November 15, 2018
Witness
WHEELS
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City resident wins big at Supa Quick WHEN Jay Naidoo from Pietermaritzburg popped into the Supa Quick store earlier this year to change his tyres to Firestone, little did he know that he would be driving away in a new Toyota Hilux Double Cab before the end of the year. While his car’s tyres were being attended to, he thought that to kill time, he would fill in his details for the instore competition to stand a chance to win either a BMW 3 Series or Toyota Hilux. He did not think much of it and had even forgotten about it until he received a call from Supa Quick informing him of his prize, which has since put a permanent smile on his face. “The prize could not have come at a better time,” said Naidoo, who could not hide his excitement. “This will help me a great deal for work and to get around with family.” The owner of Supa Quick Pietermaritzburg, Dave Davie, was delighted to hear that the winner was from his store. “Nothing brings me more pleasure that putting a smile on the face of my customers and making a difference in their lives; it is truly rewarding,” he said. Naidoo was the lucky one among the 35 000 nationwide entrants in the Supa Quick Choose Your Brand, Choose Your Car competition. Naidoo received his new car on November 9 from Supa Quick Pietermaritzburg. — WR.
Teasdale has GPS special for Roof The R4 million Unimog 529 looks like a bakkie, drives with a truck’s speed and does the work of three tractors, but at higher speeds and in more comfort. PHOTOS: ALWYN VILJOEN
Merc’s new super bakkie The Daimler Group’s G-Wagon and X-Class 350d V6 bakkie all bow to this farmers’ tool ALWYN VILJOEN WITH the launch of the Unimog 529 in Winterton on Tuesday, Mercedes-Benz South Africa has returned this popular all-terrain tourer to its agricultural roots. The first Unimogs were developed as selfpowered farm implements in post-war Germany, where the tiny runabouts did everything from harvesting potatoes in muddy fields to powering water pumps. Up to 1947, those first little Unimogs used a Merc engine that made only 19 kW (25 hp). The 2018 model demonstrated to KZN’s farmers this week has rather more power, using Merc’s proven 7,7-litre, 6-inline truck engine that makes 210 kW and 1 150 Nm from 1 100 rpm. An eight-speed automated transmission has working range 16 forward and 12
Jay Naidoo (left) receives the keys to the Hilux that he won in the Supa Quick Choose Your Brand, Choose Your Car competition, from Dave Davie, owner of Supa Quick PMB.
Nissan taps into Ghana’s 10% growth ACCRA (Ghana) – Nissan has committed to working with the government of Ghana to establish an automotive manufacturing industry in the country. The company will also make Ghana its hub for sales and marketing in West Africa. The announcements were made on November 6 in Accra, where Alan Kyerematen, Ghana’s minister of trade and industry, and Mike Whitfield, managing director of Nissan Group of Africa, signed a memorandum of understanding. Nissan aims to be the first carmaker to assemble vehicles in Ghana, building on its market leadership in the country. Nissan models accounted for 32,8% of vehicle sales in Ghana last year. The company’s cars, pickups and SUVs are sold through a national network of six sales and service outlets. “Nissan is the most popular auto brand in Ghana because the quality of our products and services has won the trust of our customers,” Whitfield said. He mooted that Ghana next needed to establish a long-term automotive industrial development policy to give investors further confidence in Ghana, “Properly administered automotive development policies can bring about structural economic change in a short time. We’ve seen this happening with our plants in South Africa and Nigeria,” Whitfield said. SA last month sold 51 866 cars and exported another 34 134, of which Volkswagen sent the highest number of vehicles onto the RoRo boats, exporting 7 295 units. In SA, Nissan on average sold over 4 380 units and exported over 4 700 in the last quarter. But while SA’s sales are growing in single digits, Ghana’s vehicle sales have been growing steadily at an annual rate of about 10% and now stand at about 9 150 vehicles a year, giving a lot of scope for growth in a nation of over 28 million people. Such is the scope for growth, religious entrepreneur Safo Kantanka has started assembling “Katanka” SUVs, which sell from 85 000 Ghanaian cedi, or about R250 000 with a three-year warranty. — WR.
