Wheels_15 Sept2016

September 15, 2016

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Witness

WHEELS

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L A T I CAP ays Saturd 9­10 am

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Contact Ash 083 786 3377 • Tel: 033 342 4717 / 033 345 1971 Email: ashgani@telkomsa.net •www.ashcarsales.co.za

EDITOR: ALWYN VILJOEN 082 4589 332 ADVERTISING: AVIR THULSIRAM ON 084 278 3447

INSIDE

Monday was a big day for Neil Woolridge Motorsport with two podiums in Brazil’s biggest cross country race. Seen here are Marcelo Haseyama with Lance and Neil Woolrdige Page 8. PHOTO: QUICKPIC

This is the year of the e­bike, and Ford’s plans to get around clogged city roads include bicycles (Page 2) and Bosch motors dominates Eurobike 2016 (Page 6).

PHOTO: FORD

Future Merc vans will use drones. — Page 6.

PHOTO: SUPPLIED Neither rain nor cold could stop the 100’s Riders from getting on their bikes to donate food to the SPCA last weekend. Seen here removing a box of pet food from his bike is Dave Claassens as flagman Madley Accot and Stephen Pete walk over to welcome him.

PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN

One look, and you just know this is the vehicle that will make traffic jams go away.

Unfortunately, its not for civilian use, yet.

— Page 4. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

Learn why Professor Gordon Murray rates this 4x2 box on wheels way above his McLaren F1 road car. — Page 7. PHOTO: TOPGEAR

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2

WitnessWheels INDUSTRY MOTORING

September 15, 2016

Decongesting cities Ford combines shuttles, bikes and satellites into mobility during peak hours FORD has announced an agree­ ment to acquire Chariot, a San Francisco­based crowd­sourced shuttle service, and collaborate with bike­sharing provider Mo­ tivate to expand its transporta­ tion solutions in city centres.

Ford is also establishing a new City Solutions team to work with cities around the world on their transportation needs.

Ford president and CEO Mark Fields said in a statement: “Commuters around the world are suffering with increased con­ gestion in cities, which could be alleviated by developing mobili­ ty solutions fine­tuned to the unique challenges of each loca­ tion.”

Jim Hackett, chair of Ford Smart Mobility LLC, the com­ pany’s subsidiary created to come up with emerging mobili­ ty services, said new forms of transportation, from bikes to dy­ namic shuttles and more, were introducing new customers to Ford and creating new revenue and profit opportunities for the future.

San Fran just the start Ford’s acquisition of Chariot will serve as the cornerstone for its new global shuttle services business.

The shuttle service is expect­ ed to be expanded beyond San Francisco to at least five addi­ tional markets in the next 18 months.

Started in 2014, Chariot oper­ ates nearly 100 Ford Transit shuttles along 28 routes throughout San Francisco Bay Area.

Today, Chariot’s routes are

Ford plans to have 7 000 electric Ford Go Bikes for commuters to share in San Francisco’s Bay Area in the next two years. PHOTO: FORD crowd­sourced based on rider demand. In the future, they will operate dynamically — using da­ ta algorithms to map efficient routes to best serve the real­time mobility needs of communities.

The Chariot shuttles comple­ ment mass transit by filling the gap between taxi and bus servi­ ces, providing an on­demand, point­to­point transportation option that is convenient, effi­ cient and cost­effective.

A private study for Ford con­ ducted by KPMG shows one shuttle working in peak hour can take 25 cars off the road.

“Chariot’s mission from day one has been to solve the com­ mute by providing a mass transit solution that is fast, reliable and affordable for people living in to­ day’s cities,” said Ali Vahabza­ deh, Chariot co­founder and CEO. “We started our Chariot ser­ vice with Ford’s 15­passenger ve­ hicles and continue to use Ford Transit shuttles to this day.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be Ford Smart Mobility’s first acquisition and leverage its lead­ ership in transportation to fulfil Chariot’s goals worldwide.”

Bikes the missing link Bicycles are another important mode of transportation for com­ muters in the Bay Area.

Ford and Motivate, the global leader in bike share, are working with city officials to add new sta­ tions and increase the number of bikes to 7 000 in the Bay Area by the end of 2018.

When it launches next year, Ford GoBike will be accessed by users through the FordPass plat­ form. “A transportation revolu­ tion is coming to the Bay Area,” said Jay Walder, CEO of Moti­ vate. “This unique partnership

with Ford shows that bike share is no longer alternative trans­ portation; it is central to creat­ ing smart, on­demand mobility that represents our values for equity and sustainability.

“Thanks to the partnership of Metropolitan Transporta­ tion Commission, San Francis­ co, San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville, bike share will soon be available for all in the Bay Area.”

Ford plans to develop tech­ nologies to use data collected from the bikes to build an inter­ connected mobility network.

This could include real­time da­ ta, such as weather conditions, usage patterns and bike availa­ bility, to optimise commutes.

Ford also is establishing its new City Solutions team to work with cities on expanding mobility services worldwide as part of Ford Smart Mobility LLC. John Kwant — who has worked with several global cities during his Ford career as part of the company’s government af­ fairs and global strategy teams — has been tapped to lead the effort as vice president of Ford City Solutions.

The team will address the re­ ality that each city’s transporta­ tion ecosystem has evolved over time and poses a unique set of transportation challenges.

Through a joint discovery process, Ford City Solutions will work with municipalities to pro­ pose, pilot and develop mobility solutions tailored to the com­ munity. Discussions are already under way with several global cities. — Wheels Reporter.

