April 25, 2019
Witness
WHEELS
FACELIFTS AND VALUE ADDS OPEL has added the three-door Corsa GSi to the South African Opel model lineup, with the focus no longer to out race everyone in second and third gear on 18-inch alloy wheels and high-grip tyres, but to also meet everyday driving needs. Selling for R365 900, the GSi boasts leather cladding, Recaro performance front seats and a sport steering wheel, while the 1,4 engine (110 kW and 220 Nm) and a six speed deliver a claimed 6,4l/100km when driven sedately. RENAULT has added ABS to all Kwid four models, and smartphone mirroring for Apple Car Play and Android Auto in the Dynamique and Climber models. Since its launch in November 2016, over 20 000 Kwids have been sold, placing the Kwid third among South Africa’s top 10 best-selling passenger cars. All models come standard with a five-year or 150 000 km mechanical warranty, a two-year service plan, with services scheduled at 15 000km intervals and an offer for one year’s comprehensive insurance cover. Pricing starts just shy of R135 k and moves up to R155 k. SUZUKI has replaced the 1,4 engine in the Ciaz with a 1,5 and added the GL Automatic to the range, which at R229 900 provides buyers looking for a mid-range, reliable automatic car an affordable entry point. Alongside the new engine the Ciaz also received a facelift and more specifications. The upgrade introduces Suzuki’s Smartphone Linkage Display Audio (SLDA) to the GLX model. All Ciaz models are sold with a three-year or 60 000 km service plan and Suzuki’s promotional five-year or 200 000 km warranty.
WORLD CAR AWARDS CHIEF engineer of the Suzuki Jimny, Hiroyuki Yonezawa, poses with the Urban World Car of the Year Award, as voted for by a panel of 86 judges from 24 countries, including South Africa. At Witness Wheels, we have to ask what on earth were they thinking!? The little Suzuki Jimny predates the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and has even more slope-slaying, mud-crawling, rock-hopping super powers, but a comfy urban run-around the lil’ Jimny is not. Then again, big SUVs are the best selling vehicles in cities and anyone who has ever tried to fit one of those lumbering wagons into a narrow parking space will find the tiny Jimny a joy to operate. Prices start at R269 900. JAGUAR’s all-electric I-Pace has completed an historic treble at the 2019 World Car Awards winning the coveted World Car of the Year and World Car Design of the Year titles — equalling the success of the F-PACE in 2017 — as well as being named World Green Car. The I-PACE is the first model ever to win three World Car titles in the 15-year history of the awards. As part of its local homolugation, the all-electric I-Pace has proven itself by driving from Jo’burg to Durban, having to recharge after 310 km using a 60 kW fast charger installed at the popular Bergview stop in Harrismith. The I-Pace sells for R1 687 200 in South Africa.
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Panelbeaters’ revolt Motor Body Repairers demand manufacturers and insurers remove protectionist barriers THE current structure of the Motor Body Repair (MBR) sector in South Africa is poised to change dramatically, said Richard Green, national director of the South African Motor Body Repairers’ Association (Sambra), an association of the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI). Green said in a statement insurers and manufacturers have over the last three decades dictated where repairs can be carried out, which impacted negatively on the profitability and sustainability of repairers. Motor manufacturers have also dictated how approved panelbeaters and paint shops should look, while most insurers have historically supported the manufacturer-approval systems and enforced the allocation of work within warranty only to approved facilities. Green said this meant body repairers had to pay substantially more to accommodate extravagant facility upgrades, while duplication of cost in equipment requirements from various manufacturers further depressed profit
Richard Green, national director of the South African Motor Body Repairers’ Association.