reverse speeds, while an 85 kW, infinitely variable hydrostatic drive allows precise low-speed control between 0-50 km/h for operations requiring constant engine rpm. PTOs and hydraulic drives can revolve, lift, push down or turn many farming implements. Mario Alvelos, business development manager at Mercedes-Benz, told Wheels the new Unimog is all about achieving more efficiencies on the farm. “Farmers are the biggest contributor to the economy right now, but we as consumers want to pay cheaper for food. The Unimog is a multi-purpose labour-saving tool that has since 1946 been engineered to save labour in all four seasons,” he said at a media briefing. Winterton farmer and tractor dealer Leon Rohrs demonstrated the Unimog’s ability to pull heavy loads, including large rippers and heavy planters.
GARDEN CITY MOTORS GIVES MERC OWNERS A PAMPER LOUNGE WHILE the commercial vehicle division at Mercedes-Benz got dusty with Midlands farmers, the car division yesterday evening launched a new luxury lounge concept at a black tie function in Garden City Motors in Pietermaritzburg. The lounge is a first of its kind in South Africa and offers Merc owners work stations as well as a manicure boutique that will pamper them while they wait for a car to be serviced.
Rohrs, who is also a Massey Ferguson dealer, told Wheels he was blown away by the abilities of the new ’mog 529. Alvelos said the 529 was designed as an implement carrier, with the added speed of a truck, and Mercedes-Benz safety. Because it uses Daimler truck parts, 33 Mercedes-Benz commercial dealers are also available nationwide to service the ’mog, which uses the same diagnostics as the group’s trucks to determine oil changes based on actual use, as opposed to mileage. Maintenance intervals are 1 200 hours or one year between oil changes. Alvelos said the new ’mog can do the work of three tractors at once, with the added bonus of being able to travel to site on its own power, while meeting all safety requirements at mines and commercial farms. • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za Inside the ’mog there are buttons to control the tyre pressures, diffs and wheel locking options, as well as slots to fit the consoles for sprayer arms or hydraulic load beds, as well as a reversing camera to aid hooking implements and, of course, BlueTooth radio and air conditioning.
Running on sunshine — two new vehicles enter the market
FOR its 51st edition, the Mother of Hard Enduro has undergone an “extreme” makeover. With an all-new route, the 2018 Motul Roof of Africa will provide riders with a challenge that’s worthy of being the next edition of Africa’s oldest offroad race. To stay on the new track, Roof riders need GPS systems. Maritzburg’s top hard enduro rider and trainer, Travis Teasdale, (pictured) has a special offer for Roof riders, with two Garmin Etrex 10 and a Roof-proof mount and holder selling for R4 650. More on his website TravisTeasdaleRacing.ecwid.com. Meanwhile, Wade Young, 2018 Romaniacs winner and KZN favourite, is still healing up after crashing in the Sea to Sky and will sit out this year’s edition of the race that he won in specatcular fashion in 2014, age 16. Taking place in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho from December 5 to 8, the Motul Roof of Africa is all about extremes: southern Africa’s highest peaks and passes, and its most beautiful alpine scenery. With two thirds of this year’s route having never featured in the Roof before and the remaining third consisting of areas that have not featured in the race since 2010, even the most experienced of hard enduro riders will find themselves facing unfamiliar terrain. There are also plans afoot, still to be confirmed, for Round the Houses to be moved to a new, spectator and traffic friendly venue on the outskirts of Maseru, which promises to offer an exciting start to the weekend’s racing. As the title sponsor for the third consecutive year, Motul area manager for eastern and southern Africa, Mercia Jansen, said: “We are thrilled to be associated with this prestigious event again. Our brand is all about innovation and we are very excited by the changes that have been put in place for this year’s event. We know competitors and spectators are going to have a fantastic experience at the 2018 Motul Roof of Africa.” — WR. • NEW ROOF ROUTE ON PAGE 21
ALWYN VILJOEN
EAST COAST IENGINE MPORTS
