January 16, 2020
THE WITNESS
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Subaru is best in class for safety
The European New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) rates the 2019 Subaru Forester the safest large SUV on sale today. PHOTO: NCAP
SUBARU Pietermaritzburg is one of the brand’s busiest dealerships in South Africa, thanks to Midlands farmers entrusting their families to these fast, AWD soccer-mom wagons. They will be glad to hear that the Subaru Forester has been named the “Best in Class Cars of 2019”, an award given to the model that performed best in each class in the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) 2019 safety performance test. The Forester received the award in the Small Off-Road/ MPV class, following the Subaru XV and Impreza, which were awarded the “Best in Class Cars of 2017”, in the Small Family Car class. The Forester, which employs the Subaru Global Platform, contributing to a higher level of safety performance, has achieved the highest score in its class for “Child Occupant Protection” in the Euro NCAP 2019 safety performance test. It also performed well in the other three sections of the test, including receiving a high score in the “Safety Assist” section thanks to the
standard EyeSight Driver Assist System. The safety performance of the Forester has been praised with important awards globally. In Japan, the Forester won the JNCAP First Prize in the 2018 Japan New Car Assessment Programme (JNCAP) collision safety performance assessment and received the highest rating of the ASV+++ (Advanced Safety Vehicle Triple Plus) in the 2019 JNCAP Preventive Safety Performance Assessment. With Subaru’s target of eliminating traffic accident deaths by 2030, including collisions between pedestrians and cyclists and Subaru vehicles, the continuous enhancements of its primary, active, passive and pre-crash safety technologies are being recognised the world over with these latest awards, bearing testament to Subaru’s credential as the safest car brand in the world. — WR.
SIX BAKKIES WITH SPARK Double-cab bakkies are not about work, but all about making a statement, and it seems there is no limit to the brutishness we bakkie lovers will pay for. Which is why all vehicle builders with a bakkie in the market are building an electric version, like General Motors (left SA in 2017), who joined the race with the Hummer. It used to be the pickup of choice for climate-change deniers, but if GM delivers, tree huggers will get an allelectric Hummer this year.
The Los Angeles-based company Neuron launched its large T/ONE in Shanghai at the International Import Expo last year. Featuring a single driver’s seat up front with two passenger seats behind, the design is modular to add a load bay or cabin, as shown here. Since 2009, Rivian been designing what is now the fastest and strongest electric vehicles on sale, both as an SUV and the bakkie show here. Built in Michigan, the Rivians have a motor on each wheel, each of which makes 3 500 Nm. That’s 14 000 Newtons in total, making this the all-electric bakkie to beat, especially since it sells for a relatively reasonable $69 000, or some R997 000 (before import taxes). The Nissan–Dongfeng JV was shown in China last year in July, when they started selling the Rich 6 all electric bakkie. News media site CarNewsChina.com reported that the Rich is not that rich in power, with a single electric motor with 160 hp, but a 68k Wh battery does give the half-ton bakkie a claimed range of 403 km. It sells for about R272 883 in China, raising the question why Nissan is not importing to small markets like ours. When Land Rover ended production of the original Defender, Detroit’s Bollinger continued the allaluminium, all-work philosophy to build the 668 Nm Bollinger B1 and B2. The Bollinger website states: ‘We are about the most durable, practical electric trucks on the planet. No screens. No plastic. Just truck.’ Tesla made headlines in 2019 when it launched this angular bakkie. The straight lines belie its size. This is a huge vehicle on par with any big American pickup, all of which get trashed by the Tesla’s power and speed. To sweeten sales, Tesla said it will throw in the all-electric quad seen here. The ramp telescopes in under the load bay, a design only possible with the flat floor of an electric ’skateboard’ platform.