Volvo starts most ambitious self­driving experiment yet VOLVO last week produced the very first autonomous car that will be used in the Drive Me project in Gothenburg, Sweden dubbed “the world’s most ambi­ tious and advanced public au­ tonomous driving (AD) experi­ ment”. The Drive Me pilot project is the first in a number of planned public trials with au­ tonomous driving Volvo cars.

A similar project to the one in Gothenburg will be launched

in London next year, while Volvo is also assessing bids from inter­ ested cities in China to launch a Drive Me project there within the next few years.

Volvo also actively engages in strategic partnerships in the area of autonomous driving technol­ ogy. Volvo currently offers a semi­autonomous functionality called Pilot Assist on its 90 se­ ries cars. Pilot Assist gives gentle steering inputs to keep the car

properly aligned within lane markings at up to 130 km/h with­ out the need to follow another car. The Drive Me cars will add hands­off and feet­off capability in special autonomous drive zones around Gothenburg, powered by what Volvo calls its Autonomous Driving Brain.

Volvo is also testing robot trucks in a mine in Sweden and has launched a new partnership with ride­sharing company

The smoothest Hyundai yet?

The all­new i30, which will form the main attraction at the Hyundai Motor Company’s exhibition at the Paris Motor Show at the end of September, should reach South African shores towards the middle of 2017.

PHOTO: QUICKPIC

Uber to develop the next genera­ tion of autonomous driving cars. Volvo also has plans for a joint venture with leading auto­ motive supplier Autoliv to devel­ op next generation autonomous driving software. — WR. In the autonomous driving Volvos the side mirrors become platforms for cameras and sensors.

PHOTO: QUICKPIC

Sanele Gamede, test technician at Federal­Mogul Motorparts’s new Braking Division Test Centre in Prospecton, Durban looks on as new brakes for the Gautrain are tested. The centre is one of only three in South Africa where importers can now certify the quality of their friction material for light vehicles and brake linings for trucks of all sizes — even trains.

PHOTO: ALWYN VILJOEN

Dr Lesley Lee (right), head of the VWSA Learning Academy, with corporate trainee Nelisa Winti. PHOTO: QUICKPIC

VW gives practical skills to students PE COLLEGE student Nelisa Winti is excited by the first­ hand experience she received at the Commercial Trainee pro­ gramme at Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA). The pro­ gramme assists Nelson Man­ dela Bay students who have completed a non­technical qualification and are required to complete a practical compo­ nent in order for them to gain their qualification.

“Coming from a township background proved difficult in the beginning but from the on­ set I told myself I needed to adapt to this corporate envi­ ronment,” said Winti.

“Most of what I am learning at Volkswagen I hadn’t learnt at school, things like editing and design, photography, digital communications, strategic com­ munications and making pow­ erful presentations. This is a great platform to learn new skills, especially on how to con­ duct oneself professionally whilst also gaining experience for my CV,” said Winti.

She is one of 10 students who have been getting experi­ ence in departments like Com­ munications, Finance, Human Resources, Logistics, Purchasing, Quality Assurance, Technical Academy, Information Services and Product Engineering since January.

VWSA chairperson and man­ aging director Thomas Schaefer said in a statement the aim was for college students to be employable, not only at Volks­ wagen but in other industries as well. — WR.

VW OPENS POLO PLANT IN KENYA VOLKSWAGEN South Africa has announced plans to assemble the Polo Vivo in Kenya from the end of the year.

The project, which will be jointly realised with the import­ er DT Dobie, will be Volkswag­ en’s third production facility in Africa, alongside the South Af­ rican factory and a production facility in Nigeria.

VW plans to build up to 5 000 units of the Polo Vivo per year at the plant operated

by Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers (KVM) from 2017.

A long tradition links Volks­ wagen and Kenya: back in the 1950s, Volkswagen assembled the 1 200 Beetle in Kenya, which rear­wheeled drive car competed in the East Africa Safary Rally, winning the formi­ dable rally both in 1954 and 1962. — Wheels Reporter.

MOTORING WitnessWheels

September 15, 2016

Cars as cash cows ALWYN VILJOEN asks what vehicles can become investments LET’S say you won big on the Lot­ to — where would you invest the money so that the capital sum gives you a good return over the years plus quality of life onto the bargain?

The investment gurus are these days all against investing in property if your family don’t live in the building. It’s just too diffi­ cult to get rid of bad tenants.

Art can do it for you, but you have to keep the painting or stat­ ues in storage for the remainder of your life while you wait for the artist to die before the values will appreciate.

Racehorses? All the experts who try to flog a nag will tell you horses are a sure way to make a small fortune. What they don’t tell you is you have to start with a very big fortune.

A case can, however, be made to invest in metal­clad horsepow­ er — especially looking at the pri­ ces rare cars fetched at Gooding and Company’s auction at Pebble Beach last month.

Best of all, you don’t have to wait a lifetime for the cars to ap­ preciate. Half a lifetime will do.

A 1981 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ43, for example, fetched over R2,5 million ($176 000), with the original six­cylinder engine.

The FJ43 is a slightly longer version of the legendary Toyota FJ40 we all know but is less fre­ quently seen than Bengal tigers in

This lesser­spotted 1981 Land Cruiser FJ43 fetched over R2,5 million at the recent Pebble Beach auction held by Gooding and Company. PHOTO: GOODING&CO the Kruger Park. The owner in­ formed Gooding and Company the Cruiser was used in South America by an energy company for most of its life and it is said to have been well maintained at Toyota dealerships.

