Wheels_21Dec2017

December 21, 2017

Witness

WHEELS

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We drive the new Peugeot 3008 to find out what the fuss is about.

More on page 3.

… NOW YOU’RE MOTORING

World car of 2018 finalists New Camry and Rexton among 23 cars nominated as the most driveable and desirable vehicles ALWYN VILJOEN HOW times change. The new To­ yota Camry and SsangYong Rex­ ton, whose predecessors were universally derided as slow, bor­ ing rides, are among the 23 vehi­ cels nominated for the 2018 world car award.

The list slants heavily towards cross­over vehicles — the small sport utes that have become the mom’s taxi of choice — but the BMW i8 Roadster and Lambor­ ghini Urus were nominated pure­ ly on their good looks.

Each car was last month driven in LA by 35 jurors from a dozen countries.

Durban­born professor Gor­ don Murray is one of seven ex­ perts on car designs who are eval­ uating the finalists for the world car of 2018.

Another is former Nissan de­ signer Shiro Nakamura (creator of the 350Z, GT­R, Cube and Qashqai) will join Murray to col­ laborate with five other design experts who will reveal their vote at the New York International Auto Show in late March.

Apart from the overall win, car makers are vying to win in several other categories, including the urban car and greenest car.

SA’s best­selling hatch, the VW Polo, is again on the urban car list, but it faces stiff competi­ tion from the Suzuki Swift.

The Chevrolet Cruze diesel, a few of which are still on sale after Chevrolet announced it will close shop in South Africa, are among the green cars that in­ clude the BMW 530e iPerform­ ance and Nissan LEAF. • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za

Car guru Gordon Murray with the Ox truck he designed for Africa. PHOTO: GORDON MURRAY DESIGN World Car of 2018 nominees: Alfa Romeo Giulia Alfa Romeo Stelvio BMW X2 BMW X3

Volvo XC60 Volvo XC40 World Urban Car Ford Fiesta Hyundai Kona Kia Picanto Kia Stonic Nissan Micra SEAT Ibiza Suzuki Swift Volkswagen Polo World Performance Car Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Audi RS 3 Sedan Audi RS 5 Coupé BMW M5 Ferrari Portofino Honda Civic Type R Hyundai i30N Lexus LC 500 Renault Alpine A110 Volkswagen Polo GTI

AUTO BODY SUPPLIES

BUSIEST TIMES ON THE N3 THE N3 Toll Concession warned motorist of the busiest times on the SA’s busiest high­ way in both directions during the festive season.

If at all possible, drive on the N3 at other times than: • Tomorrow between 10 am and 8 pm.

• Saturday, December 23, between 06 am and 3 pm.

• Friday, December 29 from noon to 8 pm.

At the end of the holidays, on Tuesday, January 2, the N3TC warned the northbound direction towards Gauteng will be very busy from noon to 10 pm, with heavy traffic also ex­ pected from Friday to Sunday, January 5 to 7, between noon and 10 pm.

The N3tc said there are no construction activities along

Opel Insignia Citroën C3 Aircross Dacia Duster Ford Fiesta Genesis G70

Honda Accord Hyundai Kona Jeep Compass Kia Niro Kia Picanto Kia Stinger Kia Stonic Land Rover Discovery Mazda CX­5 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross Nissan LEAF Nissan Micra Peugeot 3008 Range Rover Velar Renault Koléos SEAT Ibiza Skoda Karoq SsangYong Rexton G4 Subaru XV Suzuki Swift Toyota Camry Volkswagen Polo Volkswagen T­Roc Volkswagen Arteon

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As vacationers descend on KZN, drivers are advised to avoid peak hours on the N3. PHOTO: ARRIVE ALIVE the N3 Toll Route and work will only resume during the second week of January 2018.

There will also be no lane restrictions during this period unless emergency repair is re­ quired.

Get advance traffic informa­ tion or report roadside emer­ gencies Before departure, motorists can get the latest traffic infor­ mation from N3TC’s 24­hour

emergency helpline: 0800 63 4357 (0800 N3 HELP) or on Twitter using the @N3Route handle. Should it be required, emergency assistance will be dispatched to you anywhere along the N3 Toll Route.

