He told the KwaZulu-Natal Investment Conference in Durban on Tuesday that sales of new energy vehicles — hybrid electric vehicles with a small battery — had grown since 2019. “Sales grew by 53% in 2021, 54% in 2022 and 35% in 2023 (up to 14.2 million units) but growth rates are expected to slow down to around 10%.” New energy vehicle sales represented 15.7% of all new vehicle sales for the period.

“One third of global vehicle production is in China with 30.2 million units or 32.2%, while South Africa ranks 22nd with 0.67% of global production volumes. We produced 633 000 vehicles last year,” Moodley said.

“Why this is important is that to be recognised as a tier one automobile country, you need to be producing in excess of one million vehicles.”

The vehicle industry master plan sets a target for the country to account for 1% of global production — about a million vehicles — by 2035.

Moodley said in 2022 the United States — the seventh largest producer of vehicles — had, at 83%, the greatest rate of people owning vehicles, followed by Germany (58%), France (47%), Japan (61%) while China, the largest producer of vehicles, was at 17%, as was South Africa, with India coming in at 2%. Africa had 4% of its population owning vehicles.

“It shows that there is opportunity for motorisation in Africa, India and China — those are the future growth markets in the industry,” Moodley said.

Africa accounts for about 1.3% of global production, but the continent has had the biggest annual growth in vehicle production, increasing by 14.5% to 1.17 million units in 2023. Of these, 63% were exported, mostly to Europe.

South Africa is the biggest producer on the continent (633 000 units in 2023), followed by Morocco (535 000 units in 2023), Egypt (51 000 units in 2022), Kenya (20 000 units in 2023) and Algeria (2 500 units in 2023).

Moodley said there was “huge opportunity” for South Africa, which exports less than 13 000 vehicles to the rest of the continent, to increase this number under the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement.

There are seven original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including Volkswagen, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, Nissan, Ford and Isuzi, operating in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.

These companies and their suppliers support 116 000 jobs as well as 498 000 downstream jobs, while the industry accounts for 5.3% of South Africa’s GDP and contributed R21 billion to the trade balance of payments through exports in 2023.

“For every one job we create in the automotive OEM there are at least 16 jobs created in the broader economy. Hence it is a multiplier that cannot be underestimated,” Moodley said.

Moodley said South Africa had seen a rapid adoption of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in the past few years, with Toyota and Lexus making up 45% of the country’s total sales in 2023. 

“Initially there were two brands in 2020 and now there are 15 brands offering NEV products,” Moodley said, adding that Toyota was aiming to account for 50% of NEV sales by 2035.

“We need to reshape the industry towards the future of the NEV vehicle. We need a sustainable and responsible acceleration toward decarbonisation, and a localisation opportunity exists, and that is where we should be looking to attract investment,” Moodley said.

“Looking at batteries, lithium is not a widely available commodity globally. We need to recognise that battery electric is not the only accessible solution —  and it has cost and infrastructure implications. The question is, why don’t we prioritise hydro-electric vehicles? You can produce more, they are affordable, they are cheaper, you don’t need the infrastructure and you can have a positive impact on carbon emissions at the same time.”

Moodley said there was a need to optimise the localisation benefits of NEV production as well as the local beneficiation of the critical minerals needed.

“Minerals required for batteries, lithium, nickel, copper, cobalt, graphite, calcium fluoride and tungsten, we have those present in South Africa and in Africa. The challenge is: how do we beneficiate them in our country?” he said.

“South Africa and the rest of Africa has the minerals required for NEVs. We need policy and public private collaboration to exploit this opportunity.”

BYD was the second best-selling electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer worldwide in 2023 — behind Tesla — selling over 3 million units. The company had sold over 9 million new-energy vehicles in total as of September 2024. New-energy vehicles include EVs, plug-in hybrids and traditional hybrid vehicles. 

With no sign of Tesla anywhere near the South African market, BYD has taken the opportunity to push local consumers towards EVs by making them more affordable.

