still a few years away – to warrant a change in strategy locally?
“I think our aspirations would probably have to be realigned very slightly in terms of what the target market would be, and it would take some serious market research and a sound business decision as to whether we went and re-entered into that more commercial space,” he told us.
“But I don’t foresee us going down that road; we have as an overall strategy the private buyer [in mind]. And I think that the segment is dominated by large fleet purchases, where the need for a commercial workhorse exists. So I don’t think that the strategy will change much with the next BT-50,” Roberts concluded.
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