January 10, 2019
Witness
SEEN AT CES 2019
WHEELS
ADVERTISING: AVIR THULSIRAM ON 084 278 3447
… NOW YOU’RE MOTORING
Licences on the way Strike at licence card printing entity has ended and licences are on their way, says Transport ALWYN VILJOEN
Flat year ahead for car sellers ALWYN VILJOEN THE National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) expects modest improvement at best in domestic new vehicle sales versus further relatively strong growth in vehicle exports and domestic production for 2019. In a statement, Naamsa on Tuesday predicted 558 000 local sales for 2019, which represents a flat market with about 1,0% growth that divides into: • 368 000 cars • 162 000 bakkies • 8 000 medium trucks • 20 000 heavy and extra heavies. In contrast, vehicle exports are expected to grow 8,0%, to reach about 385 000 units in 2019, compared to last year’s 351 154 units. Most of these exports were shipped out by BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Ford, and VW. In December, these shipped 30 959 of the total of 31 437 units exported. In 2019, SA’s vehicle builders are expected to build about 657 500 vehicles in total, which includes domestic sales and exports. Naamsa advised dealers that buyers will continue to buy down, with the focus on entry level cars, small bakkies and vans, and cross overs. The premium car segment will continue to experience “significant pressure”. Naamsa also welcomed the announcement at the end of November 2018 by Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, to extend the Automotive Developmental Policy Regime from 2021 through the end of 2035. When the extended programme starts in 2021, support and incentives for vehicle manufacturers and assemblers, including BAIC, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and VW, will reduce significantly and the only means for vehicle producers to recoup benefits will be through substantial increases in localisation — while remaining internationally competitive in terms of exports. • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za
GROOVE X’s LOVOT Ryutao Murayama holds a Lovot, a cuddly, wheeled robot with artificial intelligence developed by Groove X. CES 2019 saw several small robot ‘companions’, from Sony’s Aibo puppy to Somnox, which is a R9 000 pillow, or ‘sleeping robot’ that ‘breathes’ in a person’s arms to help them fall asleep. Murayama said of Lovot: ‘We created a hi-tech solution to help people who are lonely.’ Promotional videos show the Lovot being utterly adorable as it wheels about, blinking big eyes, wagging its flippers and falling asleep when held, but around R38 000, all this cuteness comes at a price.
After R1,5 billion went missing in 2006 and following much legal wrangling to keep the lucrative business in private hands, Prodiba was eventually taken over by the Department of Transport in May 2015. The company’s mission now is to contribute to DoT’s strategic objective of a “transport sector that is safe and secure”.
KZN drivers, some whom have been waiting for their new driver’s licences since July, can look forward to collecting their cards — maybe. Wheels yesterday visited the very quiet licence and testing centre at Mkondeni where two drivers who had ordered their cards in August walked in, collected their cards and walked out again in a matter of minutes. However, one pensioner, local author Henry Spencer, said he is still waiting for “that rectangular piece of plastic that allows me to turn that round thing” after applying for it on July 24 last year. He drove to the centre a couple of times, but has since tried to call the number listed on his expired temporary licence. “We have called seven times, and never any answer,” he said. Cause of the delays The long wait for licences across South Africa started in August last year, when a strike by 15 key personnel at the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) quickly resulted in a backlog of hundreds of thousands of licences that were not printed or dispatched. The DLCA falls under the Department of Transport and generates its revenue from the sale of driver’s licences, with the goal to produce and deliver a licence within 17 working days. The entity produces about 450 000
HYUNDAI ELEVATE Hyundai continued where Star Wars left of with the Imperial Walkers when it presented a scale model of the Elevate concept vehicle at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The Korean carmaker sees its walking car with articulating legs being used to provide mobility for disabled people and aid in emergency situations.
It appears that the delivery of driver’s licences is back on track after striking staff contracted to print all cards in SA for the Department of Transport went back to work in December. PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN licence cards a month. By December last year, the strike had resulted in a backlog of at least 90 000 licences, which Transport said would be issued before the end of December. Yesterday, the department confirmed this happened and informed Wheels the 15 key staff had returned to
work, but their dispute still had to be arbitrated by both the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council. The staff went on strike on August 2, claiming they were dismissed by DLCA when they refused to sign new, short-
term labour contracts, alleging they were entitled to permanent positions after working for Prodiba for over a decade, although always as short-term contractors. Prodiba was a consortium that was partly owned by Durban businessman and convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik.
