With nobody else offering anything remotely similar yet, the Fiat Strada will satisfy local buyers’ needs for a more-compact and affordable bakkie
No more NP200
Fiat’s latest Strada half-ton pickup will soon arrive in Sub-Saharan Africa, and will fill the void left by the imminent discontinuation of the Nissan NP200. But, more than merely stepping into the NP200’s position, the new Strada will expand this market segment through the introduction of our market’s smallest double-cab bakkie as well.
At one stage, the South African marketplace offered quite a wide array of sub-one-ton bakkies, with Volkswagen’s Golf Mk.1-based Caddy bakkie being one of the earliest opponents to the then-dominant Nissan 1400. Ford soon joined the fray with their Escort-based Bantam (and its Mazda-badged Rustler twin). A generation or so later, Opel started selling their Corsa Ute, and Fiat introduced their Palio-based first-generation Strada.
The Bantam and Corsa lived on for a few generations, but everything changed when Ford decided to suspend Bantam production in favour of the more-profitable Ranger, and the Strada was quietly retired due to slow sales. Volkswagen was next in line, killing off their small bakkie and applying its name to a Golf-based van instead, and General Motors simply left the local market entirely.
Nissan didn’t want to see a good thing end just yet, though, so the NP200 stayed on after replacing the ancient but evergreen 1400. That’s how the small Nissan became the default choice in its segment - not through excellence, but through simple perseverance. But then came the announcement that Nissan would end NP200 production as well, and local small bakkie buyers threw their hands up in despair for the lack of any new products.
The second-generation Strada
With this background in mind, it becomes clear why the announcement that the new Fiat Strada will be exported from Brazil into Sub-Saharan Africa is such a big deal. Seeing as Volkswagen seems unable or unwilling to convert their Brazilian Saveiro compact bakkie to RHD for our consumption, and the Renault Duster Oroch appears stuck in the “promised but not delivered” stage, the second-generation Strada will step into a vacant market segment.
That alone should be enough to ensure that the Strada succeeds in our market this time, but the second-generation Strada also includes something else South Africans love: a double-cab derivative. With one-ton bakkies growing in size to the point where they’ve become cumbersome to drive, there’s a definite demand for a smaller double cab to fill both business- and family needs.
The latest Strada’s basic architecture essentially combines the front-end bits of the Fiat Mobi (related to the Panda and 500), while the rear suspension is drawn from Fiorino small van. This will allow for a loading capacity of up to 720 kg in the single cab, dropping to 650 kg in the double cab, ensuring equal suitability for commercial and private use.
The model range
No indication of the model range that should soon arrive in South Africa has been announced yet, but a wide variety of engines and drivetrain options are available in its home market. The one we probably desire the most is a 1.0-litre turbo three-cylinder flex-fuel unit capable of about 92 kW and 200 Nm, but cost implications could see this model being omitted from the local line-up.
The familiar 1.4-litre FIRE engine is far more likely, which should be good for around 66 kW, and will be mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox to drive the front wheels with no AWD option. Diesel engines are also conspicuous by their absence in overseas markets, so it’s unlikely that we’ll see an oil-burner in the local range as well.
The competition
At the time of publication, there is not even a hint of a suggestion of a whiff of any opponents reaching our shores in the near future. The Saveiro is due for replacement in its home market, with its base likely to be derived from the VW MQB platform in the future. This could theoretically enable VWSA to assemble the next-generation Saveiro at their Uitenhage plant, but it is all pure conjecture at this stage.
As for the other former players in this segment, it’s unlikely that Ford will bring their US-market Maverick to South Africa, and GM simply pretends that Africa doesn’t exist anymore. The Renault Duster Oroch is a cool idea but we’re still to see its local release, Nissan has nothing suitable in their arsenal, and none of the Koreans have anything similar in the pipeline, either. This new Strada’s arrival will simply hand Fiat the keys to our local small pickup goldmine, and will certainly do wonders for the brand’s prominence in our country.
Martin Pretorius
- Proudly ALL THINGS MOTORING