It was then purchased by a To­ yota enthusiast who used it as a daily drive for years.

The truck was acquired several years ago by the consignor and was restored earlier this year by The FJ Company.

The FJ43 was stripped, re­ stored and upgraded with a host of features, such as a new alumi­ num radiator, custom roll cage

and soft top, leather seats, Old Man Emu suspension, a five­ speed gearbox, and LED head­ lights.

Look for minty fresh rareness So which cars on shop floors to­ day may yet go on to prove as good an investment as the 1981 FJ43 Land Cruiser? When invest­ ing in metal on wheels, there are two keywords and one market truth to remember.

The keywords are “rare” and “mint condition”.

Rare is easy, for rust killed most of the 1980s cars within a decade.

Mint­condition old cars are a

lot harder, again thanks to rust.

In sunny SA, all this can work in the investor’s favour. A 1970s bay window VW combi, worth about R20k locally, now sells for over R210 000 in the UK. Even after export costs, there is a good profit margin here.

But beware the fickleness of the buyers when investing in new cars, for there is no rhyme nor rea­ son to what is in demand, or not.

A Honda S2000, a classic car in all aspects is, for example, cur­ rently cooling in average values, but prices for a mint Daihatsu Co­ pen, a cute toy car, are still within 50% of their new prices of R190k.

3

GIANT KINDLE­LIKE DISPLAYS SOON ON BACK OF TRUCKS ALWYN VILJOEN GERMANY’s RoadAds is tak­ ing orders for e­ink displays that are mounted on the back of trailers.

Unlike the ink­on­tarp ad­ verts on the more than 10 000 trucks that use the N3 each day, the e­ink displays automatical­ ly change content depending on which province or country the truck is driving through.

RoadAds has created the electronic display boards in partnership with Mercedes and the electronic signage compa­ ny Visionect.

Visionect said the Truckside ads generate 2,5 times more at­ tention than static billboards, with an advertisement on a truck or trailer resulting in be­ tween 30 000 to 70 000 views a day in Germany.

Each board uses four 32­inch e­ink screens, joined edge­to­ edge to create a 0,9 x 1,5­metre display. Like the words on an e­reader’s screen, the e­ink dis­ play can be seen in bright sun­ light, and they use the truck’s battery when they are changing display content.

Because they don’t emit light, they won’t dazzle drivers who are following behind at night. Each unit comes with a GPS, Internet connectivity and Wi­Fi so that ads can download and display only local advertis­ ing from RoadAds’ server.

If updating via 4G, the bill­ board connects to a server to

Electronic e­ink billboards on the back of trucks are being tested in Europe and can be expected to reach South Africa soon.

PHOTO: VISIONECT receive new content, with a subset of all possible advertise­ ments always pre­buffered on the billboard itself in case of mobile network unavailability.

When connecting over Wi­Fi, the billboard is controlled lo­ cally on any mobile device.

Apart from adverts, the trucks can display information on the road or even relay images of the traffic in front of the truck to the drivers who are fol­ lowing in the rear, as Panasonic is doing now with a similar pi­ lot in Russia.

RoadAds will be testing the screens in November and said it expects the first 1 000 elec­ tronic paper truck displays will be sold in June next year.

4

WitnessWheels MOTORING

The latest in mobile offices, from Poland

PHOTO: QUICKPIC

Sophisticated convenience BRIAN BASSETT boots up the new Honda Ballade Executive HONDA first introduced the Ballade in 1980, when Mer­ cedes­Benz were custodians of the brand in South Africa and status­conscious owners re­ ferred to their purchases as Mercedes Hondas.

The Ballade is known as the “City” in its Indian home mar­ ket and in South Africa the Ballade is to Honda what the Corolla is to Toyota.

The Ballade is based on the underpinnings of the MPV­ like Jazz and I cannot help sometimes thinking of it as a booted Jazz.

In 2015, the Executive ver­ sion of the Ballade was intro­ duced as a result of customer demand and new features were added to the extensive list of the Elegance.

We offer our appreciation to Gary Stokes, dealer princi­ pal of Honda Fury, Pieterma­ ritzburg, for allowing us to drive the car for a few days.

Styling The Ballade projects a classic sedan profile.

The front end is wedge­ shaped and aggressive, with a centrally paced Honda badge flanked by headlight clusters.

These lead the eye naturally to the strong side ribbing, which stops at the wraparound tail lights. The front end is fin­ ished off by the two fog lamps placed on either side of a black grille below the built­in front bumper. The Executive speci­ fication also has 16­inch alloy rims, which provide distinc­ tion to the car’s clean lines, as well as electrically operated exterior mirrors with integrat­ ed indicators that fold inwards

September 15, 2016

at the touch of a button for added visibility and safety. It also has chromed door han­ dles that underline the Bal­ lades’ smart appearance. All windows are electrically oper­ ated. The entire design, while conservative, is well executed and the result is a good­look­ ing car.

Interior The interior is unexpectedly spacious and, thanks to ample rear leg and head room, will take four adults in singular comfort. The seating is cov­ ered in robust leather and the front seats are adjustable.

The driver’s seat can also be raised or lowered. The plastics are tactile and robust, while build quality is of the best. Like the Jazz, the Ballade is unlikely to rattle, whatever the road surface. The boot offers a gen­ erous 536 litres of space.

The leather­covered rake­ and­reach steering operates the six­speaker radio/AUX/CD system and three different plugs take care of all your tech­ nology needs.