When the company launched in the country last year, it released the Atto 3 at R768 000, making it one of the more affordable EVs on the local market. In 2024, BYD released the Dolphin at R539 900, the cheapest EV in South Africa. 

The manufacturer seemed to have adopted the same model as Chinese counterparts GWM and Chery, which turned heads in 2021 with cars like the Jolion and Tiggo 4 Pro, giving South African consumers luxury cars at affordable prices. 

This has led to the two consistently being among South Africa’s top-selling car brands, with Haval placing eighth in 2023, above Kia and Renault. 

BYD South Africa general manager Steve Chang says he understands that local consumers are looking to get “bang for their buck” and his company is doing all it can to give it to them.

“What we are trying to do is get an EV here that costs between R300 000 and R350 000. That is where we need to go with the South African consumers,” Chang said. 

“With the BYD Seal [the company’s newest model in South Africa], the communication that we got from China was to start retailing close to R1.4 million. After much back and forth, we decided to forego profits on the car to get that price under R1 million.”

Chang said the import tax on light vehicles in South Africa — currently at 25% — does not help brands on pricing. However, consumer confidence in EVs, or new-energy vehicles, in South Africa had grown in 2024, with over 3 000 being sold in the first quarter alone compared with just over 7 000 in the whole of 2023. 

While traditional hybrid vehicles are the biggest sellers, with over 2 500 units sold in the first quarter of 2024, the growth of plug-in hybrids increased five times in those three months, compared with the same period in 2023. 

EVs are still the lowest-sellers among new-energy vehicles, with just 330 sold in the first quarter of 2024. 

Charging stations here are still not as freely accessible in South Africa as they are in Europe, the US and China. Chang attributed this to the fact that not enough EV’s are being sold.

“We get calls from companies like Rubicon [which runs charging stations] to find out how we are doing, because there’s simply not enough EVs selling in the country,” he said.

BYD is planning to bring in two plug-in hybrid vehicles by the end of the first quarter of 2025 in a bid to boost its footprint in South Africa. 

It also plans to expand from five local dealerships to 25 by the end of next year.

The budget-friendly-ish, bare-bones models start at a relatively competitive R522 600, with the Ranger Raptor filling the top spot with a price tag of R1 266 700. Shock, horror and disbelief at the audacity of asking that much, but considering what you’re getting, it’s pretty much a bargain. 

Then there’s the Ranger on this  page — the most expensive derivative you can buy that can’t ramp —the American-mouthed Platinum. 

So, for R1 120 100 — R106 600 less than the dune-taming Raptor — what do you get for your money? 

Well, the Platinum badge, while considered new in the local context, save for the Everest Platinum, has been slapped on range-topping derivatives of the Ford Explorer, F-150 and Super Duty in the US of A. 

It comes with a mesh grille, a silk chrome-finish horizontal grille bar and Platinum badging on both the bonnet and front doors. 

At the rear, the load bin gets the styling hoops and side rails found on the Wildtrak, along with an electronically operated roller shutter which, surprisingly, is an add-on feature. 

The Platinum also gets Ford’s Matrix LED lights with auto high-beam headlights, which automatically toggle to full-on brightness when no oncoming headlights are detected. While it works well for the most part, the auto high beams occasionally struggle to distinguish faraway static lights from those of an oncoming vehicle. 

“I think all males from Detroit have an obsession with cars”

Dax Shepard

On the inside, the Platinum distinguishes itself from the Wildtrak with diamond-pattern quilted leather seats and a Platinum badge, as opposed to the stitched insignia that we Saffers typically like. It also gets ambient lighting, black maple ornamental strips and aluminium trim. 

As is the case with other high-end Fords, the Platinum has the 12.4-inch, fully digital instrument cluster with scrollable screens, which give a clear readout of driving information. 

In the middle, there’s the now-familiar 12-inch tablet-style screen, which serves as an entertainment and function hub with mostly seamless Android Auto, bar a few lost connections over our testing period. 

