10 000 SALES FOR SUZUKI SA

Suzuki Auto South Africa (SASA) has every reason to celebrate this week: the company recorded its 10 000th unit sale, only 29 months after commencing operations in South Africa.

The milestone not only confirms Suzuki Auto SA’s status as a significant player on the SA motoring landscape, but also underscores the growing demand for the marque’s innovative range of passenger cars and all-terrainers.

ASTON MARTIN CONFIRMS ONE-77 POWER FIGURE

Aston Martin’s ultimate expression of design, engineering and craftsmanship; the One-77 is being readied for production. The 7.3 litre V12 engine, as part of the development process, has been certified at 559kW (750bhp) and 750Nm of torque, positioning it as the most powerful naturally aspirated road car engine in the world today.

BMW M3 FROZEN SLIDES THROUGH KHAYALAMI

That exhaust note alone is worth a million. I lie. It’s probably worth a little more. BMW’s M3 Frozen Edition is here and boy has it made its presence felt. An hour around the famed Khayalami race track not only reconfirmed M3’s spot as the most iconic BMW of all time, but it also perched it top of its class in the German compact sedan punch-up. Had it not been for BMW’s cover-all-the-bases PR department, I would not have been able to say these true words.

FIAT DOBLO IS VAN OF THE YEAR

The new Fiat Doblò Cargo was awarded the International Van of the Year award 2011 – scoring 128 out of 168 points – by a jury made up of 24 specialist commercial vehicle trade journalists representing the same number of countries. The prestigious trophy was awarded during a gala evening to mark the 63rd edition of the Hanover International Motor Show, the most important commercial and industrial vehicle show in Europe.

RENAULT, UNITRANS HOOK UP

When Unitrans’ Automotive Division (UAD) made the decision to include Renault in its franchise fold and open three new dealerships in March this year, little did they anticipate that all three would rank among Renault South Africa’s top four performing dealerships within weeks of their openings. The Gauteng-based sales (new and pre-owned) and service dealerships are situated in Clearwater (Roodepoort), Kempton Park and Benoni.

RANGE ROVER EVOQUE DETAILED

Evoque is coming to town. Range Rover’s latest baby is slated for 160 countries and South Africa is one of them. Hopefully. Why not?

“These are exciting times for our business,” said CEO Dr Ralf Speth. “Not only will the Range Rover Evoque increase our worldwide market share, it helps to define a new segment for premium compact SUVs that are more sporting and stylish.”

BMW GOES AGGRESSIVE IN INDIA

The BMW Group is strengthening its commitment in the growth market of India. As a first step, local production capacity at the BMW plant in Chennai has been increased from 3 000 to 5 400 units and the dealer network further expanded.
“India is a market that holds great potential for the future for us and is a building block in our global market offensive. Our success so far has proved that our ‘production-follows-the-market’ strategy, which has already been successful in markets such as

SUPER V8 SALOONS HEAT UP FOR KHAYALAMI

A taste of what South African motor sport fans can expect at Khayalami in November was on display at France’s Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet last Sunday, where Porsche and Italy’s Fabrizio Giovanardi scored an historic debut double win in the latest round of the international Superstars Series.
 

MASERATI REVEALS GRANTURISMO MC STRADALE IN ANTICIPATION OF PARIS 2010

The new Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale will be the fastest, lightest and most powerful car in the Maserati range when it goes on sale in the first quarter of 2011.

Inspired by the Trofeo GranTurismo MC and the race-winning GT4 motorsport models, the two-seater Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale that will debut at the Paris Auto Show will feature razor-sharp handling and will break the 300km/h barrier.

LOTUS PUTS OUT 450KW ELITE BEFORE PARIS DEBUT

Paris 2010 is still a week ahead, yet some automakers have already shown their aces before the glamorous motor show. One such is Lotus, which is now owned by Proton of Malaysia, has revealed the Elite, a new breed of supercar from the English brand. Hopefully the name doesn’t get confused with little brother Elise.

WILKEN AND CO FINISH IN TOP SIX

The Basil Read/bizhub Ford Fiesta S2000 of Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich had a good run in the 7th round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship, ending the Swartland Rally in 6th place overall, but more importantly, setting competitive stage times, winning stages and running at the front of the field.

BMW: MOST SUSTAINABLE GERMAN COMPANY

The BMW Group has been named as the automotive industry’s Supersector leader for the sixth consecutive year, and is therefore the world’s most sustainable automobile manufacturer. This was the conclusion of the SAM Group, published in its latest evaluation for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI). The BMW Group is the only company

PEUGEOT'S FANTASTIC RCZ LAUNCHED, DRIVEN

Peugeot’s new RCZ is proper. Finish and klaar. If only it were that simple. Fortunately it’s not because there’s a lot more to the new coupe than just a few words. First revealed as a concept at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, the RCZ became the fastest concept-to-production Peugeot of all time when the real deal was unveiled at last year’s Frankfurt do. Its purpose is to shake and rattle the established players of the segment, namely the Audi TT, BMW Z4 and Mercedes-Benz SLK, although Peugeot SA reckons the TT and VW Scirocco are probably its main targets.

BRAND NEW BMW 6 SERIES BREAKS OUT

BMW has this nasty habit of revealing so-called “concepts” that look scarily like full production models. And so it is with the all-new 2011 6 Series Coupe which makes its debut at the 2010 Paris International Motor Show next week. Pretty much what you see here is what you’ll get when the car launches in Europe and South Africa in 2011.