NEWS AND NEW MODELS

OPEL Astra sold more than 250,000 times

A "Golden Steering Wheel" winner, "Most Sensible Car" and ultimately "Car of the Year 2016" - since its premiere last year, the new Opel Astra has been winning over experts and the public alike. But not only them: customers love the youngest generation of the compact class success story. To date, already more than 250,000 orders have been received across Europe for the Astra five- door and Sports Tourer variants.

HONDA Motor South Africa’s new President

From April this year, Toshiaki Konaka became president for Honda Motor Southern Africa. Joining the company in 1984, Toshiaki Konaka has held a number of senior automotive and sales roles including 16 years at Honda's European operations. Honda Motor Southern Africa operations director, Graham Eagle has been promoted to vice president and supports Konaka in the transition to the new position.

PEUGEOT gets the lion’s share

Peugeot continues its good form in the (South African) Kinsey Report which looks at vehicle parts pricing. The talented 208 once again played a starring role for the French brand as the popular B-segment hatch finished at the front of a tough field of superminis. The record showed that a basket of parts for a Peugeot 208 1.2 Active cost less than the same selection of parts for similar cars.

LEXUS unveils spider-web seat

Lexus unveiled a new kinetic seat concept that showcases a raft of advanced features. Rotational movement of the seat cushion and its backrest simulates the fundamental spinal movements of human mobility to help stabilise the occupant's head. The innovative spider webpattern flexible net closely fits body shapes, dispersing the load for prolonged seat comfort and optimal body support.

TUCSON awarded by Women on Wheels

The new Hyundai Tucson has won the 2016 (South African) Women on Wheels Car of the Year Award. Tucson took the top spot due to its affordability, practicality and overall value for money. Thousands of votes were cast and the eventual winners in 11 categories were chosen from 120 finalists (over and above the overall winners). The Range Rover Sport won the overall Reader's Choice Award.

SUZUKI Super Carry beats the odds

The challenge - drive 750km with 750kg on R750 of fuel with a Suzuki Super Carry. # Supercarry750 challenge was conceived when the team at Suzuki Auto South Africa decided to test their newest workhorse and help someone in need at the same time. A large load, including a few dishwashers and fresh paint, was driven to Hospice in Port Shepstone ( Kwazulu- Natal) using only R750 of petrol. The Super Carry easily made its target (travelling another 156km before refueling) and achieved an average fuel use of just 6.7L/ 100km for the entire trip, most of it with a full load. Legendary stuff !

KINGSLEY HOLGATE Living Traditions

Kingsley Holgate, his son Ross and a hardy team of modern- day explorers have returned f rom their f i rst Living Traditions expedition. Over 66 days the legendary explorer and his support crew traversed 12 countries and improved over 38,000 lives, before reaching the South Omoregion in Ethiopia. Ndhlovukasi – the Defender 130 that reached the Heart of Africa – lead two Discoverys, Phokot and Turkana, with some expedition members in land yachts and on mountain bikes. Kingsley crossed the Chew Bahir salt ocean as well as Northern Kenya’s Chalbi and Karoli deserts.

MAZDA SKYACTIV Vehicle Dynamics

Continuing the rollout of their SKYACTIV Technology, Mazda has just introduced SKYACTIV-VEHICLE Dynamics. This forms a series of newgeneration vehicle motion control technologies which provide integrated control of the engine and transmission, chassis and body to enhance the vehicle's “Jinba-ittai”; the sensation of connectedness between car and driver that distinguishes Mazda vehicles.

VOLKSWAGEN helps to protect rhinos

Six Volkswagen Amaroks are helping to protect rhinos in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency. The staff focus on areas like law enforcement, ensuring that the infrastructure keeps poachers at bay. "Rhinos are crucial for our ecosystem and tourism as they form part of the Big 5. We’re proud that our vehicles are used to safeguard a most vulnerable wildlife species," Thomas Schaefer, Chairman and Managing Director of the Volkswagen Group S.A. The Amaroks are used in antipoaching initiatives like rhino notching and monitoring and also training of field rangers.

CONCOURSE South Africa a huge success

Held at Sun City in September, the inaugural Concours South Africa was an overwhelming success. The event drew close to fifty entries, an amazing array of diversity and high quality cars entered in six categories. The overall winner was a De Tomaso Pantera GT5, hailing from Botswana and owned by Fatima de Abreu, and lovingly restored by her husband Carlos. The De Abreus had a red-letter weekend, as their 1990 Ferrari Testarossa claimed second place overall, followed by the remarkably understated, mint- original Pontiac GTO owned by Basil Papagorgio.

MERCEDES-BENZ and explorer Mike Horn

Mike Horn is currently on his “Pole2pole” expedition to circumnavigate the world from Pole to Pole, across six continents, by alternating between boat, skis, kayak and the Mercedes-benz G-class. He first sailed from Monaco to Namibia, crossed the world’s oldest desert and passed through the Okavango delta in Botswana and then on to Cape Town, where he was born.

NAMIBIA wins silver in Spirit of Amarok

Team S. A. successfully defended its International Spirit of Amarok Trophy. The competition took place north of Upington in the dunes and pans of the Kalahari. 14 teams from Australia, Botswana, Namibia, Russia and South Africa participated this year. The participants contested 30 stages over five days in Amarok Double Cabs. This year's competition also included night stages. Team South Africa amassed 4,890 points, followed by Namibia with 4,263 points. Australia and Botswana were third and fourth, with newcomer Russia ending fifth on 1,125 points.

TOYOTA leads the sales charts again

Toyota once again lead newvehicle sales in September 2016 with the ever-popular Hilux in the top spot. Achieving 3,063 sales, Hilux was 626 units ahead of its nearest segment rival, at the same time outselling South Africa’s leading entry- level hatchback by 241 units. This, together with laudable performances from Corolla / Quest (2,061), the Quantum ( 1,329), Fortuner ( 1,180), Etios (947) and Avanza (572) saw Toyota surge to the top of the leader board for the ninth consecutive month this year, recording a total of 10,837 sales across the Toyota, Lexus and Hino brands.