• In related news, Tiger Wheel & Tyre has put together a hol­ iday games pack for road trip­ pers that can be downloaded, free of charge at the compa­ ny’s website www.twt.to.

ALMOST DAKAR TIME THE Dakar next year starts on January 6 and will again see several South Africans contend in the world’s longest cross country time trials.

Toyota’s official three­car Gazoo team sees SA hero Giniel de Villiers and Nasser Al Attiyah joined by Dutch driver Bernhard ten Brinke against the Peugeot quartet of Stephane Peterhansel, Seb Loeb, Carlos Sainz and Cyril Despres, and the Minis of Nani Roma, Mikko Hirvonen and Orlando Terranova, one being a new buggy.

Other South African interest includes TreasuryOne Amarok privateer Hennie de Klerk (shown), along with a fleet of SA­built Hiluxes, Rangers and Renault Dusters.

There are several South African riders chasing the Dakar dream on two wheels too — David Thomas will be back chasing a finish on his Husqvarna, while Willem du Toit, Wessel Bosman (riding under the Lesotho flag), Donovan van de Langenberg and Gerry van der Byl will race KTMs. PHOTO: MOTORSPORT MEDIA

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2

WitnessWheels MOTORING

December 21, 2017

SA pupils fly flag high

REALLY HEAVY TRAFFIC HAS ‘TO LET’ SIGNS ON DRIVEWAYS

Best Track Award for Maritzburg College team at Land Rover 4x4 Challenge OVER 150 talented future soft­ ware engineers aged 11 to 19, from schools in 16 countries, in­ cluding South Africa, gathered in Abu Dhabi for the Land Rover 4x4 in Schools Technology Challenge world finals.

The competition required that these bright young pupils use computer coding to design, build and programme miniature remote­controlled four­wheel­ drive vehicles for a two­day final event, which took place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dha­ bi.

Each team in the final had qualified through a series of re­ gional and national events in their home country.

Team K­EVO from Portugal were crowned 2017 champions, with team Panthera from Malay­ sia and Fair Dinkum 4x4 from Australia in second and third places respectively.

Team Rhino from South Afri­ ca, comprising three pupils from Maritzburg College in Pieterma­ ritzburg, won Best Track Award.

South African team captain Bevan Roets explained: “Two of us competed in the Land Rover 4x4 in Schools Technology Challenge last year and headed to the final this year full of nerves and excitement.

“We’ve had lots of support along the way and want to en­ courage more young people to get involved. We all study de­ sign, engineering, graphics and other STEM subjects and all want to become engineers in the future.”

The SA team spent 10 months and about 750 hours working on

Maritzburg College’s Team Rhino (from left) Jason Botha, Bevan Roets, Matt Cornelius and William Moffet with Jaguar Land Rover’s radio­ control car driver (far right), won Best Track Award in the world finals of the annual Land Rover 4x4 in Schools Technology Challenge.

PHOTO: MOTORPRESS

their project, at the same time juggling exams and revision.

They used biomimetics to de­ sign their car, imitating ele­ ments of nature for the purpose of solving complex human prob­ lems.

The car looks like a rhino, with tyres specially designed with separated spokes that have a special rubber compound for ex­ tra grip.

The contest, which supports curriculum learning, included an autonomous car coding chal­ lenge, reflecting Jaguar Land Rover’s commitment to science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects, and a

desire to recruit the next genera­ tion of engineers to design and develop future electric, connect­ ed and autonomous vehicles.

The challenge required the young engineers to optimise an existing set of code to help a model SUV complete the course that wound its way over and through a series of Land Rover Discovery SUVs in the fastest time possible.

“The Land Rover 4x4 in Schools competition has broad­ ened our minds and opened our eyes to many new job opportuni­ ties and we’re now all passionate about engineering.

“We’ve had an amazing expe­

rience!” said Roets.

Alex Heslop, director of Elec­ trical Engineering: Jaguar Land Rover, said the competition will help the company fill future roles in software systems, cyber sys­ tems, app development and graphics performance.

“The new coding challenge is a great way to introduce young people to the importance of software innovation in our cut­ ting­edge business,” Heslop said.