The multi­function steer­ ing also offers toggles to oper­ ate all infotainment, cruise control and Bluetooth func­ tions. The dashboard is sim­ ple, almost minimalistic, and the analogue gauges, sur­ rounded by a pleasant blue light, are supplemented by a digital panel showing trip measurement, fuel consump­ tion and exterior temperature.

In an era that has seen smartphone culture increas­ ingly intertwined with car ownership, there has been a rapid proliferation of in­car

touchscreen interfaces.

In the Ballade, the seven­ inch touchscreen dominates the central stack and has large icons, as well as scroll and zoom devices that recognise the user’s tap and access a wide range of information.

The HDMI port allows the downloading of content from smart devices, including navi­ gation. All of which makes the Ballade ideal for tech­savvy buyers on a budget.

Safety and security The Ballade Executive has a class­leading range of safety features.

The usual ABS with EBD, six front, side and curtain air bags, seat belts with pre­ten­ sioners and load limiters , Iso­ fix anchorages, Vehicle Stabil­ ity Assist, Hill Start Assist, Emergency Brake Assist and a reverse­view camera, which offers both a dynamic trajec­ tory display and oblique kerb view. Many of these features one would not expect on a ve­ hicle with B­segment price positioning. The Ballade Ex­ ecutive also has a factory­fit­ ted security system.

Performance and handling The Ballade Executive’s tried and tested, 1.5­litre iVTEC, four­cylinder, 88 kW/145 Nm, fuel­injected petrol engine will take you from 0 to 100 km/h in around 12 seconds.

The five­speed manual gear box is easy and pleasant to op­ erate. and the steering is direct and the drive enjoyable.

In town, the car parks easily and has sufficient power to move you out of trouble quick­

ly. On the N3, there is enough power to pass long loads safely and the Ballade Executive cruises easily at 120 km/h, but moves quickly to 140 km/h if the driver is not careful.

Top speed is around 180 km/h and expect around seven litres per 100 km of fuel consumption in the combined cycle. The car also performs well on district roads and even at speed handles damp road surfaces with ease.

The Ballade is not, however, an off­road vehicle and it is much more comfortable on a conventional tarred surface than on rutted, muddy roads.

The Ballade Executive is a solid, conservative family se­ dan which, with the many fea­ tures that are packed into it, serves the needs of most mod­ ern motorists.

Costs and the competition The Ballade Executive manual comes in at about R280 000, while the automatic will cost you around R300 000.

The car comes with a three­ year/100 000 km manufac­ turer’s guarantee and a four­ year or 60 000 km service plan.

The car we drove was a 2016 model with 18 000 km on the clock. The asking price is R225 000 — so a saving of R55 000 for just a few months of ownership.

Current economic circum­ stances truly make it an auto buyer’s market.

Also browse the Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent, Toyota Co­ rolla Quest and VW Polo Vivo, to mention just a few other top sellers.

POLAND’S Kadler design studio has released images of the Varsov­ ia, a concept luxury saloon for the new executive who needs to be connected en route.

To be built by the Varsovia Mo­ tor Company in the Polish capital Warsaw, the futuristic car broad­ ens the definition of a luxury vehi­ cle. For a start, it takes note that most real executives travel only with a secretary and a driver, hence there are only three seats in the car.

Varsovia said the seats will meas­ ure their occupants’ emotional state and adjust accordingly, but with no details of how the meas­ urements will be taken nor what adjustments will be made.

The car contains all the digital paraphernalia required to turn the saloon into a mobile office, includ­ ing two large 19­inch transparent displays.

The screens do not so much as fold back as integrate with the glass roof of the Varsovia, where the screens can either be 90% trans­ parent to function as a roof win­ dow, or set to show any given imag­ es, from the family photos to the

night skies.

When unfolded, the screens cre­ ate a double panoramic screen with a record diagonal of 38 inches.

The operation of the equipment is possible thanks to a built­in tab­ let, keyboard and mouse. The sec­ retary is, of course, linked to the internet with super­fast connec­ tion that Varsovia said will work anywhere in the world.

To further set the Varsovia apart from other saloons aimed at execu­ tives, the metal flanks are not smooth, but edged in fish scales, which designer Roman Kadler said was inspired by the mermaid fea­ tured in the coat of arms of War­ saw. The fish­scale effect has the benefit of looking like water rip­ pling down the side, giving the im­ pression of movement while the car is parked.

In the boot there is a tiny genera­ tor to charge the batteries on long roads, but like most electric cars today, the luxury Polish car will have a range of some 320 km.

Varsovia said in a statement that it intends to build the futuristic car as soon as 2018.

Poland’s Kadler design studio has released images of the Varsovia, a sedan for the new executive who needs a mobile office. The car has only three seats to allow room for the executive at the back to stretch his or her legs and unfold the two 19­inch screens (shown above). PHOTOS: VARSOVIA

For more information on Witness Wheels advertising Contact Avir on 033 355 1152 or 084 278 3447 Avir@witness.co.za

Vitara now with auto shifter The Suzuki Vitara GL+ now has the option of a six­speed automatic transmission, which sells for R313 900 with a comprehensive three­year or 100 000 km warranty, as well as a four­year or 60 000 km service plan and a three­year roadside assistance package.

PHOTO: MOTORPRESS

MOTORING WitnessWheels

September 15, 2016

Israel’s Tactical Robotics tested its giant, auto­piloting drone Cormorant as an air freighter last week.

PHOTO: SUPPLIED

5

Makeover for Foton Tunland Foton launched a special edition of the 4x2 Tunland double cab, which is making a name for itself for its ability to drive on 500 ppm diesel anywhere in Africa. The Granite comes with black accessories and sells for R329 995, including a two­year or 40 000 km service plan.