margins of repairers, who cannot recover these costs from insurers. He said this all added to the cost of
repairs to the consumer. Additional financial pressure has also come from insurers who, over the
last five years, have streamlined their administrative support systems by transferring this function to the repairers without the requisite compensation. Green said the industry is due for an overhaul. “Every economic environment has tipping points and I believe the formal MBR sector has reached its tipping point and is about to enter a disruptive phase. “There is no doubt that the industry is ready and it is high time manufacturer-approval systems be opened to all MBRs who achieve the accreditation criteria set by manufacturers.” He said if restrictions on insurer supplier listings are removed so that body repair shops are selected based on their adherence to a list of base criteria, as advocated in the draft Automotive Industry Code of Conduct, the industry would be able to open up the market significantly and allow consumers to choose where to repair their vehicles. He predicted this would substantially increase the number of smaller body
repair shops in South Africa. Looking forward Green sees Sambra playing a much greater role in consumer education and the maintenance of post-repair quality audits to ensure good quality repairs are maintained and manufacturers and their appointed dealers are not prejudiced. “While we realise this new environment will not be without its challenges, it will ensure consumers are free to choose their own service provider and MBRs can finally compete on an even playing field without protectionist barriers of any sort. “We will start to see new MBR entrants being able to enter the sector without being unfairly precluded and manufacturers and insurers will be able to limit their liability. “The ultimate winner is the consumer, who can expect a substantial increase in service levels and far more competitive offerings from short term motor insurers as well as manufacturers and their appointed repairers,” Green said. — WR.
Car makers contribute as much as mining to SA’s GDP ALWYN VILJOEN POLITICANS last week made much of multi-billion rand expansions to the plants of Nissan and Mercedes-Benz in South Africa, and for a change, they have a right to crow. While making only about 0,6% of the world’s new cars annually, South Africa’s car industry has quietly grown to contribute as much as mining to SA’s GDP. This growth was made possible by the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP), which shows what happens when government officials, unions and manufacturers agree on goals and rewards to create policy certainty. Such certainty is what all capitalists demand before investing in the massive systems and structures that are needed to bring together complex parts from hundreds of places to build thousands of vehicles a month for export to world markets. BIG SUMS ARE INVOLVED The investments required are huge. BMW in 2016 spent R6 billion to expand its assembly lines to build the for X3 and Toyota invested over R6,1 billion to build the Hilux, Fortuner and Ses’fikile at Prospecton where, incidentally, Backdraft’s tiny factory hand-crafts and exports its replica Cobra racecars. Ford invested R3 billion in 2017 to make the Ranger Raptor, which will be launched locally next month. In 2018, Mercedes-Benz announced a R10 billion investment at its East London plant to build the C-Class. Up the road in PE, BAIC last month completed the R2 billion second phase of its R11 billion plant at Coega, where it produces Hyundai- and Mercedesbranded cars for the Chinese market. Even SA’s tiny truck assembly plants spend relatively big sums. Volvo trucks announced a R6,5 million investment into its SKD manufacturing plant near Durban in 2017.
Dean Redelinghuys (left) and Amon Meyiwa won the first round of the local rally sprint, staged at Dalton. PHOTO: FILE
RALLY RACERS WELCOME SOCIALITES ALWYN VILJOEN
From left: Francois Bailly, Nissan global vice president for Light Commercial Vehicles, Mike Whitfield, managing director, Nissan Group of Africa, Norio Maruyama, ambassador-designate for Japan in South Africa, David Makhura, premier of Gauteng, Ernest Mahlaule, chair of the board of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency, Peyman Kargar, senior vice president and chair of the management committee for Africa, Middle East, and India (MC AMI) and President Cyril Ramaphosa. PHOTO: MOTORPRESS AIMING FOR GROWTH IN AFRICA Nissan has now added to all this automotive impetus with a R3 billion investment in its Rosslyn plant to build the new Navara bakkie alongside the NP200 and NP300 bakkies, which are sold locally and exported to 45 states in Africa. Production on the Navara is expected to start next year and Nissan said it will create around 1 200 new jobs. Depending on market conditions, the Navaras may double Rosslyn’s current annual production to 65 000 units, creating the need for a second
shift at the plant. In keeping with car builders’ importance to the economy, President Cyril Ramaphosa was on hand for the announcement, alongside chairman of Nissan’s Africa, Middle East and India region (AMI) Peyman Kargar and Mike Whitfield, managing director for the Nissan Group of Africa. Ramaphosa said the automotive sector accounted for a third of SA’s manufacturing. Kargar said Africa formed an essential part of Nissan’s mid-term plan to double its presence across the Africa,
Middle East and India region by 2020. Whitfield said government’s APDP provided crucial support for the investment to build the Navara. “The Navara’s production will allow us to expand Rosslyn’s role as an export hub for light commercial vehicles and contribute further to the local automotive sector, fully in line with the goals in the next phase of the APDP.” The Navara, which forms the base for the Merc X-Class, has won multiple awards across the world since its launch, including the 2016 International Pickup of the Year.