Driving without a new licence When thousands of drivers in December last year worried about taking holiday journeys without licences, Transport Minister Blade Nzimande advised them to get temporary licences. Spencer said he did, and it had expired while he waited on the minister’s promise that the long-awaited driver’s licences would delivered by the end of December. He echoed the sentiments of many when he said he could not afford to keep paying for another temporary licence, nor travel repeatedly across town to check if his card had arrived. As things stand, traffic officers are aware that drivers are waiting on their cards, and in most cases, drivers who have a document “deemed to be a driving licence” and no other infringements, are allowed to continue their journey without incurring a R2 000 fine. Meanwhile, driving licence card applicants can SMS their identity numbers to 33214 to get the status of their application.
SA’s trio hope to race in first, all-female W Series THREE South African women will compete against 52 other very fast female drivers to be among the 20 finalists who will race for over R7 million in prize money in the inaugural Formula W in Europe this year. They are Ivana Cetinich (22), Fabienne Lanz (32) and Tasmin Pepper (28). The W Series is a free-to-enter single-seater motor racing series for women drivers only, with a top prize of $500 000 (over R7 million) for the winner and a total prize fund of $1,5 million. The series season starts in May and will encompass a number of races run on some of the best and most famous circuits in Europe. All the drivers will race in identical Tatuus T-318 Formula 3 cars, powered by an inline four-cylinder 1,8-litre turbocharged engine, using Sadev six-speed sequential gearboxes, fitted with HALO safety devices. Only 18-20 drivers will compete in the 2019 season, all of whom will have entered and passed a rigorous pre-selection programme/examination involving on-track testing, simulator ap-
(From left) Fabienne Lanz, Ivana Cetinich and Tasmin Pepper will represent South Africa in eliminations against 52 other very fast women in the first season of the W Series, which starts in Europe in May. praisal, technical engineering tests and fitness trials. The organisers say the firm belief that women can compete equally with men in motorsport is at the heart of W Series’ DNA, but added an all-fe-
male series is essential to force greater female participation. “W Series is therefore a missiondriven competition, the aim of which is not only to provide exciting racing for spectators and viewers on a global
scale, but also to equip its drivers with the experience and expertise to progress their careers and eventually graduating to existing high-level mainstream racing series” the organisers said in a statement. — WR.
Harley goes quiet with pricey, all-electric Livewire ALWYN VILJOEN HARLEY Davidson used the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to launch three concept motorbikes that shows this noisy marque’s next generation of smaller, lighter and above all, quieter urban and off-road bikes. In fact, of its biggest new bike, the Livewire electric bike, Harley states on its website: “The loudest sound you hear will be your heart racing.” Harley hopes the Livewire will see millennials throng its dealers to buy the whisper-quiet hog. It is fast enough to impress the 20- and 30-somethings, getting to 100 km/h in less than four seconds. There is also ABS with active cornering and lean angle-sensitive traction control, as well as fully-adjustable suspension and a 4.3-inch colour touchscreen with built-in navigation. The steep $29 799 price tag will, however, not appeal to millennials in “Safrica”, where import taxes will push the price close to half a million ZARs. For a bike that has range of only 177 km
WAYRAY’S AUGMENTED WINDSCREEN Zurich start-up WayRay’s showed its holographic augmented reality headup display (HUD) system that projects onto the whole windshield a threedimensional animation over whatever the driver sees ahead, from racing lines through a curve to road markings on shiny tarmac to potholes. WayRay lists Porsche, Hyundai and the Korean car builder’s luxury brand, Genesis, among its clients.
BOSCH’S ROBOT SHUTTLE Bosch revealed its autonomous shuttle service concept, alongside Mercedes-Benz’s robot mini-bus the Vision Urbanetic, which made its debut at the Hanover Truck Show last year. Similar self-driving vehicles have now been tested at campuses around the world and only legislation prevents their use on public roads.
