SA car sales plumb new depths

The total vehicle market plunged by a huge 43,7 percent compared with April last year with passenger vehicle sales down by 38,7 percent and extra heavy commercial vehicles by an extraordinary 67,9 percent. 
The passenger vehicle sales table below incorporates a full breakdown by specific model rather than the usual consolidation of models within a stable and is therefore a truer reflection of reality.
Of note is the continuing strong performance of the VW Polo which is right at the end of its product life cycle and the equally solid showing of the Mercedes C-Class.
Model    Volume
1. VW Polo   1 024
2. Toyota Yaris T3  779
3. Mercedes C-Class  736
4. Ford Fiesta   718
5. VW CitiGolf   678
6. BMW 3-Series   653
7. Toyota Corolla  648
8. VW Polo Classic  468          
9. VW Golf 6   435
10.Toyota Fortuner  415
You virtually fall over these Mercs in shopping mall car parks which tells me that this model has found favour with the fairer sex.  The new Ford Fiesta has also gained early market approval and deservedly so in my book, yet its cousin, the ever so attractively styled Mazda2, attracted only 247 buyers in the same month.
Readers will also note the first appearance of the Golf 6 which reached these shores more quickly than I imagined it would.  I’ve had a brief look at a couple of variants and can report that the new model is very similar to its predecessor in so many ways that you almost might not notice it.  Take a closer look though, and you’ll find a lot of detail upgrades and a beautifully executed interior which again sets new standards for the class. 
Overseas reports also speak of excellent chassis composure and refinement so let’s see if the initial reaction on web forums to the perceived high pricing has a negative effect on sales. 
I’m most interested to find out how the new high tech 1,4 litre engines perform on the Reef.  One is turbocharged and the other features a turbo and a supercharger, a set up which should conquer the power sapping effects of thin air.
 It’s also relevant to report that the 2,0 TDI employs common rail technology for the first time rather than VW’s in-house Unit Injector system which was very efficient but rather noisy by today’s elevated standards.
Zimbabwean Flies
My attention was drawn to the exploits of a young Zimbabwean, Axcil Jefferies, in a Formula BMW Pacific race which supported the rain-soaked Malaysian Grand Prix in the first week of April.  Fifteen year old Axcil finished fourth in the first heat, just 5,179 seconds back from the winner but unfortunately failed to finish the second heat which was run in wet conditions.  I was unable to locate a full report on the second race but gather that the Zimbabwean managed to get to the front of the pack by the end of lap one before being sidelined.
 It’s far from easy to break into any form of internationally-based motor racing as competition for seats is simply massive, so congrats to Axcil whose go-karting expoilts of prior years were obviously noticed by the owners of Team Eurasia for whom he drove in the BMW races in Malaysia.
According to my sources, Formula BMW parallels Formula Ford as the first rung in the open wheel racer ladder for those who’ve cut their teeth in karting and should not be regarded as the penultimate step to F1 as a recent article in a local daily claimed.  Nonetheless, this in no way takes the gloss off Axcil Jefferies’ achievements in a formula which has acted as a springboard for many famous names in the annals of top class motor racing.
The same article also made mention of Jody Scheckter as “the only driver to make it to F1 from Africa”.  Had the author stated the only F1 World Champion from Africa, I would have concurred but the claim still set my mind in motion as to exactly which Africans have competed in F1.  I’m employing memory only here and hope there are no omissions but I can think of the following:
 From Zimbabwe —  John Love and  Sam Tingle.
From RSA — Jody Scheckter, Ian Scheckter, Dave Charlton, Doug Serrurier, Jackie Pretorius, Tony Maggs, Luki Botha and Desiree Wilson.
Claim for Damages
Many moons ago, I can recall a business colleague in Harare making a successful claim against the Harare Department of (Non) Works for the replacement cost of an alloy wheel on his Audi A6.   The wheel was buckled, as you might well have guessed, in one of the earlier potholes to blight Harare.