The winning vehicle for the 2017 global final featured multi­ link suspension, replicating the Land Rover Discovery, and was made using natural, modern and

recycled materials such as bio­ polymers, plastics and alumini­ um, which were a key considera­ tion in the judges’ scoring.

Alongside this innovative contest, the UK’s leading inves­ tor in research and development, Jaguar Land Rover, has launched a global initiative that aims to recruit more than 1 000 elec­ tronic and software engineers to its expanding business.

The challenge has reached more than 3 million young peo­ ple since 2000. For more infor­ mation, or to find out more about working for Jaguar Land Rover, visit www.jaguarlandro­ vercareers.com. — Supplied.

Coega readies to make the last fossil­fuelled BAIC cars ALWYN VILJOEN WHILE the first shipment of ve­ hicle parts and plant equipment are being shipped to the new BA­ IC South Africa assembly plant being built in the Coega Special Economic Zone, BAIC China last week announced it will make no more fossil­fuelled passenger cars by 2025.

These two announcements are not contradicatory, as the current designs of BAIC sedan and hatchback cars can as easily be fitted with electric drivetrains as internal combustion engines.

BAIC is one of the leaders in pure electric vehicles in China, but it does not have traditional hybrid or plug in hybrid models.

BAIC South Africa is awaiting delivery of factory parts to assemble this D20 hatch at Coega, while BAIC China said it plans to stop making engines that use fossil fuel by 2025.

PHOTO: BAIC BAIC BJEV, which deals with the EV sales, delivered 66 714 vehi­ cles in the first 10 months of

2017. The BAIC EC­Series was the best selling EV in October.

BAIC’s president Xu Heyi said

at the opening of the Beijing New Energy Vehicle Technology Innovation Centre the BAIC

group’s goal is to lead China in 2020 with electric transporta­ tion. He said BAIC plans to stop making its own brand of tradi­ tional fuel passenger cars, which includes the production and sale of hybrids, in China by 2025.”

Changan Automobile Com­ pany, China’s fifth largest auto company, was the first company to set this goal, and BAIC’s an­ noumcement has effectively started a race to end of fossil fuel cars in China. The goal of 2025 gives South African BAIC own­ ers eight years’ factory support for the internal combustion parts from the new assembly line at Coega, where assembly line equipment will be installed shortly after the New Year.

WHILE South Africans — esp­ cially those in Cape Town and Johannesburg — like to com­ plain about traffic jams, trends abroad show that we do not know the meaning of gridlock.

Only when we start charging each car over R500 in a toll fee or start renting out the space on our driveways, will we be able to complain as do driv­ ers in Washington and London.

In London, space is so tight, people who listed their drive­ ways and empty parking spaces on online parking portal Your­ ParkingSpace.co.uk made a staggering £12 million (over R206 million) during 2017.

Of the some 30 000 proper­ ty owners listed with YourPar­ kingSpace.co.uk, just over half made more than £500 (R8 600) each last year by renting out their empty drive­ ways to motorists looking for parking.

Harrison Woods, managing director at YourParking­ Space.co.uk, said anyone with a driveway or empty parking space near train stations, transport hubs, shopping cen­ tres, music and sports venues or streets with residential park­ ing restrictions in the UK can earn extra money.

In the U.S. capital, mean­ while, traffic authorities are try­ ing to smooth out peak hour spikes by using sky high “dy­ namic” toll fees to deter driv­ ers from entering the city.

The toll fees change every six minutes depending on traf­ fic flow.

In one instance last week, the toll fee shot up to over R500 per car, which had the desired effect of slowing the traffic flow.

But before KZN city councils get any ideas, the “dynamic pricing scheme” only apply to solo commuters on weekdays — and then only on the most congested lanes.

Cars with two or more peo­ ple pass through for free, as well as hybrid vehicles with special clean fuel license plates.

Drivers are charged based on the distance they drive on the tollway and are notified of the expected charge by signs at the toll entrance, though some have complained the signs ar­ en’t early enough for them to reroute or change their com­ muting plans.

As more commuters down­ load the app and learn to ride­ share or take public transit, Washington’s traffic planners expect toll fees to drop.

— Wheels Reporter.

