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Passenger Cars, Bakkies & Vans News

Durban car terminal achieves a new milestone

By: Creamer Media Reporter 15th May 2019 The Durban Car Terminal has broken a South African record, handling over 500 000 fully built units (FBUs) in the 2018/19 financial year. “A combination of a shift in the operating model, improved planning, dedicated operational teams and collaboration with customers and shipping lines have seen... →

Meet the electric car that keeps on going . . . and going

By: Irma Venter 15th May 2019 Ever thought South Africa would see an electric car with more than 202 000 km on the clock? Meet Shaun Maidment, from Pretoria. Maidment, a telecommunications consultant, is the proud owner of a BMW 60Ah i3, which has reached the 15th highest mileage of all i3s sold to date globally. →

Shaun Maidment's i3 with more than 200 000 km on the clock

Local vehicle production expected to grow by 6.2% in 2019

By: Irma Venter 9th May 2019 South Africa’s vehicle production is expected to expand by 6.2% in 2019, to roughly 648 000 units, compared with 2018, says the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa in its latest quarterly business review. South Africa made up 0.64% of global new vehicle production in... →

Daimler to open IT hub at its East London plant

By: Irma Venter 7th May 2019 Daimler, parent company to Mercedes-Benz South Africa, has announced that it will establish an information technology (IT) hub at its vehicle production plant in East London, in the Eastern Cape. The IT hub will focus on data analytics, software development and business analysis, and will work in... →

April new-vehicle sales rise by 0.7%, exports by nearly 54% – Naamsa

By: Marleny Arnoldi 2nd May 2019 The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa on Thursday reported that the latest new-vehicle sales reflected a “welcome surprise” on the upside, with export sales continuing to perform “exceptionally” well. “Exports sales had registered strong growth, reflecting a... →

Volvo tech to pull over drunk drivers, cap speed at 180 km/h

By: Irma Venter 25th April 2019 Car manufacturer Volvo has decided to cap the top speed on all its vehicles produced from model year 2020 at 180 km/h. This will also be the case for all Volvo cars sold in South Africa, says Volvo Car South Africa MD Greg Maruszewski. →

BMW to buy cobalt direct from Australia, Morocco for EV batteries

By: Reuters 24th April 2019 German carmaker BMW will buy cobalt, a key component for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, directly from mines in Australia and Morocco to ensure they are not produced by child labour, an executive said on Tuesday. The announcement came as the London Metal Exchange (LME) launched an initiative... →

South African premium car market faces another tough year

By: Irma Venter 23rd April 2019 The South African premium car market has seen four years of decline, ending 2018 below 50 000 units, says BMW Group South Africa CEO Tim Abbott. The first quarter of this year has also not signaled a turnaround, with sales below that of the first three months of 2018, he adds. The previous peak... →

Tim Abbott

BMW SA expands Midrand campus in R260m project as IT prowess grows

By: Irma Venter 16th April 2019 BMW Group South Africa (BMW SA) has cut the ribbon on its expanded and revamped campus in Midrand, Gauteng. The project carried a price tag of R260-million. →

Tim Abbott

Former VW CEO Winterkorn charged in Germany over diesel rigging

By: Bloomberg 15th April 2019 Former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn was charged alongside four other managers in Germany for their role in the diesel-rigging scandal. Winterkorn and other suspects are accused of serious fraud by Braunschweig prosecutors, who allege he knew since 2014 about the illegal use of software to... →

Auto giants battle used car dealers for Africa's huge market

By: Reuters 12th April 2019 At the edge of Nairobi's Ngong Forest, thousands of used cars glitter in the hot sun on a dusty field, waiting for buyers. Imported from Japan or the Middle East, they offer an affordable route to vehicle ownership in Kenya and have dominated the market for decades. →

Morocco biggest contender for SA auto assembly hegemony

By: Cameron Mackay 12th April 2019 Owing to lower costs, access to European markets, attractive incentives offered to industry and high investment into infrastructure, Morocco has become South Africa’s biggest challenger in the automotive manufacturing industry, says multinational professional services firm Deloitte Africa... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Dylan Slater
MARTYN DAVIES MARTYN DAVIES South Africa’s passenger vehicles sales declined roughly by 25% in the past decade

