Author:charleen-clarke
There was a time when the Subaru WRX was at the head of the pack when it came to bang-for-buck performance saloons. Sure, there was the hardcore STi and buyers could also have looked at a range of German super-saloons for their high-performance four-door kicks โ but the WRX didnโt sacrifice much in the way of outright speed and handling combined with usable, everyday practicality. Of course, it had the brawny image, too, but, as the naughties progressed hot hatches […]
Here it is, folks; one of the most criminally underrated SUV on sale in South Africa. In March 2019, Subaru South Africa sold just 41 of these new Foresters, while Mazda sold 407 CX-5s, VW sold 447 Tiguans, and Toyota sold 715 new RAV4s. Sure, each of these is a brilliant car in its own right โ and there are others in the segment that are just as underrated: the Peugeot 3008 and Opel Grandlandย X spring to mind, but […]
Isuzu Motors South Africa has turned one! What has transpired in its first year of operation? Was it a challenging time? In order to find the answers to these and other questions, CHARLEEN CLARKE goes face to face with its CEO and MD, Michael Sacke You must be glad that the trauma of the departure of General Motors from South Africa is a thing of the past. Yes, it was a difficult, challenging time. What made things even more challenging […]
Many people are uncomfortable with the idea of buying a cheap product โ for good reason โ and theย JMC Vigus is cheap. So, should you put it on your shopping list? CHARLEEN CLARKE weighs up the pros and cons. I have lots of posh mates. Unlike yours truly, they never buy anything cheap. โGoedkoop is duurkoop,โ one of my Afrikaans mates tells me regularly. Just in case you donโt praat die taal (speak the language), that literally means โcheap buying […]
Kamal Mitoo, CEO of Time Link Cargo, must surely be one of the greatest Scania fans on this planet, and, as CHARLEEN CLARKE discovers, he has just reinforced his belief in the brand with an order for 100 trucks! Mitoo is famous for many things. First and foremost, thereโs the fact that he started his company as recently as 2005 โ and itโs a massively successful undertaking today. Second, heโs famous for being passionate about the Scania brand (youโll never […]
Scania and Nobina, the largest public-transport operator in the Nordic countries, will start trials of autonomous buses on regular routes in the Stockholm area in 2020. โThe technology is now sufficiently mature to initiate trials in actual bus operations on public roads, making the project one of the first of its kind in Europe with buses this size,โ explains Karin Rรฅdstrรถm, head of buses and coaches at Scania. โThe project will provide a wealth of information in the further development […]
Nissan is testing Invisible-to-Visible (I2V) technology, which helps drivers โsee the invisibleโ โ such as whatโs farther down the road, behind a building or around the corner. I first discovered this technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January this year, and itโs hugely cool and impressive stuff. Currently being tested at Grandrive, Nissanโs proving ground in Yokosuka, Japan, I2V is a technology that merges the real and virtual worlds. It combines information from sensors outside and […]
Last year, I drove Volvoโs new electric trucks and now the first units have been delivered to customers! The vehicles in question are a refuse truck, which was delivered to waste and recycling company Renova, and a distribution truck, which went to the logistics company DB Schenker and partner haulier TGM, operating in Sweden. The Volvo FL Electric trucks are part of a pre-series developed in collaboration with selected customers. Series production of the Volvo FL Electric and its powerful […]
Busworld South East Asia took place in Jakarta last month and it was interesting to discover that one of its exhibitors runs the longest bus rapid transit (BRT) system in the world. The company in question, TransJakarta, boasts a BRT system measuring 251 km in length. It serves 663 000 passengers a day, who travel across 155 routes (as recently as 2015, a mere 41 routes were on offer). About 189,8-million passengers used the service of TransJakarta last year. Back […]
More than half of van drivers in the United Kingdom (UK) have admitted to making calls behind the wheel without using a hands-free device. This is the finding of a research study by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. According to the study, van drivers in the UK spend an average of 35 minutes on the phone each day in their vehicles, making an average of seven calls a day. One in ten spend two hours on the phone while driving during the […]
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