PHOTO: QUICKPIC

AirMule in the sky Aptly renamed Cormorant passes autonomous flight tests AFTER its maiden untethered flight last December, the Cormo­ rant (formerly known as the Air­ Mule) unmanned VTOL aircraft from Israel­based Tactical Ro­ botics has now spent much of the summer in the air as the company tests its performance in different conditions and with various modifications.

With both military and com­ mercial applications ultimately in mind, the company has gradu­ ally expanded the flight envelope of the prototype in recent tests.

The AirMule first caught our

eye in 2013, when it took to the skies (albeit on a leash) in a series of automated test flights.

Tactical Robotics designed the craft for cargo delivery, humani­ tarian relief efforts and to carry wounded or sick people from the battlefield or other emergency situations.

Its small size and Vertical Take­Off and Landing (VTOL) capabilities let it operate in pla­ ces that regular helicopters just can’t reach With a projected payload size of up to 500 kg over distances of

50 km, the Cormorant could one day operate as an aerial freighter in the commercial sector, carting goods between ports and distri­ bution centres.

From there, smaller delivery drones could make the last mile run of individual orders to cus­ tomers’ doors.

The latest tests indicate the Cormorant is making progress down the path to that future, with autonomous navigation and the Automatic Take­Off and Landing (ATOL) functions now standard procedure on all flights.

Tactical Robotics has been testing new systems that improve the UAV’s flight control and sen­ sors, and are busy backing up the craft’s critical systems with a full redundancy scheme, to keep it flying in case something goes wrong.

Current tests have seen the craft at airspeeds of 55,6 km/h, but future tests will gently ramp that up towards an expected maximum of 180 km/h, while sending it out over nearby fields on full pattern flights.

— New Atlas.

Merc trucks in camouflage Mercedes­Benz will show a selection of its military trucks, like this Actros, at this year’s Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition, which is taking place until Sunday at the Air Force Base in Waterkloof, Centurion.

PHOTO: QUICKPIC

6

WitnessWheels TRANSPORT MOTORING

September 15, 2016

EUROBIKE 2016 ALL ABOUT ‘INTELLIGENT, SENSIBLE’ COMMUTE Speaking at the 25th Eurobike show in Germany last week, Tamara Winograd, head of marketing at Bosch eBike Systems, said this is the year of the e­bike, ‘with more people interested in this intelligent, economic and ecologically sensible’ form of mobility. ‘E­biking has now become more than just a trend — it has arrived in the mainstream of our society.

The Eurobike is an important component of this success story and offers the industry an ideal platform to draw attention to new developments and improvements,’ said Winograd.

Seen here are models during the Eurobike fashion show.

PHOTOS: EUROBIKE­SHOW

Eurobike 2016 can be summed with ‘big tyres, bright colours, golden sunglasses and Bosch motors’ — all at prices way beyond the reach of the rand, like this limited edition Fascenario from Aston Martin, weighing just 5,9 kg. As for the price, if you have to ask, you are too poor for it.

Peugeot has been making bikes since 1830 and the concept electric folding bike from the company shows it can still teach the young guns a thing or two. The Peugeot eF01 is aimed at people who want to cycle without a sweat. The bike weighs a hefty 17 kg, but folds in 10 seconds can be wheeled in the folded position. Its motor can do 20 km/h with a range of 30 km from a lithium­ion battery pack.

PHOTO: PEUGEOT

Ariel Rider’s C­Class was one of the few bikes not driven by a Bosch motor. Instead the cruiser has a made­in­the­U.S. Brose mid­motor powered by either a 500 Wh or massive 900 Wh battery in a single pack, which will make the bike powerful enough for even Msunduzi’s hills, were it not for its R36 000 price tag. PHOTO: ARIAL

Merc’s Vision Van Drone deliveries, automated shelving part of the future plans THE many clients of Garden City Commercial vehicles in Pi­ etermaritzburg will be very inter­ ested in the futuristic vans that Mercedes­Benz Vans unveiled last week.

Garden City’s staff are the cur­ rent holders of a Daimler Group award for selling and servicing vans better than any other dealer of this size in the group. They say the futuristic van is part of the Mercedes­Benz transport vision to systematically add customers’ changing requirements to its ve­ hicles.

In Europe, the driver of change is the growth of e­commerce and delivery of parcels ordered on­ line.

To cater for this new demand, Mercedes­Benz is adding solu­ tions that can make the transpor­ tation of goods and passengers even more efficient and open up new business opportunities and economic benefits for custom­ ers.

Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes­Benz Vans, said at the Van Innovation Campus in Stuttgart the next generation of Mercedes­Benz vans will have to live up to the dramatic changes in the transport sector.

To do this, he said the design­ ers of the next Merc vans are fo­ cusing their attention “beyond the vehicle on the entire value chain and business environment of our customers”.

Mornhinweg said Merc will in­ vest around half a billion euros (around R7 billion) over the next

Merc has created a new division to ensure its vans meet all the demands of future last mile transporters.

PHOTO: MERCEDES­BENZ

five years to modernise its vans to meet the requirements of web­ based commerce.

Examples include the bur­ geoning business in food and ev­ eryday necessities ordered on­ line. Here, demand for same­day delivery or delivery within an hour is increasing rapidly. At the same time, more and more peo­ ple are living in cities — by 2030 urban areas will be home to more than two­thirds of the world’s population.

To meet these transportation requirements, Merc envisions an all­electric “Vision Van” kitted out with its own parcel­delivery drones on the roof.

