The Ford Bantam is a coupé utility/pickup (known in South African English as a 'Bakkie') produced in South Africa. Production of the Bantam spanned three generations, with the vehicle produced in South Africa for sale within the South African market.

Introduced in South Africa in 1983, the Bantam enjoyed success both as a rugged compact commercial vehicle, and as a leisure-oriented private vehicle. It was discontinued in 2011 without immediate replacement.

Coupe utility pickups such as the Bantam are popular in South Africa as a more affordable, compact and fuel-efficient alternative to larger commercial pickups such as the Toyota Hilux, Nissan Navara and Ford's own Ranger. Their compact size and ease of handling means they are viable not just as light- to medium-duty commercial vehicles, but also as everyday transport.

Pickups intended for heavy commercial use (in South Africa, the so-called one-tonner class) tend to be based around a steel ladder-frame chassis, with the cab and load box mounted separately. In this class, petrol-driven engines are generally between 2,000 cc and 4,000 cc in displacement, and diesel engines are generally between 2,000 cc and 3,200 cc. The vehicles are usually rated to carry loads of between 900 and 1,100 kilograms (2,000 and 2,400 lb).

By contrast, the shells of compact pickups such as the Bantam (known as half-tonners) are almost always of monocoque (unibody) configuration. This yields greater commonality of parts with the passenger cars they are based on, as well as easier assembly on a parallel production line. They generally have around 35% less tare mass than a typical 'one-tonner', their engines generally displace between 1,300 cc and 1,800 cc, and they are usually rated to carry loads of no more than 800 kilograms (1,800 lb).

The first-generation Bantam was introduced in South Africa in 1983. It was intended to compete for market share that was, at the time, almost entirely monopolised by Nissan's B140 1400 Bakkie (which had been derived from the B110 sedan), with the remainder accounted for by the recently released Volkswagen Caddy. The Bantam (named after a breed of fowl known for its small size and courageous, defiant nature) was based on the Mark III Ford Escort. It featured a South African-developed load box, tailgate, rear lights, rear quarter windows and leaf-sprung, dead-axle rear suspension.

Like the Escort on which it was based, the Bantam was initially available with 1,296 cc and 1,598 cc carburettor-fed versions of Ford's compound valve-angle hemi (CVH) engine. Faced with criticism from the South African market regarding noise, vibration, harshness and unreasonably high fuel consumption, Ford South Africa opted to discontinue CVH engine installation. Subsequently, South African Escorts and Bantams were fitted with crossflow variants of the technically obsolete Kent engine.

The Bantam was initially produced at the Ford plant in Struandale, Port Elizabeth. Upon Ford's apartheid-era divestment from South Africa, Bantam production was relocated to the Samcor plant in Silverton, Pretoria. The exterior tailgate panels on pre-divestment Bantams and Rustlers have 'Ford' or 'Mazda' script pressed into them, while post-divestment vehicles have 'MMI' script.