Analysts warn many brands will fall as new electrics rise EVERY revolution has casual­ ties, and the electrification of the car industry will be no dif­ ferent, said Katherine Davidson, global sector specialist from global asset manager Schro­ ders.

She said all the big names plan to electrify their drive­ trains, adding consumer and government pressure will send such climate change efforts in­ to overdrive. High production costs still prevent people from buying into electric, but David­ son pointed out especially bat­ tery costs are falling rapidly

and predicts profitability “could surprise to the upside”, as con­ sumer receptiveness to EVs is improving rapidly.

“Government messaging, an­ ti­diesel sentiment and a spate of attractive EVs hitting the market from 2018 could spark an inflection point for demand.

“If so, manufacturers could begin to price the vehicles at less loss­making levels.”

She said there was also an enormous amount of battery capacity being built in Korea and China. “Battery costs could fall faster than expected due

to scale alone, before we con­ sider ongoing improvements in chemistry,” Davidson said.

She predicted a few big names will emerge as EV parts makers and warned the simpler construction of electric drivet­ rains would also ultimately mean less manufacturing jobs.

She warned the investment burden and near­term disrup­ tion associated with the transi­ tion would be high.

Davidson said in terms of who is actually prepared for electric cars, there was very lit­ tle to choose between the big

players, but believes the indus­ try will look very different in the future.

“We could end up with an industry that looks more like the smartphone market: a few big companies competing pri­ marily on design and brand. In a market historically plagued with overcapacity, this needn’t be a bad thing.”

Schroders portfolio manager Simon Webber added the cost of this seismic industry shift is not fully appreciated by inves­ tors. He predicted car indus­ tries in the U.S. and Europe will

lag while manufacturers in Ko­ rea and China are likely to dominate the economies of scale in battery manufacturing, threatening the future of sig­ nificant chunks of industry em­ ployment in other regions.

Around 12 million people work in the automotive industry within the EU, of which 3 mil­ lion are in manufacturing.

“Companies and nations will need to adapt and retrain their workforces very quickly to miti­ gate the problems associated with major shifts in employ­ ment,” Webber said. — WR.

Katherine Davidson, Global Sector Specialist from global asset manager Schroders PHOTO: FNLONDON.COM

MOTORING WitnessWheels

December 21, 2017

3

Practical car for fun drives ALWYN VILJOEN finds almost telepathic steering in the 3008 THE clunky diesel Peugeot 504 I drove as a teenager was quite forgiving of my steering inputs.

In fact, so worn was that old barge’s rack and pinion steering that its front wheels ignored all but my most vigorous wheel turnings, content to keep rolling in the sandy tracks of the two­ horse town I grew up in.

The steering of Peugeot’s new 3008 is not like that at all. So sensitive and light is this electric power steering, that I became convinced I only had to think of turning and the 3008 would al­ ready be going there.

Add form­hugging seats that are high enough for the mom­in­ law’s ageing back not to bend and well­placed buttons to start or stop everything from music play­ ing to cruise control, and one gets to see why the 3008 recently

added the Drive 360’s Family Car of the Year award to its collection that includes European Car of 2017. The judges praised the 3008’s superior materials and outstanding design — which beat off the worthy Mazda CX­5, Hyundai Elantra, Toyota C­HR and VW Golf GTD. Under the 3008’s hood, a 1.6­litre turbo engine makes an average 121 kW and 240 Nm from a very low 1 400 rpm. For comparison, the Huyndai Tus­ con 1,6 turbo makes 130 kW and 265 Nm, while the Mazda CX5 2,0 makes 121 kW and 210 Nm all at higher revs.

Press the Sport mode and all that eager steering translates in­ to very a confident driving expe­ rience, especially when one con­ trols the six­speed automatic gearbox with the flappy paddles.

My city and highway driving got very close to Peugeot’s claim of 5,3 l/100km, which should be good for some 750 km on a tank.

What I liked most in the 3008, however, was the full size 225/60 R17 spare wheel in the rear. (Reg­ ular readers will recall our “Voet­ sek to no spare wheels” philoso­ phy at Wheels.)

Francisco Gaie, MD of Peuge­ ot Citroën South Africa said the 3008 was making its presence felt in the intensely competitive SUV segment.

