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Mazda BT-50 dropped from South African market! But will the Isuzu D-Max twin and Ford Ranger rival stick around in Australia?

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Mazda Australia is keeping the faith in the BT-50 despite it being discontinued in other right-hand-drive markets.
Mazda Australia is keeping the faith in the BT-50 despite it being discontinued in other right-hand-drive markets.
Tim Nicholson
Managing Editor
12 Mar 2024
2 min read

Mazda’s BT-50 ute has been dropped from yet another right-hand-drive market just weeks after it was discontinued in New Zealand.

The BT-50, which is based on the popular Isuzu D-Max but carries a different front-end design, has just been dropped from the line-up in South Africa, according to Cars.co.za.

Even though this is the second RHD market to drop the ute, Mazda says it is committed to the BT-50 for the Australian market.

“The Mazda BT-50 remains in production and on-sale in a number of global markets including Australia,” a Mazda spokesperson told CarsGuide.

“2023 was a sales record for BT-50 in Australia of 17,526 units and its popularity continues to grow with customers across the country.

“The Mazda BT-50 is currently sold in Australia, ASEAN markets (eg: Thailand), Central and South America, the Middle East and Africa.”

South Africa has a strong history of ute sales, or bakkies as they are known there, and that’s only increased in recent years.

Last year, the top-selling vehicle in South Africa was the Toyota HiLux, with the Ford Ranger in third place. The BT-50’s twin, the Isuzu D-Max, placed seventh overall in 2023, while other utes like the Nissan Navara and the Volkswagen Amarok were in the top 30.

The BT-50 was nowhere to be seen in the top 50 best sellers last year, but there is a reason for that.

All of the aforementioned utes, except the BT-50, are built in South Africa, whereas the Mazda is built in Thailand at Isuzu’s plant, for global consumption. Because of that, it incurred tariffs that are not applied to the other South-African-made utes, and therefore became uncompetitive.

The current-generation BT-50 went on sale in Australia in late 2020, shortly after the new D-Max landed. It is unclear what Mazda will do once its deal with Isuzu to supply the BT-50 ends.

Tim Nicholson
Managing Editor
Calling out the make and model of every single car he saw as a toddler might have challenged his parents’ patience, but it was clearly a starting point for Tim Nicholson’s journey into automotive journalism. Tim launched the program, Fender Bender, on community radio station JOY 94.9 during completion of his Master of Arts (Media and Communications). This led to an entry role at industry publication GoAuto, before eventually taking the role of Managing Editor. A stint as RACV’s Motoring Editor – including being an Australia’s Best Cars judge – provided a different perspective to automotive media, before leading him to CarsGuide where he started as a Contributing Journalist in September 2021, and transitioned to Senior Editor in April 2022, before becoming Managing Editor in December 2022.
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