It’s also home to the exterior camera control module, with easy switching to this layout, which is useful, especially when manoeuvring into a tight parking space. 

While the tablet style is growing on me, I believe a lot of pixel space is wasted on features such as climate control, which has unnecessary amounts of white space relative to the small screen toggle buttons. 

Finally, the Ford Ranger Platinum comes with a 400W inverter with both 240V and 12V power outlets for charging portable devices. 

This is a nice feature list — but how does it drive? Considering that it’s a bakkie, it’s surprising just how polished its driving characteristics are. 

I can vividly recall the launch of the latter in the Free State. We flew into Bloemfontein where a gaggle of Merc C63s awaited us. The plan was simple — we would drive to Welkom’s Phakisa raceway and race them around the oval track as quickly as possible to our hearts’ content. That remains one of the most memorable media launches in my career. 

Since then, I have driven just about every iteration of the W204 C63 generation — mostly blunt instruments with colossal power — culminating in the hardcore, yet sublime, Black Series (380kW and 630Nm) derivative. 

Yes, indeed, the latter model not only had more power but also had a stiffer chassis setup and a more aggressive differential that allowed lurid sideways-driving antics. 

In 2015 we had the arrival of the W205 C63 S, replete with a downsized four-litre bi-turbo V8 with 375kW and 700Nm. 

This saw a bump up in power, but mostly that torque figure, however, the engineers had one challenge — getting that signature V8 engine note fine-tuned for fans of the model. 

While the exhaust note was fruity enough, it just wasn’t as intoxicatingly guttural as the W204, which remains a firm favourite among C63 aficionados. 

So, the news that the next-generation W206 C63 would be hybridised was met with some choice words, but it was the fact that the combustion engine would go from a V8 to a four-cylinder with a two-litre displacement that caused the most consternation.  

As officially the first publication to get its hands on this latest, locally produced C63 SE Performance, we wanted to answer a few questions. Has the downsizing worked here? Does the vehicle deliver handsomely on the performance front? Moreover, would this model appeal to previous-generation owners? 

To get the answers, we took the vehicle to our test track and put it through its paces. The vehicle had been meticulously run in (for 1 500km) for us so we could exploit the full potential of the powerplant. 

Speaking of which, the model boasts a two-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with 350kW and 545Nm, augmented by a 150kW and 320Nm electric motor powered by a 6.1kWh lithium-ion battery, propelling the rear wheels. 

As a result of this, the total system output is a staggeringly impressive 500kW and 1 020Nm driving all four wheels through a nine-speed automatic transmission. Merc claims it does 0 to 100km/h in 3.4 seconds but we managed a time of 3.34 seconds. That is rapid for a compact sedan (at least as far as its pecking order in the range goes) that weighs 2.1 tonnes. 

A complex car to decipher, the new C63 S E Performance has eight driving modes, five levels of electric battery recuperation, and four functions for the electronic stability control. 

While the battery pack will give you only around 13km of electric drive, it is designed mainly to supplement the combustion engine and give you extra performance, particularly at the bottom of the rev range, where the turbocharged engine is still getting into its stride. 

Dial everything up to Race mode and the ESP to Sport or Off and experience a rocketship-like performance. It bangs through the gears with alacrity and sends you down the road at quite a rate. 

Thankfully, this new C63 is not a one-trick pony as the engineers have done a great deal to the chassis tuning to ensure that it tugs through corners with poise and confidence-inspiring grip levels. There’s a neutral, delicate, yet playful nuance to the handling that runs rings around any C63 that came before. 

So, an impressive piece of kit, right? Yes, there is no discounting the C63’s breadth of talent but there’s an elephant in the room — the lack of a V8 under the bonnet. 

You see, owners of previous-generation C63s and admirers alike were drawn to the model not by its performance but by its thumping V8. But that is gone and I reckon Mercedes will need an altogether different strategy to market this model. 

It remains an impressive feat of engineering that will be spoken of in the hallowed halls of motoring in the future. However, the C63 has its work cut out for it to find its niche.