This is due to a very competi­ tive price for the 3008. The mid­ level Allure we drove, courtesy of Pinetown Peugeot, sells for R459 900, which includes a three­year or 100 000 km war­ ranty and several options in ser­ vice plans. This buys the latest in active safety systems, such as

autonomous braking, auto wip­ ers and a driver fatigue monitor; luxury items like keyless push start and seats with a massage function; and loads of practicali­ ty, like a 502­litre boot that folds open to 520 litres to 1 670 litres.

The infotainment system in­ teracts with any other WiFi or Bluetooth signal, with input ports for digital devices.

The digital dashboard also has a lot surprises awaiting the digi­ tally savvy driver.

What the system doesn’t do is automatically update the FM ra­ dio signals, which I guess shows my age.

As Gaie said, the 3008 is in a very competitive niche, but to my mind, it leads all the other MPVs in terms of a fun drive, and is therefore well worth a test drive for the family man.

The Peugeot 3008 is as Eurocentric and modern inside as only a French car can be. PHOTO: CAR MAGAZINE

RANGE ROVER SPORT

IT’S CALLED SPORT FOR A REASON The Doblo Cargo, winner of the Light Van Award since 2014.

PHOTO: FIAT

Doblo Cargo still best van THE Fiat Doblo Cargo has won the Light Van Award for the third year running. And, in a highly successful London awards ceremony for Fiat Professional, the brand’s popular Fiorino was highly commended in the “Small Van” category, demon­ strating the depth and appeal of Fiat Professional’s light commercial vehi­ cle line­up.

The Doblo Cargo’s payload of up to one tonne, the load volume of up to five cubic metres and the range of efficient 1,3­litre and 16­litre diesel, and 1,4­litre petrol engines have made the multi award­winning van top choice not only for fleet opera­ tors, but for the awards’ judging pan­

el too. The judges were impressed by the new Doblo Cargo’s class­leading attributes including excellent dy­ namics and comfort — courtesy of its sophisticated bi­link suspension — the segment­leading load and vol­ ume capacities and its solidity, ro­ bustness, and extensive range.

“The fact that the Doblo Cargo has won the Light Van Award for three years in a row provides compel­ ling evidence of its enduring quality,” says James Dallas, editor of What Van?. “Top notch handling and a high standard of build quality are among the Doblo’s virtues, but it is the breadth of range that really sets it apart.” — WR.

New straddle carriers THIS week’s focus on the most innovative use of the wheel goes to Transnet Port Terminals, which last week unveiled 23 new straddle carriers at the Pier 2 Container Terminal (DCT) in the port of Durban.

The straddle carriers were assembled locally using parts supplied by German company Kalmar at a cost of nearly R308 million.

Kalmar supplied a substantial portion of the sub­assembled components through its fellow operating division Transnet Engineering. Thamsanqa Jiyane, Transnet Engineering chief officer over advanced manufacturing, said this was the first time the company’s engineers had an opportunity to manufacture straddle carrier component kits for an original equipment manufacturer of Kalmar’s calibre. The life span of a straddle carrier is 40 000 hours, which equates to around eight years. PHOTO: KALMAR

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4

WitnessWheels MOTORING

December 21, 2017

Self­flying taxi drones is where the future is at, but they need not be boring if Italian designer Pierpaolo Lazzarini has any say in it. His latest flying car concept (left) was inspired by the luxury Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8. Instead of wheels, Lazzarini envisages four turbine engines, similar to the ones used by commercial planes, under the car. PHOTO: LAZZARINI

How cities will end traffic Four developments around the world that aim to reduce the number of private car owners ALWYN VILJOEN WHILE Dubai continues to test its ride­sharing taxi drone 200 metres high over the self­styled Future City this month, there was also a groundswell of sup­ port for other ride sharing plans from some unexpected quarters on the roads below.

With fewer and fewer young buyers in developed markets in­ vesting in the depreciating asset that is a car, Nissan announced a car­sharing service in Japan, aiming to sell cars to young en­ trepreneurs.

In Singapore, the city fathers are very happy that the millenials are just not that into cars and are now trying to also wean their elders off private vehicle owner­ ship through the city state’s first large­scale electric car­sharing service. And in Germany, VW subsidiary company Moia intro­ duced its ride pooling ecosystem at TechCrunch in Berlin.