TWO companies have developed vehicles than run on sunlight instead of the fossil fuels that both Russia and Iran now want to pump less of, in order to charge us even more for each litre. Screecher’s quiet pedalcycle From Yarmouth, in Maine in the U.S. comes the Screecher, a pedalcycle with a range extender called a human on the pedals. Its two electric motors can power the Screecher from 0 to 25 km/h in five seconds, it has all-wheel drive and diffs front and rear and the 12,8 Ah, 48 V lithium-ion battery also charges with regenerative braking. Thanks to electric torque and its all-wheel drive it can be used to tow trailers full of children or groceries. Parked in the sun, the Screecher’s battery takes six hours to recharge, and will ride up to 30 km on a single charge at average speeds and not to steep roads. Pedalling increases this distance a lot. Let’s go Dutch From Eindhoven in the Netherlands comes the Lightyear, built by five members of the team of students that brought us Stella and Stella Lux, the sun-powered sedans that each won the Cruiser Class in the most recent Bridgestone World Solar Challenges. Cruiser class is for large cars that fit four adults, not the featherlight, midget-drivers-only contraptions associated with solar races. The Stellas go rather further than the Screecher, having cruised for over 3 020 kilometres across Australia’s outback, swapping solar-powered batteries on the go. The Lightyear that is based on the Stella also charges its batteries from solar cells built into the roof, but does not need to swap batteries, with commuting distances being typically under 30 km in Europe. The concept has now been proven for over four years even in the watery rays that pass for sunlight in Europe, but with true Dutch belts-and-braces redundancy, the Lightyear has power socket, should the car ever have to be charged overnight. Made for Africa The team at Lightyear aim their solar-powered car at Africa, where there is lots of sun but not much charging infrastructure. Qurein Biewenga, CFO and co-founder of Lightyear, said relying on the sun makes scaling electric cars much simpler. “No need to wait for governments to authorise the deployment of charging points, solar panels and batteries. No need to wait for companies to find a viable business case to build a charging infrastructure in your area. No need to be dependent on companies trying to defend their current fossil-
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WE HAVE A LARGE VARIETY OF ENGINES AND GEARBOXES TO CHOOSE FROM From the Netherlands comes the Lightyear, a luxury sedan that runs on sunshine, 10 of which will be delivered next year, each costing less than R2 million.
From Maine in the U.S. comes the Screecher, an electric-pedal vehicle that does not screech so much as hum when its solarpowered, twin electric motors power the allwheel-drive vehicle up hills. fuelled business and slowing down the introduction of electric cars,” he said in a statement. Cheap ... ish Screecher is selling the pedalbike for $2 500, or under R40 000 after taxes. This is half the price of an average mountain bike, and with the vehicle assembled using mostly off-the-shelf tech, there
is no reason why our bespoke mountain bike builders cannot design something similar. Lightyear presented the demo model at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this year and plans to deliver the first 10 copies, to owners who each paid over R1,9 million (€119 000) before taxes for the world’s first luxury solar car. To put this price in perspective, the world’s top wristwatches, of which only 60 were made, have sold out for over R7 million each; the cheapest Jaguar i-Pace will cost R1 687 230 when it arrives in Mzansi next year; and the 240-km range Nissan Leaf costs around R500 000 when the home charger is installed. Said Biewenga: “Since it is near impossible to build low-cost, low-volume cars and the technology is not yet ready for mass production, we focus on getting the technology ready by first serving an exclusive market. “Once we prove that we can build a reliable, safe and above all great solar electric car, we will be ready to tackle the next challenges: making sure the CV Joint production of the specialists car is clean and refor CV joints, ball joints, ducing costs by tie rod ends, wheel bearings. scaling up our efforts.” 341 GREYLING STREET • alwyn.viljoen@ Pmb. 033 342 9174/75 witness.co.za
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