WE HAVE A LARGE VARIETY OF ENGINES AND GEARBOXES TO CHOOSE FROM There has been a huge demand for an automatic transmission in the Mahindra bakkie range, which the company has delivered with the S11 and S11 Karoo AT. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
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MAHINDRA on Tuesday introduced an automatic transmission to its robust Scorpio Pik Up, the bakkie that serious bundu bashers and load carriers like to abuse. These bakkie users will recall that Mahindra arrived in South Africa with the robust Bolero bakkie, selling it at such a low introductory price that several people in my area bought one as a runabout, aiming to drive it “until it falls apart”. Over a decade later they are still waiting and those Boleros are still schlepping heavy loads of salt lick up mountains or supplies to spaza shops. One cattle farmer told me he just adds snow chains during the rainy season to drive up slippery slopes. The S11 Pik Up continues building the Mahindra name in South Africa, which the multinational conglomerate rates as its most important vehicle market outside India. Assembled at Mahindra’s plant near King Shaka
International Airport, the Pik Up S11 features climate control, cruise control, a seven-inch capacitive touch screen with Satnav, reverse camera, new side mirrors with integrated indicators, two air bags, 12V power points for the front and rear occupants, traction control, electric windows with an automatic up and down mode on the front windows, auto locking doors and, of course, the six automatic transmission. Developed by Aisin Warner, which also makes gearboxes for Toyota, Suzuki and Jeep, the gearbox impressed all in a convoy up Breedt’s Nek Pass in the Magaliesburg with its all but imperceptible shifting. Representing Africa’s longest continuously published daily and SA’s muddiest province, I took a 4x2 instead of a 4x4 up the badly eroded pass. The 4x2 comes standard with a mechanical differential which locks as soon as either rear wheel spins, to ensure both wheels turn together. It is old tech but works without a hitch. CEO of Mahindra South Africa, Rajesh Gupta,
was justifiably proud of the big bakkie’s nimble prowess up the last gravel pass within sight of Johannesburg’s lights. He said South Africa was the test bed for the Aisin Warner gearbox and the first country in the world to officially launch the all-new S11 Pik Up automatic. “There has been an overwhelming demand for an automatic transmission in our bakkie range, and we believe we have the perfect answer with the S11 and S11 Karoo AT,” he said. The four-cylinder engine has common rail injection and turbo charging to deliver 103 kW at 3 750 r/ min and 320 Nm at a flat band between 1 500 r/min and 2 800 r/min. The Hawk turbo diesel has a high 16.5:1 compression ratio for smooth power delivery and Mahindra averaged a low 7,9 l/ 100 km while testing the new auto box across SA. Going down the pass was even easier than up, despite the recent good rains having washed deep ruts between sizeable rocks. The hill descent control
can be set to go faster or slower using the cruisecontrol button on the multifunctional steering wheel, and high road clearance turned the down ride into an aim-and-go exercise. Initially, the new automatic gearbox will only be available in the double-cab Pik Up body style, but the single cabs can already be booked, all with Mahindra’s standard four-year or 120 000 km technical warranty and free Roadside Assistance Plan. It also has a comprehensive service plan for five years or 100 000 km. The first lubrication service is at 10 000 km and every service thereafter will be done at intervals of 20 000 km. Prices for Mahindra’s dozen double-cabs start at R312 499 for the Pik Up S6 4x2, and go to R429 999 for the Mahindra Pik Up S11 4x4 Karoo auto. But having earned the right to stand far from my elbows going up and down a washed-out Breedts Nek in a 4x2, I reckon this is all the double-cab serious bundu bashers need, selling for R384 999. It really is a lot of bakkie for a lot less money.
• Amid changes to the Mahindra & Mahindra board, Veejay Nakra, the first CEO of Mahindra South Africa and the person who was responsible for establishing the Mahindra brand on firm foundations in southern Africa, was appointed as the new chief executive for the automotive division. Nakra will have operating responsibility for the passenger vehicle and entire commercial vehicle business, along with financial accountability, and will indirectly support the product development process. He will report to Rajesh Jejurikar. Mahindra & Mahindra, the global federation of companies in enterprises as wide-ranging as aerospace, vehicles, defence, logistics, information technology and real estate, has announced wide-ranging future changes to its global management structure.
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