Author:charleen-clarke
Scania has lifted the lid on the NXT, an electric self-driving urban concept vehicle, which ferries commuters to and from work in mornings and evenings, delivers goods during the day and collects refuse at night. Scania’s president and CEO Henrik Henriksson says the XVT is a vision of the future for transport in cities. “NXT is designed for 2030 and beyond,” he explains. In NXT, the front and rear drive modules can be fitted to a bus body, a distribution […]
Israeli glass fabricator Oran Safety Glass (OSG) has launched ScreeneX glass-embedded digital displays, which – when fitted to buses and trains – make the most of valuable, but unutilised, real estate in transport and retail, namely glass windows, doors and partitions. The ultra-slim digital displays are embedded into standard glass units, transforming these areas into information and signage solutions for communicating with passengers. The surface of each side of the screen is as smooth and clear as conventional glass, so […]
The first cab-less, electric truck – Einride’s T-pod – has driven on a public road! The ground-breaking event took place at DB Schenker’s facility in Jönköping, Sweden. The T-pod will be used to transport goods between a warehouse and terminal at the facility. This 26-t electric truck has a top speed of 85 km/h, although initially it’s running at only 5 km/h. It has a range of 200 km and it is powered by a 200 kWh battery. While it […]
The facelifted V-Class is about to blast into South Africa. CHARLEEN CLARKE shot off to Sitges to drive it 2014 was one hell of a year. Ebola broke out in West Africa, a Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur destined for Beijing vanished, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) emerged and Robin Williams committed suicide at the age 63. However, not everything about 2014 was bad! It was the year that we first saw the Mercedes-Benz V-Class! A personal highlight […]
The Prometeon Tyre Group – the licensed manufacturer of Pirelli branded truck, bus and off-the-road tyres and the world’s only purely industrial tyre company – has lifted the lid on Anteo, its own new global truck and bus tyre brand. CHARLEEN CLARKE went to Milan for the world launch of this new tyre brand There’s a good chance that you won’t know the Prometeon name. I mentioned it to many people in the South African tyre business before jetting off to […]
There are precious few vehicles with 4×4 ability for under R400 000. Suzuki offers two; the R305 900 Jimny 1.5 GLX AllGrip and the R379 900 Vitara 1.6 GLX AllGrip, while Mahindra offers the old-school Scorpio 2.2 CRDe 4×4 S11 for R329 999. At R5 000 over our threshold you could also consider the permanent-all-wheel-drive Subaru XV 2.0i-S crossover. Then you get this, the Renault Duster 1.5 dCi 4×4 Dynamique offered at a mere R327 900. It’s the latest model to be added to the […]
Iveco, the newly appointed official truck partner of Alfa Romeo Racing, has delivered a fleet of 12 Stralis trucks and one Daily van to the team. The vehicles will ensure safe and efficient transportation of the team’s equipment to all the Formula One European Grand Prix venues throughout this season. According to Thomas Rücker, business director of Iveco Schweiz, the company is very proud of the partnership. “Iveco has a long tradition of partnerships and participation in the world of […]
So, first deliveries of the incredible Fisker Orbit shuttle, developed for smart cities, campuses and airports, were meant to commence in August 2019. However, we’re now being told that testing of this electric, connected and autonomous shuttle will commence then. It will seat between eight and 12 people, with standing and sitting room, and it will be hailed via an app. The Orbit looks quite a lot like the Mercedes-Benz Urbanetic, which we first saw at the IAA last year. […]
The Eclipse Cross was the first of numerous models to be launched by Mitsubishi during 2019 and with it the brand hopes to take its share of the compact SUV pie. It slots into the Mitsubishi line-up between the smaller and much older ASX and the larger and much more luxurious Outlander. It seems then to fill a perfect gap and, at R399 995, it’s attractively priced, too. However, this is arguably one of the toughest segments of the market in […]
Ford Motor Company has invested US$ 500 million (about R7,1 billion) in a company called Rivian, which specialises in electric vehicles (EVs). They will work together to develop an all-new, next-generation battery electric vehicle for Ford’s growing EV portfolio using Rivian’s skateboard platform. Rivian already has developed two clean sheet EVs. The company’s launch products – the five-passenger R1T pickup and seven passenger R1S SUV – will deliver up to 644 km of range and are said to “provide an […]