The Big Car Trends for 2018
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www.autolive.co.za Issue No. 104 | 14 December 2017 THE BIG CAR TRENDS FOR 2018 “The automotive industry has faced to achieve this goal by 2025. Impressive and afford- a turbulent 2017. Manufacturer able electric and autonomous models are already exits, global political upheaval available but in 2018 we’ll see the big brands fight to launch the first mass-produced electric vehicle. and recalls have proven that the only certainty for the market is Even smarter cars uncertainty – nonetheless, there CES 2017 (the international Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas) was choc-a-bloc with proto- are early indications of new trends types boasting some form of autonomous driving emerging,” said Jeff Osborne of capability and intelligence. The Honda Automated Gumtree Automotive. Network Assistant (HANA) artificial intelligence system and the company’s so-called Safe Swarm concept, enabling vehicles to mimic the behavior Global of schools of fish to ensure safer driving, were the Electricity is very current stand-outs. 2018 is likely to see further exciting India, Norway, Britain, France and China have an- developments in this space, especially as tech gi- Jeff Osborne, Head of Gumtree nounced their intention to completely eliminate the ants like Google and Apple are either competing or Automotive. use of fossil fuels in cars by 2040 and Germany vows continued on page 2 Page 7 Page 10 Page 17 Product recall risks keep Black-owned suppliers get Hino wants to rewrite the growing VW contracts Dakar record book Subscribe for free @ www.autolive.co.za Page 2 Editor and Advertising Manager continued from previous page Liana Reiners some reduction of cost but it will also [email protected] place some strain on dealerships and 083 407 4600 insurers, and will seriously compro- mise the vehicle manufactures ability Contributors to preserve the technical and safety Roger Houghton integrity of their products. [email protected] More shifting sands 082 371 9097 among brands Advertising Sales Chevrolet withdrew from SA dur- ing 2017, following Daihatsu and Liana Reiners The 2018 Nissan Leaf plug-in electric vehicle will be available in Citroën’s departure the year before, [email protected] over 60 markets, including South Africa. and SsangYong effectively paused 083 407 4600 their operations. But Opel decided to stay, with a new distribution Address and service arrangement, and two 237 Rigel Avenue Chinese brands, BAIC and Haval, ar- Waterkloof Ridge rived. The local market probably has Pretoria too many players for its scale so some PO Box 914 005 more changes can be anticipated but Wingate Park they won’t all be negative – there’s 0153 talk of VW bringing the popular 012 460 4448 Skoda range into the country. Volvo is one of the companies that has already made great Website leeway in the development of autonomous vehicles. Consumers will continue trading in and up www.autolive.co.za partnering with traditional manu- improvement mid-2017. This uptick According to the latest VPI by Facebook facturers to gain a slice of the pie. is likely to continue into 2018, with TransUnion, Pre-Owned car prices the huge proviso that the local politi- are climbing while new cars are www.facebook.com/pages/AutoLive The law chases the tech cal and economic environments are priced below inflation for the first © 2017 WCM Media CC The first autonomous motor vehicle relatively stable. time in years. This will no doubt fatality occurred in 2016, which see many consumers “trading up” Production sparked draft bills for autonomous Movement on the – selling their current vehicle and Right to Repair Marketing Support Services and electric vehicle testing in Europe taking advantage of competitively Danie Dreyer and the USA. 2018 will likely see these The proposed New Code of Conduct, priced new cars, particularly since [email protected] bills fleshed out even further as legis- which seeks to provide consumers private vehicle sales are becoming +27 (0)12 346 2168 lation tries to catch up to technology. with the right to choose independ- more commonplace. Gumtree alone ent workshops and alternative parts sees over 1.4 million South Africans LOCAL Layout and Typesetting without voiding their warranties, browsing the pre-owned car section Vehicle sales recovering could lead to legislation. Should that every month, while tens of thousands Sharon Bredenkamp After 18 months of negative numbers happen, it will provide freedom of of pre-owned cars are listed for sale in SA, the new car market saw some choice for consumers and, possibly, at any given time. ■ Disclaimer While reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure the accuracy of the advice and information given to readers, neither the