Mornhinweg said in a state­ ment this all­electric van will combine various innovative solu­

tions for last­mile delivery in ur­ ban and suburban environments.

It is the first van worldwide to fully digitally connect all people and processes involved, from the distribution centre to the con­ signee.

It will also be the first van ever to feature a fully automated cargo space and integrated delivery drones. “For example, if a parcel service provider stops his vehicle in a residential area, it will be pos­ sible to deliver multiple packages to nearby consignees autono­ mously by air — even if they are not at home — in addition to manual delivery.

The vehicle is equipped with a 75 kW electric drive and — de­ pending on the intended applica­ tion — has a range of 80 km to

approximately 270 km.

“Equipped with an electric drive system, the Vision Van not only operates locally emission­ free, it also moves almost silently.

This means that it can be operat­ ed in cities even during times when there are traffic restrictions or for late­night deliveries in resi­ dential areas. This gives our cus­ tomers the possibility of offering new services to their customers.”

Mercedes­Benz Vans is also developing an automated cargo area to make loading and unload­ ing much faster, thereby increas­ ing process efficiency.

These vans of the future will be built by a new unit called Fu­ ture Transportation Systems based in Stuttgart, Berlin and Sil­ icon Valley.

TRUCKS HIJACKS BADLY UP WHILE the latest crime sta­ tistics released by the police showed a worrying 14,3% year­on­year increase in car hijackings, truck hijacking was down 7,4% in 2015/16, from 1 279 to the 1 184 truck jack­ ings in 2014/15.

But when compared over a four­year period, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) points out a worrying surge of 55% in truck hijackings.

The area that experienced

the most truck hijackings was Heidelberg, south of Johan­ nesburg.

The total number of car hi­ jackings in the last recorded period (April 2015 to March 2016) stood at 14 602, an av­ erage of 40 a day.

Cars get stolen the most in Gauteng, followed by Kwa­ Zulu­Natal, where 2 493 car hijacks were reported in 2015/16, up 13,8% year on year. — WR.

Chinese locos start work One of the first 20 class 45D locomotives of a fleet of 232 ordered by Transnet arrived in Durban last month. The order for 232 of these diesel locomotives forms part of an over R12 bln contract between the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) and Transnet. The remaining 212 units will be assembled at Transnet Rail Engineering’s workshop in Durban under the supervision of CRRC, with the final loco scheduled to roll out in 2019.

The locomotives are at the heart of a R50­ billion order for 1 064 locomotives, to be built by four manufacturers, and forms part of the some R300 billion investment by Transnet to modernise the company’s freight rail network and workforce skills by 2019.

PHOTO: RAILWAYNEWS

MOTORING WitnessWheels

September 15, 2016

7

Built tough for Africa Murray’s latest creation just in time to take the Defender’s place ALWYN VILJOEN WORLD famous car designer Profes­ sor Gordon Murray last week told media the OX, a 4x2 box on wheels designed for Africa, is the car he is most proud of.

TopGear magazine quoted the de­ signer of several Formula One race cars and the McLaren F1 road car as saying of the OX: “I’m more proud of this than any other vehicle I’ve done.”

The Durban­raised Murray has long left the world of super fast and super expensive cars to enable people to build cheap and safe transport us­ ing his patented iStream process.

This process, already deployed by Yamaha for the City Car concept and TVR at the new factory in Wales, uses the race car approach to build a car, starting with the roll cage, adding the drivetrain and suspension and clad­ ding the result with panels in the sponsor’s colours.

The Ox truck caps all Murray’s ide­ als to construct affordable, reliable transport. The roll cage is clad with wood composite panels that are a lot tougher than steel. Murray tested it by dropping a 200­litre steel drum of water from two metres onto the wooden truck bed. It did not so much as splinter. But if a panel is broken, a new one can be bolted and glued into place in the field.

The diesel engine and five­speed gear box come from the Ford Transit parts catalogue and all the parts, from the rear hinge, to the three front windscreens, are made with Africa’s robust users in mind.

Murray was co­opted to design the car by philanthropist Sir Torquil Norman, who five years ago founded the Global Vehicle Trust (GVT), to pursue his ambition of helping peo­ ple in the developing world by pro­ viding cost­effective mobility.

The GVT briefed Murray on a unique humanitarian programme to create a revolutionary lightweight truck.

Murray said the truck, which can be flat­packed inside its own frame and shipped worldwide, met all the design briefs and then some. “I had no idea how good the OX would be, until I’d driven it,” he told TopGear, explaining how the high ground

clearance and suspension were de­ signed to ensure the two­wheel drive truck can go over terrain that most of today’s heavy 4x4 bakkies would find a challenge.

“Above the core humanitarian concept, I now think there’s a huge commercial opportunity for a farm vehicle in the developed world … just as the Defender goes out of produc­ tion,” Murray said.

Getting over Africa’s bad roads was only half the brief. The other half was for the OX to carry stuff, and hav­ ing grown up with the way we load our bakkies, Murray made sure the OX can handle anything the owner wants to strap down on the back.

The load bin carries a payload of 1 900 kg and can comfortably seat up to 13 people, or carry eight 44­gal­ lon (166­litre) drums or three Euro­ pallets.

The OX’s cabin provides spacious accommodation for three people, and the driver is seated centrally. To ensure the OX can operate on left­ and right­hand drive roads, the steer­ ing wheel is in the middle.