EAST COAST IENGINE MPORTS QUALITY USED LOW MILEAGE ENGINES AND GEABOXES
WE OFFER DELIVERY INTO DURBAN AND PMB ON ENGINE AND GEARBOX PURCHASES
Brand New Turbos for most makes of vehicles
NOW WITH OUR OWN IN HOUSE WORKSHOP FOR ALL YOUR FITMENT REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE LEXUS V8 ENTHUSIASTS WE OFFER
• Pre-Wired Lexus V8 1UZ VVTI complete with automatic gearbox • Pre-Wired Lexus V8 3UZ VVTI complete with automatic gearbox • Brand new and second hand original spares and service parts • Our pre-wired original OEM mnagement is ready for installation with only 6 wires to connect • All units are bench tested
WE HAVE A LARGE VARIETY OF ENGINES AND GEARBOXES TO CHOOSE FROM
The electric Harley Davidson Livewire will be exported in 2020, but at half a bar for a miserly 177km range, the price will be steep in anyone’s book. TOP AND BOTTOM RIGHT: If people like the monkey bike and trail rider concepts, Harley will next make these designs for GenXers.. on flat roads, less if the hills are as steep as they are in KZN. The Hog’s marketers may do better with two other bikes shown at CES,
especially a mini moped with a flat seat, retro skateboard-style foot boards on both sides of the motor, BMX style handlebars and a futuristic
hollow LED ring for a headlight. The second concept is a narrow trail bike that harks back to that most classic of all Hogs — a 1971 Baja 100. No prices were announced for these two concepts, but the Hog way has always been to offer an easy ride, never a cheap one. • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za
• Top Quality used low mileage engines, gearboxes & Lexus parts • Heads AFFORDABLE • Turbos ENGINE • Diffs • Lexus spares • New and Second hand
Great Wall Motors sets new benchmark with affordable electric ORA CHINESE carmaker Great Wall Motors (GWM) launched an affordable electric hatchback, called the ORA, in Beijing on December 26. The subsidised price of the new model, ORA R1, ranges from 59 800 RMB (R121 492) to 77 800 RMB (R158 062). Introduced last year at the Beijing Auto Show, the R1 is based on China’s first proprietary electric vehicle (EV) platform, ME and GWM said in a statement the little evee promises to revolutionise
China’s fuel-to-electricity, low-speed EV market with several firsts in China’s electric vehicle sector. The four-door hatch has a modest 35-kilowatt (47 hp) motor that gives it a top speed around 100 km/h, powered by a 35-kWh battery with a claimed range up 312 km, or 44 km a day. This is further than what most commuters drive, but for those who need to recharge, 40 minutes will recharge the battery up to 80%, and 10 hours will give it a full charge.
GWM sells the ORA with a threeyear or 120 000 km warranty and an eight-year or 150 000 km warranty for the few “core components” that drive electric vehicles, or evees. GWM managed to keep the price low by following Tesla’s strategy to sell direct to customers. Instead of dealerships, ORA buyers will get to order their evee at “experience centres” and smart outlets in shopping malls in the central business districts of Chinese cities, said GWM general-
manager and vice president Ning Shuyong. While GWM aims to help reduce emissions in China, where smog in cities kill hundreds of thousands a year, the relatively cheap ORA positions the company to benefit from growing interest in “evees”. As yet, the ORA R1 is currently only available in China, but the brand has signalled its interest in the global market, and it may yet come to SA. China currently subsidises the price of a long range electric vehicle
by up to R139 103, with the subsidy shared between China’s central government and provinces. — WR.
CV Joint speCialists
for CV joints, ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel bearings.
341 GReYlinG stReet Pmb. 033 342 9174/75
Our friendlly sales teaam is equippedd to deaal withh all enquiiriess annd havve a weaalth of knowleddge in the mootoring fielld. We pride ourselvess in deliivering exceptionnal serrvice and products to our clliennts and therefforre have a stringent quality check process in placee to make sure thaat every ry prodduct complies with our requirements and is in top order. Tel: Craigh: Dianne: Ntuthuko:
035 789 0464 035 789 0754 084 357 1082 071 677 0799 082 704 5330
Unit 1 No 13 Betastraal Street Alton, Richards Bay Fax 086 459 6725 sales@eastcoastengines.co.za