South Africa

GQEBERHA, SOUTH AFRICA – ISUZU Motors South Africa has introduced the highly anticipated and desirable all-new ISUZU D-MAX bakkie, taking its popular light commercial vehicle (LCV) to higher levels of refinement, quality, technology and efficiency than ever before. With a 24-strong line-up of Single Cab, Extended Cab and Double Cab models available with two engine options, five specification levels, manual and automatic transmissions and in 4x2 or 4x4 guise. The newcomer is sure to find favour as both an all-encompassing everyday leisure and lifestyle and a trusty workhorse vehicle. The all-new ISUZU D-MAX is the seventh generation of ISUZU bakkies to be manufactured in Gqeberha over the past 42 years, and is the culmination of a R1.2 billion investment in Isuzu’s local operations, announced in 2019. It is produced for the domestic market in South Africa, and exported to 25 left and right-hand drive markets across the African continent. “Isuzu’s LCV offerings have always been key players in the local market, delivering exceptional reliability and durability for our customers, whether used in hard-working commercial applications, or spearheading the popular double cab segment. We are confident that the new ISUZU D-MAX will continue in this proud legacy and raise the bar even higher for the brand,” says Dominic Rimmer, Senior Vice-President, Technical Operations at ISUZU Motors SA. “We have taken our proven and trusted characteristics such as power, strength and reliability and added distinctive sporty styling, significantly improved comfort, an extensive range of new technologies and trend-setting safety features to make the new ISUZU D-MAX line-up well positioned to compete the in the leisure segment of the market, ” Rimmer says. The extensive, highly capable South African model range comprises five Single Cabs, six Extended Cabs, and a total of 11 Double Cab derivatives for South African customers. Rest of Africa model range includes four Single Cabs …

The Volkswagen brand sold 16 472 vehicles in the first three months of 2022. Volkswagen T-Cross’ 2022 sales are up 6% when compared to the first three months of 2021. Volkswagen’s Kariega plant has manufactured over 30 000 Polos in the first quarter of 2022. Johannesburg, 6 April 2022 –The Polo Vivo, Polo and T-Cross are Volkswagen’s best-selling vehicles in the first quarter of 2022. “The Volkswagen brand (including Commercial Vehicles) sold 16 472 vehicles in the local market in the first three months of this year. The global supply challenges continue to have an adverse effect on our brand and affected the availability of models like the Tiguan and Golf which are strong performers in our market,” said Steffen Knapp, Head of Volkswagen Passenger Cars. “The Polo Vivo and Polo continued to post strong sales in the A0 Hatch segment. The T-Cross is not only leading the A0 SUV segment, but sales have also increased by six percent when compared to the first three months of 2021,” added Knapp. The Volkswagen manufacturing plant in Kariega, which is the sole manufacturer of the Polo GTI in the Volkswagen production network, produced 30 807 Polos in the first quarter of 2022 with 72% of those units being exported to international markets. Volkswagen Passenger Cars sold 15 051 vehicles in the first quarter of 2022 and achieved a market share of 16.1% in the passenger car market. In the first three months of 2022, the Polo Vivo was Volkswagen’s best-selling vehicle with 5 124 units sold followed by the Polo and T-Cross with 4 071 and 2 473 units sold respectively. The Polo Sedan, which dominates the A0 Sedan segment, posted 2 074 sales and the T-Roc sold 703 units in the first quarter of 2022. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles sold 1 421 units in the first three months of the year. The sales were supported by the Amarok double cab bakkie and the T6.1 range with 498 and 263 units sold respectively. The recently-launched Caddy sold 225 units whilst the …

The Audi e-tron range was officially launched on 22.02.2022, showcasing a fully-fledged electric vehicle range in South Africa. Campaign partnership with local industry shapers: Hanli Prinsloo (free-diver, ocean conservationist), Donald Nxumalo (interior designer), Aisha Pandor (technology entrepreneur) and Dion Chang (founder of Flux Trends). The Story of Progress campaign aims to inspire South Africans that the future is an attitude; it’s an optimistic aspiration to deliver a better tomorrow, today. Johannesburg, 6 April, 2022 – Audi South Africa recently launched their fully electric e-tron brand in South Africa along with a thought-provoking launch campaign, the “Story of Progress”, aligned to local industry shapers and pioneers who are showcasing their efforts within the futuristic fields of digitalisation, design, performance and sustainability. To celebrate the era of electric mobility and the next step in Audi’s automotive progression, the ‘Story of Progress’ interview series explores the ideas, visions and expectations of what the future may look like and how we as South Africans can be encouraged to get there. “By showcasing and bringing to life the stories of a few South Africans who are doing extraordinary work within their respective fields, we aim to inspire an optimistic outlook towards the future and a certain conviction of how impactful each of us can be. This campaign has been a great way to localise our brand ethos of ‘progress’ and ‘future is an attitude’ in a way that is relatable and meaningful to our audience. While electric mobility is an exciting step towards the future, the associated benefits of design, digitalisation, performance and sustainability are great reasons to believe in it too,” said Tarryn Knight, Head of Marketing, Product and PR at Audi South Africa. The Audi “Story of Progress” campaign includes a local angle and follows a continuation of global stories carried out by international personalities like Janelle …

As the fuel price continues its march upwards, driven primarily by political uncertainty, consumers are asking themselves, “what can we do about our motoring costs?” Driving smart is one answer and limiting unnecessary trips, car-pooling then taking into consideration that sitting in morning rush hour is far more fuel-intensive than sitting at 100 km/h on the open road are some options. Furthermore, consideration can be given to use of the air conditioner – for the record, the additional air resistance caused by open windows doesn’t offset the increase in mechanical drag caused by artificially-cooled air. In other words, rather keep the windows closed. But most of all, keeping a vehicle properly serviced and tuned is the best way to maximise efficiency – whether this be the engine, the gearbox or anything else which can generate mechanical drag. Small three-and four-cylinder engines are capable of cruising comfortably at a true 120 km/h while sipping less than five litres per 100 km, but that’s because mechanical engineers and tribologists have worked for years to reduce internal friction. According to Shaldon Botes, Senior Application Engineer at Liqui Moly South Africa, details such as the grade and quality of gearbox oil matters: “Modern drivetrains are complex engineering mechanisms which require specific friction characteristics to which workshops and DIY enthusiast should pay careful attention. Modern high performance, low viscosity oils are now quite commonplace and not only will an incorrect oil affect consumption and efficiency but can compromise gearshift quality too. Not paying attention to this not only undoes all that research and development but can also cause accelerated wear.” Components work better when they reach their operating temperature, but oils need to maintain the correct viscosity (thickness) and therefore lubricating properties in a process that can go from below freezing to 120 degrees Celsius – or more – in …