 Now comes news in a South African paper that a Cape motorcyclist is claiming R8 million compensation from the Prime Minister of the Western Cape.  The now-paralysed rider struck and killed a pedestrian (subsequently identified as a vagrant) on a road known as the N7 near Bothasig.  The accident happened in an unlit area where the road was reputedly bordered by overgrown shrubs.
In court papers, the disabled rider claimed the accident occurred because “the state had failed to ensure that the section of the road was free of obstructions, pedestrians and hazardous objects”.  He also claimed that the state allowed an island, which separated lanes, to be used by vagrants and that no street lighting was evident.
 Now it crossed my mind that the courts in Harare would be unusually busy if accident victims were to cite similar shortcomings as grounds for compensation in the event of an accident.  With good cause too, I might add.
 Pricey paint
Regrettably, stone chips are a fact of motoring and can be picked up even if your car never ventures off a tar road.  When the inevitable strikes, it’s important to apply a carefully dispensed blob of paint to the scarred area so as to protect the exposed metal from the ravages of creeping rust.
Some manufacturers supply a small bottle of touch-up paint in the tool kit, but as with all paints and especially in this case where the volume is so small, shelf life is very short.  It happened that the day I wrote this article was blessed with the most glorious sunshine which followed three days of wind driven rain, so it was appropriate to venture out to the nearby Merc dealer and acquire a teeny weeny vial of Horizon Blue paint for my wife’s A170 which continues to impress.
After taking details of the car’s VIN and punching in all sorts of codes on his computer, the parts person took on an embarrassed look which pre-empted the fact that the price was bad news.  Bad news indeed!  How do you like R180 for a thimblefull of paint.  It’s an outrage and Mercedes-Benz should be ashamed of foisting such a rip off on their customers.  It’s all very well to sell a new car at a reasonable price — which I believe was the case with the A170 — but it’s another thing to fleece your customers once you’ve lured them into the fold.
Needless to say, the Merc dealer’s stock level of Horizon Blue paint remanins unchanged.
On a related subject, many readers will be aware of the fact that in countries sporting a normal economy, it’s possible to have your car draped with a near-invisible film which protects from stone chips.  In simple terms, the film is actually clear vinyl and it’s certainly effective at warding off scrapes and scratches, and stone chips for that matter.
 The problem is you need to take your personal bank manager and a senior official of the World Bank with you if you plan to have this protective shield applied to your pride and joy.  It’s so pricey that many motorists reckon it’s cheaper to have any cosmetic damage sorted and resprayed in preference to shelling out for the protective film. 
FIA machinations
The ruling body of Formula 1 continues to do “funny” things, not least of which was to let McLaren and their grovelling CEO, Martin Whitmarsh, off the hook in the aftermath of the Lewis Hamilton liegate affair. 
The FIA attempted to make a last minute change to this year’s point-scoring rules which would give the world title to the driver with the most wins. 
The team representatives angrily objected to the proposal which was then put on the back burner but it’s now emerged that the “winner takes all” proposal has been quietly drafted into the 2010 rules. 
How the wheel has come full circle.  It’s not long ago that the self-same rule makers did everything in their power to halt Michael Schumacher by effectively REDUCING the points gap for a GP winner.  They’ve also banned refuelling during races which is a pity in my book as pit stops have definitely livened up many races and added intrigue as to who will stop when and who’s carried what load in qualifying.
This rule change means that final qualifying will now take place on low fuel loads as teams may refuel under parc ferme conditions after qualifying is completed.  One must also wonder what the implications are for tyre choice.
A full fuel load is decidedly heavy and will lead to massively accelerated tyre degradation in the early stages of a GP. Surely this will increase research and development costs, the very issue which the FIA has been trying to address in recent times.
And finally on the subject of F1, regular viewers simply must have registered that Anthony Hamilton isn’t parading himself in front of the cameras at every opportunity like he did in the days when Lewis was atop a pedestal that comes with winning GPs.