And at the lofty starting price of R2 476 800 it is R300 000 north of the BMW M3 Competition M xDrive and R100 000 dearer than the Audi RS 6 Performance, which plays in a higher segment of the market. 

We will, in due course, compare the BMW M3 Competition M xDrive to the Mercedes-AMG C63 SE Performance to see if the price difference is justifiable. 

While Japanese offerings have long been the mainstay in the segment, the recent Chinese offerings are something to behold. 

The second-generation VW Tiguan presents a desirable option for buyers who rank attributes such as styling and build quality high, not to mention reputable residual value. 

Scouring through many pre-owned web portals confirms that the current generation Tiguan has great residual value and thus is a good proposition, especially with the third-generation waiting in the wings. 

We recently decided to stretch our long-term loan Tiguan’s legs to see how it fares as a long-haul, family commuter and also how it copes with undulating roads and overtaking manoeuvres. 

So it was that we packed the Tiguan and nosed it towards North West to visit family. 

As soon as we had Gauteng behind us, and had meandered through Hartbeespoort and onto the pristine N4, the fuel consumption dipped considerably from the high 8 litres per 100km to a commendable 7.8l/100km. This, if little else, proves even petrol-powered vehicles can be efficient in the right setting.

The ride quality remains impressive, while road and wind noise are more than acceptable for a vehicle of this disposition. 

Overtaking slower-moving vehicles proved a cinch, requiring only the slightest push on the throttle, with the smooth DSG transmission shifting down a cog or two before leaping forward and past traffic. 

For fans of adaptive cruise control, the Tiguan’s system is reasonably good, if not the most intuitive, but I prefer using manual throttle inputs. Yes, that might sound old-fashioned but I have always got better fuel consumption with this method.

 Having four USB ports on board meant there were enough for my family to charge their phones and gadgets en route, ensuring some semblance of sanity on the long journey. 

The haptic climate control settings remain a bane to operate on the move but Apple CarPlay has made access to my tunes an easy affair. 

The panoramic roof gives the cabin a very airy feel. 

As temperatures begin to dip, early mornings call for the use of the heated seat function, which proved to be an invaluable and welcome item. 

To say the family has grown fond of the Tiguan would be an understatement. From school runs and extramural activities to grocery shopping and, now, long-distance trips, the Tiguan is a consummate medium-family SUV and we will be sad to see it leave our garage.

The pros and cons

GOOD STUFF: Comfort. Convenience. Fuel consumption.

BAD STUFF: Haptic buttons

MILEAGE AT START:  1 594km

MILEAGE NOW: 7 865km

PRICE: R843 000 (R958 749 as tested)

The genesis of this is the i3, which was launched in South Africa in 2015. Since then, a slew of models have followed this trajectory, not least of which are the i4 and i7, based on the 4 Series Gran Coupe and 7 Series, respectively, the caveat being that they are fully electric. 

Now the i5 has joined the line-up and, yes, you guessed it, an electrified 5 Series. 

On test here is the flagship variant of the i5, the M60 — you also get an eDrive40 derivative — and it has a lot of the fundamental executive sedan bases licked. 

Upper-executive sedan proportions, check! Well-appointed cabin, check! Practical cabin and boot space, check! And, in the case of the M60, searing performance, check! All these conspire to make a very competent saloon that should still appease fans of the 5 Series. 

While the design is somewhat contentious when viewed in pictures, in the metal, it all comes together quite eloquently. The long, sloping bonnet, roomy passenger cell and stubby boot lend the model that classic three-box design we have come to appreciate in sedans. 

The i5 is, at worst, interesting to behold, especially the standard M Performance specification that sees 21-inch wheels at each corner, tailored side skirts, a rear diffuser and a liberal sprinkling of M badges. 

Granted, the sedan segment is on the decline in Mzansi but the premium marques remain more buoyant than those outside of this realm, so cars like the i5 need to be a cut above to make absolute sense. 

