This year's Bakkie of the Year competition format had some changes: last year, there were three categories and one overall winner – the VW Amarok V6 – but this year had four categories with no overall winner.
All double-cab 4x4 bakkies launched locally between September 2023 and August this year were eligible to participate in the second annual Bakkie of the Year competition. Unfortunately, this disqualified manufacturers including Volkswagen, Mahindra, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Peugeot.
The organisers invited the following manufacturers to enter their bakkies: Ford, Foton, GWM, Ineos, Isuzu, Jeep, RAM, Toyota, LDV and JAC. Four manufacturers didn't participate: LDV initially entered, but later withdrew its T60 because they wanted to make changes to the current vehicle; JAC simply didn't want to participate; and Ineos was keen to participate, but…