Supportive policy held up as key to unlocking Africa’s auto ambitions

By: Irma Venter 12th April 2019 Policy certainty and flexible thinking will play an important role as Africa increasingly look to the automotive industry to grow its industrialisation footprint, says Thomas Schaefer, chairperson and MD at Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA), as well as chairperson of the African Association of... →

Honda Motor Southern Africa appoints Hiroyuki Tazawa president

By: Marleny Arnoldi 10th April 2019 Honda Motor Southern Africa has appointed Hiroyuki Tazawa president, effective immediately. He succeeds Toshiaki Konaka, who has, in turn, been appointed regional head of the company’s Africa Middle East operations. →

Nissan invests R3bn in Rosslyn plant to build Navara pickup

By: Irma Venter 10th April 2019 Japanese vehicle manufacturer Nissan will invest R3-billion to prepare its Rosslyn plant, in Pretoria, for production of the Navara pickup. Assembly will start in November 2020, and will add to current production of the NP300 one-ton bakkie and NP200 half-ton bakkie, which is set to continue. →

Photo by Creamer Media's Dylan Slater
Nissan Group of Africa MD Mike Whitfield

VWSA invests more than R70m in black supplier development

By: Irma Venter 8th April 2019 To date, R70.9-million of the R86-million invested by Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) in the Volkswagen Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Initiatives Trust has been committed to the development of black-owned component suppliers. The aim of the trust is to increase the number... →

Local telematics market has room to grow, says new Cartrack South Africa CEO

By: Irma Venter 4th April 2019 Global telematics group Cartrack has appointed Harry Louw as the new CEO for its South African business. Louw is the former CEO of rival Netstar. →

Harry Louw

Ghosn rearrested on new charges, vows 'I will not be broken'

By: Bloomberg 4th April 2019 The drama surrounding fallen auto executive Carlos Ghosn erupted again, with Japanese prosecutors rearresting him on fresh allegations that he used millions of dollars from Nissan Motor for his own purposes. Authorities showed up at Ghosn’s Tokyo apartment shortly before 06:00 on Thursday to... →

Vehicle sales decline for third month in a row in 2019

By: Irma Venter 2nd April 2019 New-vehicle sales continued their downward slide in March, declining for a third month in a row in 2019. March new-vehicle sales were down 3.1%, to 47 718 units, compared with the same month last year. →

Ghana Msibi

Ford adopts dual-port strategy, moves exports through Durban, PE

By: Irma Venter 2nd April 2019 Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa has expanded its vehicle export operations by adding Port Elizabeth to Durban as a vehicle departure point. This multiport strategy has already seen the first shipment of 1 000 locally assembled Ford Rangers departing from Port Elizabeth to markets in Europe. →

Ford has started vehicle exports through Port Elizabeth

New car sales slow down 3.1% in March

By: African News Agency 2nd April 2019 The decline in the new vehicle market since the beginning of the year continued last month, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) said on Monday. The latest statistics show that 47 718 units were sold in March this year compared to 49 230 vehicles sold in... →

The new Sprinter, now also in a 3.49 t version, promises to use 8.5% less fuel

By: Irma Venter 1st April 2019 The new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter has finally landed in South Africa, following its launch in Germany last year. The Sprinter is well known in South African taxi circles – especially in the long-distance segment – with this industry absorbing around 80% of all Sprinters sold in the local market,... →

The new Sprinter

Transport dept failed to protect commuters using illegally converted panel vans – Public Protector

By: News24Wire 29th March 2019 The Public Protector has found that the Department of Transport (DoT) failed to take effective and efficient measures to ensure commuters were safe while travelling in panel vans that were illegally converted into minibus taxis. Releasing the report at her offices in Pretoria on Monday, Public... →

Capex, skills spend at supplier level a concern, notes new study

By: Irma Venter 28th March 2019 While South African component suppliers are, on average, holding their own in the international automotive industry, there are one or two warning lights flashing that all is not 100% within the industry. This is, in short, the finding of the newest South Africa Automotive Supplier Performance... →