So, let us deep-dive into the intricacies and leave the exterior aspects for you to pore over. 

Enter the executive lounge-like cabin, and it is here that the Bavarian marque has moved the goalposts, compared to the outgoing fiver. 

Tactility has moved more than a few rungs up the premium ladder. 

The cabin appointments are top-drawer, top-tier levels of loftiness, and one cannot help but sense that the designers got the upper hand during the boardroom negotiations, and all the better for the vehicle. 

Everything has a tactility befitting an executive saloon of this calibre, and even beyond, such is the quality compared to the outgoing model. 

This spills over into the sumptuous seats, which have heating and cooling functions and offer great scope for adjustment. 

The infotainment screen is at the heart of the interior’s functions and you need a fair bit of acquaintance to be able to navigate the labyrinth of apps which, thankfully, once licked, are intuitive enough. 

Powering the i5 M60 is an 81.2kWh battery pack, enough to give you a 512km range on the WLTP (worldwide harmonised light vehicle test procedure) cycle. 

Of course, this depends on various parameters, including driving style and ambient temperature. 

It powers an electric motor on each axle for a combined output of 442kW and 795Nm, enough to hurtle it from 0 to 100km/h in 3.8 seconds, to a top speed of 230km/h. 

As you can see from the numbers, this top-dog i5 is seriously brisk and gets on swiftly with moving the hefty 2.3 tonne sedan. 

Four-wheel traction means immediate and surefooted purchase off the line and on varying surfaces. That inherent immediate acceleration of EVs is truly something to behold, especially in this performance-bent derivative. It feels like a proper kick-in-the-gut acceleration. 

It is devastatingly quick in a straight line but what of corner-tugging duties? Well, let’s just say this is where EVs are still wanting, thanks to those heavy lithium-ion batteries. 

Braking, in particular, is where one feels the penalties. The car overshot a braking point more than once as the pedal, once depressed, simply could not slow down the vehicle enough, due to inertia. 

On the flip side of the coin, it is an executive sedan that imparts a feeling of calmness that needs to be experienced to be appreciated. 

The i5 proved an easy car to live with and, during the test tenure, we used the public DC fast-charging network, which worked a treat, thanks to the recent respite from load-shedding. 

Charging the vehicle from almost empty takes just over two hours on a DC charger and would be around eight hours on a home wall-box at 11kW — essentially overnight. 

As battery technology improves, reducing weight and charging duration, EVs are great when the infrastructure is in place and working optimally. 

The only thing left now is to make EVs more viable to purchase. The department of trade and industry needs to execute the next phase of the white paper agreement on EVs, changing the status quo where an ad valorem 11% tax, essentially a luxury tax, is slapped on over and above the 25% VAT on imported cars. 

The BMW i5 M60 is a precursor to what a full-fat EV M5 could do, should the marque move that way. At R2 190 000, the i5 M60 commands a hefty price but it offers handsomely for that princely sum in both the luxury and performance quotas.

This availability had to do with the fact that there were more to choose from in a variety of price and size categories — think the Toyota Conquest RSi and Opel Kadett Superboss from the 1980s; the Fiat Uno Turbo, VW Golf VR6 and Opel Astra TS from the 1990s. 

Accessibility was influenced by the price and relative affordability of hot hatches. 

That has all changed, and as pricing and demand have gone in opposite directions, our access to hot hatches has, sadly, diminished. Most are priced over the R1 million mark — the ones below that can be counted on one hand. 

Continuing on that sad note, this review of the Renault RS 300 Trophy will be the last we ever do of a car bearing that name, specifically with the RS acronym. 

The RS has officially been laid to rest after Renault’s decision to move its sports-car business under the Alpine umbrella. A sub-brand that was born in 1976 has come to an end, as has one of the great hot hatch names, the Megane RS. 

A quick history lesson? Renault Sport was created by merging two companies, Alpine and Gordini Racing, as a division within Renault to manage and build on its motorsport exploits. Initially it focused on racing cars for various disciplines including rallying, Le Mans, Touring Cars and, of course, Formula 1. 

