Coega plant to build new D20 vehicle
Beijing Automotive to roll out hatchbacks, sedan next year
THERE is a new small car on the South African market and it will be built in Port Elizabeth. Beijing Automotive Group Co Ltd (BAIC) from China will manufacture and sell the car from its soon-to-be-built R11-billion manufacturing plant in the Coega Industrial Development Zone. Construction of the first stage of the manufacturing facility is under way and production is scheduled to start early next year. The D20 small car, which arrives in both hatchback and sedan derivatives, has an excellent DNA. BAIC has a technology-sharing agreement with Mercedes-Benz and the D20 hatch and sedan range being launched in South Africa is built on the basic platform developed by Mercedes-Benz for its Smart ForFour small car, so it uses modern technology. The local D20 range consists of five hatchback models and one sedan. There is the choice of a 1.3-litre or 1.5-litre petrol engine and a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission in the hatchback derivative, while the sedan has the 1.5-litre engine and automatic transmission.
BAIC says it is not waiting for the local assembly in South Africa to start selling cars and is now beginning to roll out its model range, starting with the D20 small car, which is made in China. It is a competitively priced entrant in the lower end of the local passenger car market, but its quality and standard equipment levels are considered a cut above many of its competitors.
There are two levels of trim and equipment for the D20: Comfort and Fashion.
The Fashion level includes standard equipment such as an electric sunroof, day-time running lights, alloy wheels, automatic folding exterior rear-view mirrors, audio system with 6.5-inch touch screen, GPS, USB, CD player, radio and six speakers with speed-sensitive sound level adjustment.
The BAIC D20 model range will be sold and served by a newly established national network of 21 dealers covering most of the key cities and towns.
The D20 is covered by a five-year/120 000km warranty with service intervals of 10 000km. There is a free service at 3 000km. Service and maintenance plans are an option from the dealers. D20 prices are: Hatch 1.3M/T (Comfort) R149 990 Hatch 1.5M/T (Comfort) R169 990 Hatch 1.5M/T (Fashion) R179 990 Hatch 1.5A/T (Fashion) R189 990 Sedan 1.5A/T (Fashion) R209 990