Dubai The two­seater autonomous taxi drone in Dubai is built by Ger­ man aerospace company Volo­

copter. The prototype boasts 18 rotors and nine independent bat­ tery systems, as well as two last­ resort parachutes. It can cruise at about 50 km/h for 30 minutes, with a top speed of 100 km/h.

Volocopter face competition from Airbus, which aims to put a self­piloting taxi in the air by 2020; Kitty Hawk, a company backed by Google co­founder Larry Page; and Uber, which is working with partners on its own flying taxi strategy.

• Wheels predicts rich commut­ ers in cities around world will show a lot more interest in Volo­ copter’s self­flying drone once the pilotless pilot studies are done in Dubai.

Japan Nissan’s e­share mobi service will be available from January 15 in Japan and will park the latest Nissan LEAF and the Nissan Note e­POWER at 30 stations across Japan.

Nissan said in a statement the service will let users across Japan experience Nissan’s autonomous driving technologies and its elec­ tric drive systems.

With no monthly membership fee, e­share mobi aims to offer unconventional value through peace of mind, ease of use and comfort for customers.

And for peace of mind of the owner, each vehicle will also be equipped with a drive recorder in case of accidents.

• Wheels predicts such fee­free schemes will become the most effective way to market vehicles to the new­generation user.

Germany VW plans to launch its Moia ride pooling ecosystem in Hamburg at the end of 2018.

Moia CEO Ole Harms said the mission is to remove one million cars from cities in Europe and the U.S. by 2025.

In addition to the fully electric six­seat van that is optimised for ride­pooling services with VW’s customer app, it enables passen­ gers use to book and pay for a Moia.

In launching their own ride hailing app, VW will compete with the giant Didi in China as well as Uber and Lyft around the world.

These ride hailing companies compete against each other by offering their drivers cheap fi­ nance to cars, but few would be able to compete with prices straight from the assembly line.

• Wheels predicts such direct selling to captive markets will re­ place the current bulk deals offered by car makers to rental com­ panies.

Singapore Singapore’s latest transport innovation was launched via BlueSG, a subsidiary of the Bollore Group.

It aims to encourage “people away from owning vehicles and keeping gridlock at bay in the space­ starved city­state”.

There are two sub­ scription plans for the BlueSG programme — a premium yearly membership plan priced at about R141 per month; and a weekly membership

Alauda plans for flying car races SYDNEY­BASED company Alauda is sourcing crowd funding for its Airspeeder Mark 1, an airborne racing ve­ hicle unlike anything that has come before it.

The Alauda MKI is a simple lightweight design built with cost and performance in the forefront of our minds.

“We all have substantial ex­ perience with drones and drone racing and we know how easy it is to make small mistakes and big crashes.

“With this in mind we set out to build a test frame that was affordable and easy to manufacture. This will allow us to push the control systems

The Alauda MK1 drone used the body of 1960s Formula V car. PHOTO: ALAUDA to their limits, without fear of crashing a very expensive aeri­ al frame,” Alauda states in its pitch.

Two 50KW motors are powered by a custom battery system and specialised con­ trols to maintain small drone performance in a large craft.

Alauda said in a statement it used the body from an old 1960s Formula V car and ret­ rofitted it to their low­cost test frame.

“We wanted people to look at the curves of the MKI and instantly know that it is a fly­ ing race car invoking a passion for a sport unlike any other,” the company said.

The Alauda campaign is on the Kickstarter website but not just to raise funds.

“If we want to create a whole new sport we need to prove that people are excited about it. We’re on Kickstarter to build the beginnings of a

community that will enjoy and participate in the new Air­ speeder sport and catapult it onto the world stage.”

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plan that does not require any re­ curring fee.

BlueSG’s vision is to accom­ plish a 1 000­strong electric ve­ hicle fleet and 2 000 charging points by 2020 but for next year, plans are only to build 30 charg­ ing stations with 120 charging

points, focusing on housing are island wide by end of this year.

• Wheels predicts many more world cities will use such subsi­ dised schemes to make car shar­ ing a lot more affordable than owning a car.

• alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za