‘Most complex safety recall’ of airbags just got bigger ALWYN VILJOEN
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THE U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Tuesday announced it is expanding a probe into potentially defective air bags to 12,3 million vehicles, covering not only Takata airbags but also those produced by TRW Automotive Holdings Corp, now owned by ZF Friedrichshafen. The airbags were installed in some vehicles from model year 2010 through 2019 and sold by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Honda Motor Co, Hyundai Motor Co, Kia Motors Corp, Mitsubishi and Toyota Motor Corp. The NHTSA, which started its airbag investigations in 2018, has reports of The U.S. has just added more models to the massive airbag recall. two crashes and two injuries related to PHOTO: FINDER.COM the defect along with one death in a Toyota from TRW/ZF airbags. This latest that installed airbags made by Takata, cause of the problem is airbags that use airbag news adds to the Takata airbag re- mostly from 2002 through 2015. Some ammonium nitrate-based propellent calls, what NHTSA has called “the larg- of those airbags could deploy explosively, without a chemical drying agent. est and most complex safety recall in U.S. injuring or even killing car occupants. A humid environment, high temperhistory”, involving vehicles by 19 builders The NHTSA determined the root atures, and age can add up to airbags
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PETITE DRIVERS IN DANGER To date, there have been 16 deaths due to this problem in the U.S. Worldwide, NHTSA reports there have been at least 24 deaths and 300 injuries. To put these numbers into perspective, in South Africa, 41 people died each day during the festive season between December 1 and January 8 this year. Short drivers — especially petite females — literally face a higher risk of being injured by sitting too close to the steering wheel. When an airbag explodes against a driver in a crash, it often breaks bones in the face and chest. Airbag Renew Durban, at 124 Whittaker Avenue in Reservoir Hills, offers owners of older cars full SRS airbag support at affordable prices. To have an old airbag checked costs R400 while new airbags can be fitted for about R2 000 a bag. Call Airbag Renew on 083 297 0239. .
Wheeled Events THE V Dub Club — for VW — will host their second breakfast run to the Noodsberg Country Club in Dalton on May 1. Convener Minnesh Harrichand said all drivers of vintage
Volksies, Karmann Ghia and Pumas can meet up at in front of the KFC at Armitage Road in Pietermaritzburg at 8.30 am. More from Harrichand on 083 701 6762.
• The Vintage Sports Car Club will host the 2019 Cars in the Park on May 26. The club welcomes new members. More from Angus Flockhart on 072 125 4280.
LAST year’s local rally champions, Dean Redelinghuys and navigator Amon Meyiwa clocked the fastest times in the first rally sprint of the year at Dalton on April 13. Brian and Ashley Scott took second place three minutes later, while drifter-turned-rally-driver, Paolo Gouveia and navigator Ashley Eddie showed their intention to dominate the dirt road scene with a respectable third placing. In the “batmobiles” Tony Ball and David Cheek swapped leads but in the end, Ball was faster by over two minutes. On the terminally understeering but frighteningly fast quads, Daniel Botes showed his fearlessness by going faster on his KTM than the cars through the twisties. Last but not least in the field of seven cars were Brandt van der Merwe and Eric van Lelyveld, who make up the social class in their Fiat Uno. Brandt’s little Uno is not fastest, but he is the biggest champion of social racing, inviting all drivers with a yen for real racing to join the local rally scene in a cheap car, both for the safety it offers should the driver run out of talent, and the tips one can pick up in the pit party when the dust — and “red mist” — have settled.
‘BLACK BOXES’ FOR VEHICLES THE European Commission gave its support to proposed roadsafety regulations that will require all vehicles to be fitted with cameras and sensors to control speed, assist drivers with lane keeping and reversing, and monitor drowsiness and distractions from smartphones. The laws will also mandate that cars, vans, trucks and buses are equipped with an aircraft-like “blackbox” to retain data about accidents after they occur. The proposal, which needs to be ratified by the European Parliament in September, will require these features to be installed on all new cars from 2022 onwards. Antonio Avenoso, executive director of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), said the new laws would have the biggest impact on road safety since the introduction of seatbelts. — WR.