The tailgate detaches completely from the OX and can be rotated lengthways to double as a loading ramp. The long plastic “egg crate” frames under the rear bench seat can be used as sand ladders under the wheels to help the OX ride over mud or sand.

The OX is designed to be manufac­ tured in the UK but assembled local­ ly, avoiding import duty in many countries. All the welding and bond­ ing, and safety­critical stuff such as connecting brake lines and electrics, is done in the main factory. Murray designed the OX to be flat­packed within its frame, so that six OX flat packs fit in a 40­foot container.

Three skilled people can put an OX together in approximately 12 hours.

In a statement from the global launch, Norman said feedback from Africa’s buyers and aid agencies has been very positive to date. “Our pri­ ority now is to raise the funding to complete the testing and take the project to fruition. We believe that the OX has huge potential for chari­ ties, aid organisations and develop­ ment programmes. My dream is to one day see an OX in every village in Africa,” Norman said.

It does not have the lines of the McLaren F1, but Professor Gordon Murray (inset) said he is more proud of this than any other vehicle he has designed. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

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WitnessWheels MOTORING RACING

September 15, 2016

A 1­2 for Woolridge Motors Made­in­Maritzburra Rangers fastest after a week of racing 3 212 km cross country in Brazil THE Ford Rangers from Pieter­ maritzburg’s fastest bakkie builder won first and second place at Brazil’s biggest cross country race on Monday.

It was the third outing in the Rally dos Sertões for Neil Wool­ ridge Motorsport, but a first 1­2.

The NWM Ford Performance T1 FIA Ford Rangers conquered seven days and 3 212 km of pure roughness, melting heat and great sportsmanship.

Overall victory was in the hands of Brazilian duo Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti, with Lance Woolridge and Mar­ celo Haseyama coming second after a thrilling final stage, where the South African­Brazilian duo started out third, nine seconds behind Mitsubishi’s Guilherme Spinelli/Youssef Haddad.

As the older son of former South African cross country champion and team principal Neil Woolridge, Lance and Bra­ zilian co­driver Haseyama had been running second overall for most of the race, but stopped on day six to help the race­leading X Rally Team change a damaged CV boot on their Ranger.

This dropped them down to third going into the final day, but they pushed their NWM Ford Performance Ranger to its maxi­ mum potential and picked up their first international stage win, crossing the finish line with a one minute, 15 seconds advan­ tage and securing second place overall. “I had a mission in my mind the night before and I knew I just had to push, and that is what I did,” an elated Lance said.

“I am glad everything worked out, and it’s a great result for me, for the NWM team and for our partners, the X Rally Team.

“I enjoyed the race and went

Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti.

PHOTO: QUICKPIC

Marcelo Haseyama and Lance Woolridge.

PHOTO: QUICKPIC

for it, pushing as hard as I could.

Overall it was a fantastic event.

It was long, hot and rough, and it looked much rougher than the previous two years [when] I had been part of the servicing crew.

I absolutely loved it,” he declared.

The NWM­X Rally Team asso­ ciation entered three Ford Ran­ gers in the T1 FIA Class. After standing 1­2­3 overall after day three, the #303 car of Marcos Baumgart and Kleber Cincea dropped out of the rally after roll­ ing on the fourth stage. The crew were unhurt, but they were forced to withdraw due to the damage incurred on their Ranger.

After pushing hard on the first two stages, Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti set a strategy of managing their lead through the rest of the rally. On the duo’s 17th participation at the Sertões, their first overall win tasted par­ ticularly sweet.

“During several years we al­ most got it; now we finally did it. It takes an enormous burden

at the 24th Rally dos Sertões. It also remains a leading contender in the Donaldson Cross Country Championship in South Africa.

“The fire caused a lot of dam­ age, destroying our two South African championship cars and most of our spares,” said Neil Woolridge, team principal of NWM. “Thank goodness our three international cars weren’t there, as they had fortunately left a week before [the mishap].

“We had to pick ourselves up and focus on the future. If some­ body told me that we would be in Brazil, winning overall, I wouldn’t have believed it. And here we are: out of the ashes rises the phoenix, they say. That is ex­ actly what we did,” Woolridge stated.

He highlighted all the hard work and partnership between the two organisations. “It has been a good rally. But all the races are good when you win! The or­ ganisation was perfect, the joint effort between NWM and X Rally

off our shoulders. All the people who always believed in us could feel the joy and pleasure to win this challenge. This is something we built, that we fought hard to accomplish.

“Unfortunately, my brother and Kleber could not make it to the end, but this achievement is theirs as well,” Cristian said.

The eldest of the Baumgart brothers and Beco form one of longest driver/co­pilot pairings in Brazilian’s cross country rac­ ing history. “I still cannot believe it. I have never imagined that the margin we built over the compe­ tition would put so much weight on our shoulders,” Andreotti said. “We have chosen the right path, the right partner in Neil Woolridge Motorsport, an excel­ lent car and a great team.”

Rising from the ashes Neil Woolridge Motorsport suf­ fered a setback in July after a fire engulfed its Pietermaritzburg workshop, yet rose from the ash­ es to prove its race­winning from

Toyota all set to clinch Rally Championship ROUND six of the seven­round South African National Rally Championship is the Toyota Cape Dealer Rally, which takes place tomorrow and Saturday in the Swartland — and victory for Leeroy Poulter and navigator El­ véne Coetzee on Toyota’s home event, will see them clinch the 2016 championship title.

The pair have won each round of this year’s championship, in their Toyota Gazoo Racing SA, in association with Total Quartz, Yaris S2000.