A few legendary road car names have popped up over the decades. The Renault 5 Turbo is perhaps the most famous but it wasn’t until 1996 that Renault placed an RS badge on a car named the Renault Sport Spyder. It was an out-there two-seat roadster but it still made a statement. 

In 1999, South Africa saw the Renault Clio RS, the first of the marque’s onward raft of hot little hatches that you and I could buy. 

From this point on, they kept coming, including that bonkers mid-engined 2001 Clio V6 hatch and then, in 2004, we saw the first Megane RS. 

This was introduced to a market that was dominated by the VW GTi and Audi S3 of the time, offering a similarly powered, or more powerful, hot hatch for less money. Dishing out 165kW to the front wheels, the Megane RS had arrived. 

Fast forward two decades and I am standing beside the last Megane RS version to grace South African shores — this 300 Trophy. 

At the time of writing, the last Megane RS Ultime had just rolled off the production line, a limited-edition run-out model of only 1 976 units. Unfortunately, none of these will make their way to South Africa, which makes the vehicle on these pages quite exclusive. 

Offered in yellow, white or orange, this final version of the Megane RS is everything a modern hatch should be. 

Flared wheel arches, 19-inch Jerez Diamond black alloy wheels, race-car-inspired stickers and that central, trapezoidal exhaust outlet are enough visual cues to leave you in no doubt this RS is serious about one thing— going around corners fast. 

The RS is built with a cup chassis, Torsen limited-slip differential and 4Control rear-wheel steering. This technology, combined, makes the RS Trophy one of the sharpest-handling hatches we’ve driven, with precise steering and an ability to change direction or sit into high-speed turns unmatched in its segment. 

At low speeds, rear-wheel steering works in the opposite direction to the front wheels, rotating the car faster. At high speeds, the rear wheels turn in the same direction as the front wheels, aiding lateral grip. 

It’s a system that takes a bit of getting used to but it works to the desired effect. 

I have driven the RS on a few occasions and I remain impressed at how good a sports car this is. Nothing in the segment will rotate around a hairpin bend with as much control and poise as the RS Trophy. It’s simply that good. 

Aside from the chassis and cornering abilities, the drivetrain is stunning. With 221kW and 420Nm of torque, the Renault RS is powerful enough, even within the mix of rivals that offer much more power. 

Its allure lies in the fact that you don’t need to be in high digits on the speedometer to feel connected and excited by this car. It feels emotional and thrilling even at lower speeds but with an ability to let loose with manic precision should you want it.

The ride is hard. It isn’t a potter-around-town kind of product but that’s what it is — the hardest and sharpest Megane RS you can have here in SA, with an exhaust soundtrack that is beautiful to experience. By our reckoning, it sounds better than a GTi or a Golf R. Fruity! 

The EDC dual-clutch automatic transmission is also brilliant, if a little jerky at lower speeds. If any criticism can be levelled at the RS, when comparing it to some of its modern rivals, it is that it isn’t as friendly to run as a daily — such is its temperament, always raring to go harder —and not as comfortable to drive on the mundane, daily commute. 

Saying goodbye to the RS brand means we also say goodbye to petrol-powered performance cars from Renault. Under Alpine, all sports cars will be powered by electricity, and that means no more turbo-boost noise, no more crackling exhaust sound and no more running to the red line in every gear before snapping into the next one. 

On a personal note, the RS brand is responsible for some of the most memorable and career-defining moments of my life. 

I have spent a lot of time behind the wheel of so many Megane RS models over the years, including some of its race cars, single-seat Formula One cars and, yes, a once-in-a-lifetime moment at the helm of a 2005 V10 F1 car. 

If you can get your hands on this RS, I’d suggest you do so. There aren’t many on the road, and that is guaranteed not to change, so you’d be driving one of the last hot hatches of its kind from a company that does know a thing or two about making them. 

Au revoir, RS.