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| Staff of a Nissan dealer in Malmesbury trample on grapes on the back of a Nissan NP200 to make Pinotage. |
IT is fair to say that if a model does not break over the rural
roads driven daily by HEC Logistics, they simply won’t break.
The company uses a fleet of 90 Nissan NP200 bakkies to daily
transport blood samples from rural clinics spread across the Free State and
Northern Cape.
Director Hans Hartmann said these bakkies average 5 000 km of rough
gravel roads every month and as one of South Africa’s larger fleet operators, he
had no hesitation endorsing them as SA’s best workhorse for the money.
Hartmann said they have not had a single breakdown with the fleet
of NP200s, compared to other brands the company had also tried on their gravel
routes for a year, during which time they saw total brake failure on all models
of one brand, doors coming off and in one case even the chassis cracking in
half.
“The [NP200’s] rear wheel bearings typically needs replacing when
the bakkie has done over 300 000 km and these are relatively expensive, as
Nissan only sells complete hubs for over R5 000, but otherwise we like their
prices and reliability,” the KwaZulu-Natal-based Hartmann told Witness
Wheels .
One in two new half-ton bakkie drivers in South Africa agree with
Hartmann, as Nissan this week celebrated achieving a market share of 52,2% for
the half-ton pickup market during 2014.
Licensed
to move
When it is time to move
the household, all NP200 drivers suddenly have many friends, for this
half-tonner is licensed to carry 800 kg.
Having driven the NP200 models across Namibia, I would, however,
advise to limit the load to about 400 kg, as the bakkie’s rear suspension set up
— a H-shaped axle with coil springs and an anti-roll bar — is engineered to
deliver a car-like ride and the handling does not take kindly to a full load.
When it comes to fixing them, the NP200 is king among the pickups,
according to the 2014 Kinsey Report by Pinetown resident Malcolm Kinsey.
He singled out the NP200 as the most affordable vehicle to maintain
overall among the entry-level vehicles. His survey also showed the NP200 to be
the most affordable single cab pickup to own and maintain, beating another
Nissan, the NP300 Hardbody, in the bakkie segment.
Konstantin von Vieregge, general manager of marketing and planning
at Nissan, said the NP200 has proven itself worthy of the Nissan pickup badge.
“It offers a wide range of engines, while the range of derivatives means that it
comfortably straddles the workhorse and leisure markets. We look forward to
strong sales in 2015 as the demand for our reliable and affordable sub-one-ton
pickups grows.”
Big
on discounts and service
Nissan dealers last
month registered over 50 NP200s a day to new owners, beating the Chev Ute by
about a 100 units at month end. But in November last year, six in every 10
half-tonners sold was an NP200. The sales follow very competitive discounts to
the prices, but committed dealers then ensure Nissan loyalists.
One example of such commitment happend in 2011, when Nissan SA
challenged all dealerships to think “out of the box” to find work for a NP200
bakkie. The dealer staff trampled grapes in the load bin to make Pinotage. That
2011 harvest should be very drinkable by now.
The Base 1,6 petrol NP200 sells for R139 000, (aircon adds
R11 200), while the top model 1,5 DCI High sells for R221 300. All models have a
six year or 150 000 km warranty. Nissan doubled this warrantee in 2011 to pit
their NP200 against the larger Opel/Chev Corsa 1.8, which offers a 840 kg
payload, a five-year or 120 000 km warranty.