Steinhoff sells South African auto showrooms unit to France's CFAO

By: Reuters 28th March 2019 Steinhoff has sold a majority stake in its South African auto dealerships unit, it said on Thursday, days after selling its stake in a local industrial group to shore up its finances following a devastating accounting fraud. Steinhoff revealed details earlier this month of the €6.5-billion fraud... →

Vitol analyst explains slide in global oil demand

By: Kim Cloete 27th March 2019 Global oil demand has weakened significantly over the past few months, largely due to slowing economic momentum across most markets, says energy and commodities company Vitol analyst Simon Warren. He told delegates at the annual conference of the African Refiners and Distributors Association... →

Revitalised Bloodhound project gets new livery and headquarters

By: Irma Venter 22nd March 2019 The Bloodhound is back and on the hunt to set a new world land speed record (LSR). Under the new ownership of Ian Warhurst, CEO of Grafton LSR, the freshly assembled Bloodhound LSR team will focus on completing development of the jet- and rocket-powered car and moving to the next phase of the... →

The Bloodhound has shed its blue and orange colours for white and red

Mercedes-Benz South Africa produces 500 000th W205 C-Class

By: Irma Venter 20th March 2019 The 500 000th W205 C-Class – the current model – rolled off the line at the Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) assembly plant in East London, in the Eastern Cape, on March 16. MBSA also this year celebrates 25 years of manufacturing the C-Class sedan and 25 years of women on the production line. →

Egypt, Nissan agree to produce 100 000 cars a year – Minister

By: Reuters 20th March 2019 Egyptian state-owned carmaker El Nasr Automotive Manufacturing and Japan's Nissan have reached an initial agreement to produce 100 000 cars a year in Egypt, the minister for public enterprises said on Tuesday. The agreement is part of efforts to boost the proportion of locally made auto... →

No escaping the move to electric, says Jaguar as it launches new I-Pace

By: Irma Venter 19th March 2019 A third fully electric vehicle has made its debut in South Africa. The new Jaguar I-Pace adds to the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 already available in the local market. →

The Jaguar I-Pace

PE-based e-coating specialist seeks majority empowerment partner

By: Irma Venter 15th March 2019 Port Elizabeth-based e-coating specialist, Electrocoat, wishes to sell at least 51% of the business to a black investor. Businesses that are successful in implementing major transformational changes will secure a sustained competitive advantage under the South African Automotive Masterplan 2035,... →

Adapt to digital or be left behind — warning to South African auto industry

By: African News Agency 14th March 2019 South Africa's automotive component supply sector needs to urgently focus on vehicle electronics if it is to meet ambitious new localisation targets. This emerged at the the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers of South Africa conference which continued in Durban... →

Soekoe Bicycle Company to launch vintage-look electric bike for export market

By: Irma Venter 11th March 2019 By his own admission Desmond Soekoe is not a traditional business man. Rather heavily tattooed and not fond of a suit and tie, he runs Soekoe Bicycle Company, a fledgling bicycle manufacturer based in Germiston. Soekoe is perhaps better known as the former MD of materials-handling company Deebar... →

New-vehicle exports to Africa improved by 10% in 2018

By: Irma Venter 8th March 2019 New-vehicle exports from South Africa to the rest of Africa have improved by 9.8% in 2018 compared with 2017, “following a number of years of sharp decline”, says the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) in its newest quarterly business review. Export sales to... →

Auto industry disruption is here with shakeup starting in Geneva

By: Bloomberg 7th March 2019 The great auto-industry shakeout has started to arrive in force. Anyone paying attention knows change is looming for global automakers grappling with new technologies, stricter emissions standards and apps that have turned car buyers into renters or just riders. →

Ghosn freed on bail after 108 days in jail

By: Bloomberg 6th March 2019 Carlos Ghosn walked out of a Tokyo prison on bail after 108 days in detention, vowing to fight allegations of financial crimes that could imprison the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman for as long as a decade. Flanked by police officers and wearing construction worker reflectors, a light blue... →

Ghosn's release on bail in doubt as Japanese prosecutors appeal

By: Bloomberg 5th March 2019 Carlos Ghosn’s impending release from a Tokyo jail is in jeopardy after prosecutors appealed a decision granting bail to the fallen car titan after 107 days in custody. The prosecution responded just hours after a Tokyo court approved the release of the former Nissan Motor chairperson on bail of... →

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