Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) is working “flat out, plus a few Saturdays” at its South African plants in order to cope with demand for the Ranger bakkie as forecast for the rest of the year, both in South Africa and in the company’s 148 export countries, says FMCSA president and CEO Jeff Nemeth.

Ford’s operations in the Eastern Cape, at the Struandale engine plant, in Port Elizabeth, are already operating on a three-shift schedule, with the Silverton vehicle plant, in Pretoria, on a two-shift model.

If demand continues to improve, “we will have to look at a different operational model, such as additional part-time shifts”, rather than a third shift, says Nemeth.

Theoretical capacity at the Silverton plant was 110 000 units a year.

At 11 645 units sold to the end of April, the Ford Ranger is the best-selling vehicle in South Africa, passenger cars included, says FMCSA marketing, sales and service VP Mark Kaufman.

The crown for best-selling vehicle in the local market belonged to the Toyota Hilux in 2014.

Hilux sales to the end of April this year reached 11 432 units.

For the same period in 2014, Hilux sales stood at 12 063 units, with Ranger sales at 7 562 units.

The new Hilux will be launched locally in the first quarter of 2016, while the Ranger is due for a facelift this year.

“Ranger growth has not been easy,” says Kaufman. “It took some persistence, and these results have been three years in the making.”

The Hilux still eclipses the Ranger in terms of export sales, however. Ranger export sales to the end of April reached 9 881 units, compared with 18 584 Hilux units.

Both these figures are worse than the comparable period in 2014, when Ranger exports reached 11 340 units, and Hilux exports 21 447 units.

Bakkie production, as the main component of the light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment in South Africa, remains pivotal to the domestic economy.

Metair Investments South African operations COO Ken Lello says that more than 70% of passenger vehicles sold in South Africa are imported, while almost 80% of LCVs sold locally are produced in South Africa.

Metair is a component manufacturer.

LCVs have increased to 47% of South African vehicle production in 2014, from just over 25% in 2003, says Lello.

LCVs have also grown from 10% of exports in 2004, to 43% of exports in 2014.

“This is really positive, and a great achievement,” says Lello.