“It’s been an amazing season so far,” said Poulter. “We’ve had a great run, and the Toyota Yaris has been absolutely faultless. We had a tough event in the Cape last year, and we’ll be looking to make good this time.”

Team­mates Giniel de Villiers and navigator Carolyn Swan are the only other crew with a mathe­ matical chance of stealing Poul­ ter/Coetzee’s thunder. If De Villi­ ers/Swan win the Toyota Cape Dealer Rally, the title fight con­ tinues to round seven.

“Both Leeroy and Giniel have been ultra­consistent this year,” said Toyota Gazoo Racing SA team principal Glyn Hall. “Nei­ ther of them made any serious mistakes, and we couldn’t be hap­ pier with the results.”

Currently third in the champi­ onship standings is Ernie van der Walt in the Vecto Petroleum To­ yota Yaris S2000, giving Toyota

Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee are set to clinch the National Rally Championship in their Toyota in the Swartland this weekend. PHOTO: QUICKPIC a clean sweep at the top of the leaderboard.

In Class S1600, for front­ wheel­drive rally cars with en­ gines up to 1 600 cc, defending double­champion Guy Botterill reigns supreme in the Yato Toyo­ ta Etios S1600. He has a 39­point buffer over second­placed Rich­ ard Leeke (Ford), which means that he too can seal the champi­

onship with a win in the Swart­ land.

“It couldn’t be more exciting,” said Toyota SA Motors vice­ president of marketing Glenn Crompton. “This is our ‘home’ event, and we have two champi­ onships possibly being decided.

What’s more, both titles could go to Toyota crews.”

The rally gets under way with

scrutineering at 6 pm today at Imperial Toyota Cape Gate. To­ morrow sees a ceremonial start at McCarthy Toyota Table View, before the crews tackle four sta­ ges at the Killarney racetrack.

The event concludes on Satur­ day, with a restart at Malmesbury Toyota, and stages around the Swartland town of Malmesbury.

— Wheels Reporter.

Team worked exceptionally well.

“This race was a lot tougher than the previous two years where we’ve supported the X Ral­ ly Team. We worked with a great team, a good bunch of people and we had a fantastic car. We did a lot of upgrades to all three cars before coming to Brazil, and we’ve seen that it worked, which makes us all really proud. Cris­ tian and Beco did a fantastic job.

They drove a calculated race and didn’t take too many risks.”

Neil was equally proud of his eldest son, who drove in an inter­ national race for the first time.

“As for Lance, coming in second was a fantastic bonus, and win­ ning his first international stage was really good.

“He lost time when he had to stop and help Cristian and Beco on the penultimate stage, but it was the right thing to do.

“After that it seemed that sec­ ond place was gone, as their 20­ minute gap to the third­placed time was wiped out. We reunited

that night and decided to go all out. We fitted new tyres and made the car as light as possible.

I told Lance to push as hard as he could in maximum attack, and that’s exactly what he did,” Neil said.

“It all worked out perfectly. It was a great race with great peo­ ple, and we will be back next year with an even better car.

“It was a pity that Marcos and Kleber fell out, because I think we could easily do a 1­2­3, but it is a cruel sport. It bites when you least expect, and we saw that with Marcos, who was going so well until just one corner took them out,” he added.

Now it is time for the NWM team to pack everything up and travel back to South Africa, where a huge amount of work awaits the organisation. “We have to pre­ pare for the penultimate round of the SA championship at Sun City, on September 30 and Octo­ ber 1, and we’re still in the proc­ ess of rebuilding our workshop.

But this is a great celebration for the entire team.” — Supplied.

Final Day — Results: 1. Lance Woolridge and Marcelo Haseyama (NWM­Ford Perform­ ance), 1h54min32s; 2. Guilherme Spinelli and Youssef Haddad (Mitsubishi), 1h55min48s 3. Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti (Ford X Rally Team), 2h00min54s Final classification — T1 FIA: 1. Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti — 28h39min47s 2. Lance Woolridge and Marcelo Haseyama — 29h19min12s (+39min24s) 3. Guilherme Spinelli and Youssef Haddad, 29h20min19s (+40min31s)

DRY AND DUSTY CONDITIONS FOR WRC IN BARCELONA NO rain is expected to fall on the plains of Spain when the world’s finest racers line up for the qualifying order draw in the FIA World Rallycross Champi­ onship (WRC) in Barcelona to­ morrow.

Rallycross events take place on 60% tar and 40% gravel roads of about one kilometre in length, and can feature one or more jumps, which makes driv­ ing tactics paramount.

The drivers are knocked out as the weekend progresses and only the six fastest and bravest of them get to contest the final.

After eight rounds to date, the drivers’ log has Peter Sol­ berg’s World RX Team leading the fray in his Citroën DS3 at 181 points, with Mattias Ek­ ström only five points behind in his Audi S1.

The pair can, however, ex­ pect a serious challenge from the Peugeot 208 WRX driver Timmy Hansen.

Hansen was on the podium in Barcelona last year and was the highest­scoring driver over the course of the weekend.

After his disappointment at the last race in France, Hansen has collected only 117 points and said his aim this weekend is to finish inside the top three once more to add to his score.

Mr Consistency and third place on the log, Johan Kristof­

Mexico’s leading WRC driver Benito Guerra shows the action that spectators love watching in the WRC. PHOTO: WRC.COM fersson for Volkswagen RX Sweden, will also be a strong contender for a podium in his Volkswagen Polo. He will be chased hard by the Ford Focus RS of fourth­placed Andreas Bakkerud.

Highlights of the race will be televised on SuperSport.

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