editor, the proprietors, nor the publishers BAIC was one of two can accept any responsibility Chinese brands that for any damages or injury which arrived on the local may arise therefrom. market in 2017. MONTHLY SALES STATISTICS The growing amount of advertising in AutoLive has made it necessary to relocate the four pages of detailed monthly vehicle sales analysis to the website www.autolive.co.za. CLICK HERE to access Subscribe for free @ www.autolive.co.za Page 3 Retail Vehicle Sales Editor’s Note Continue to Buck Following on our road safety message in the November issue Negative Outlook in SA of AutoLive, we focus on another danger facing motorists over Retail new vehicle sales in South Africa con- breakdowns using estimates based on the the Festive Season. Previous tinued to buck the negative outlook in both category totals, but this gets increasingly in- research conducted over this the country and the economy as month- accurate as time goes by and new models are period shows clear spikes in over-month increases continued for the introduced by the non-reporting companies. crime during December, includ- sixth consecutive month. Just when there One can only hope that the dti brings ing hijacking. While the reason was growing fear of further downgrades out a big stick to force detailed reporting by for this can only be assumed, you can take definite action to try in credit ratings and increasing confu- all companies benefitting from state support protect yourselves and your families from finding yourself in this sion around the ANC’s upcoming elective for the motor industry. very dangerous position. conference the local sales figures come out You need to be stationary to be hijacked. While it may seem showing growth over the past six months. NAAMSA has its say rather redundant to say so, coming to a complete standstill is However, year-on-year sales are down Led by a strong performance in the new something many drivers still do. Hijackers need you to be station- 2.1%: the cumulative figure for the first 11 car segment, the overall market registered ary, which is why you should never pull into your driveway until months of 2017 stands at 505 903 units, com- encouraging gains of 7.2%, despite the the gate is open. Instead, wait in the road parallel to your driveway, pared to 516 954 units at the same time in continued difficult economic environment ready to go at any moment, while the gate opens. 2016. Good news is that cumulative exports characterised by political and economic Where possible you should also try to avoid stopping com- between January and November, at 326 113 policy uncertainty. pletely at intersections. If conditions allow, anticipate traffic light units, are 4.6% up on the same period last For the second month in succession, changes and drive slowly up to the intersection to avoid stopping year, when 311 638 units were shipped. new vehicle exports had been affected by at all. Remember, however, these techniques can only be effective What is sad is that there is the shadow the impact of recent inclement weather on if you are aware of your surroundings and spot a potential threat of substantial pre-reporting of sales hang- Durban Port operations as well as the model before it reaches your window. ing over the latest figures as many compa- runout and impending new model intro- Shopping centres are one of the areas where crime levels nies chase targets to qualify for lucrative duction of the Volkswagen Polo range. increase drastically. December is also the time when people spend incentive bonuses, hence the large amounts In the event, November 2017 ag- more time at shopping centres. If you find yourself at a shopping of money being put on the bonnets of a gregate new vehicle sales at 49 754 units centre in the coming weeks find a parking space against a wall. wide range of new vehicles at this time of had increased by 3 357 units or 7.2% from Then reverse your car into the parking space. When you return to the year. the 46 397 vehicles sold in November last your car you can offload your purchases while keeping an eye open year. November 2017 export sales at 27 178 for potential threats. The wall at your back also prevents someone Over the past six months, vehicles had registered a substantial decline from surprising you from behind. the domestic car market of 4 315 units or a fall of 13.7% compared to Children are also more likely to be travelling with you during had performed relatively the 31 493 vehicles exported in November December. While none of us wants to consider being hijacked with last year. our children, the reality is that we should. Before you find yourself positively in a challenging Overall, out of the total reported in this situation, teach your children where to sit in the car and what economic environment.