Ford Bantam

The Ford Bantam is a "bakkie" (a "pickup", or "ute") produced by Ford in South Africa. It spanned into three different models and was produced in South Africa for the local market.

History

The original Ford Bantam launched in 1983 was based on the Ford Escort Mk III. It was produced at the Ford plant in Port Elizabeth and later in the Samcor plant in Pretoria, when Ford divested from South Africa. It was replaced by the second-generation Ford Bantam, with a Mazda 323 sixth-generation-based Ford Laser front end, and was also branded Mazda Rustler. The second model had a 1.6-liter inline-four engine.

The third-generation Ford Bantam was launched in 2002, using the Ford Fiesta Mark V (code-named BE91) front end, but still with the original Bantam loadbox and basic rear suspension. It was produced in the same plant in Pretoria (now belonging to Ford again). Engines were a 1.3-liter 8-valve and a 1.6-liter 8-valve Rocam petrol and a 1.8-litre idi normally aspirated diesel engine. The third model shares only the front end with the similar Brazilian-developed Ford Courier, with totally different rear ends. In 2006, it benefited from a mild front end and interior facelift. The 1.8-liter idi diesel engine was dropped from the line up. In early 2009, the Bantam was facelifted again with a new bonnet, headlamps, bumper, rear lights, nomenclature, instrument cluster, and interior trim. A modern diesel engine was also introduced to the range, the 1.4-litre DV4 (or DLD) engine.

South Africa

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost sovereign state in Africa. It is bounded on the south by 2,798 kilometers of coastline of southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, on the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and on the east by Mozambique and Swaziland, and surrounding the kingdom of Lesotho. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area, and with close to 53 million people, is the world's 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere.

South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the constitution's recognition of 11 official languages, which is among the highest number of any country in the world. Two of these languages are of European origin: Afrikaans developed from Dutch and serves as the first language of most white and coloured South Africans; English reflects the legacy of British colonialism, and is commonly used in public and commercial life, though it is fourth-ranked as a spoken first language.

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others, although trademarks used to identify services are usually called service marks. The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, a voucher, or on the product itself. For the sake of corporate identity, trademarks are being displayed on company buildings.

Usage

A trademark identifies the brand owner of a particular product or service. Trademarks can be licensed to others; for example, Bullyland obtained a license to produce Smurf figurines; the Lego Group purchased a license from Lucasfilm in order to be allowed to launch Lego Star Wars; TT Toys Toys is a manufacturer of licensed ride-on replica cars for children. The unauthorized usage of trademarks by producing and trading counterfeit consumer goods is known as brand piracy.

The owner of a trademark may pursue legal action against trademark infringement. Most countries require formal registration of a trademark as a precondition for pursuing this type of action. The United States, Canada and other countries also recognize common law trademark rights, which means action can be taken to protect an unregistered trademark if it is in use. Still common law trademarks offer the holder in general less legal protection than registered trademarks.

Bantam

Bantam may refer to:

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