One Liners:
- BMW would like to remind us that the X7 is set to arrive this year. Okay then.
- News from Dakar is twofold, the 2019 edition will be held entirely in Peru and a return to Africa is now an option.
- Fiat most likely to discontinue to building their cars in Italy. That’s like South Africans importing biltong.
Toyota insist you be tougher-er with their new Hilux Dakar
We should have seen this coming. Against strong opposition from the Ford Ranger, it’s new Raptor edition and of course a slew of updates from the rest of the double-cab contingency, here is the Toyota Hilux Dakara Edition. With it you get a redesigned face, now very similar to American trucks like the Tundra and Tacoma. As a visual update it is substantial, and will be joined by a plethora of stickers as predicted. Talk about fresh skin in the game.
Not to be outdone, Ford Ranger gets a facelift in 2019
You get a Raptor engine! YOU get a Raptor engine! You ALL get Raptor engines in the 2019 Ranger range should you choose a non-Raptor model that sports the new biturbo. You can also have a ten speed transmission if you so require, but what is common across all models will be a new visage. The bakkies themselves will be built in Pretoria whilst the 157kW/500Nm Raptor engines will be assembled in Port Elizabeth.
BMW have teased this, the iNext concepts
It’s of course the ‘i’ bit that’s important here, a reference to ‘iDivision’, the BMW arm that churns out the firm’s electric or electrically ‘tickled’ (elec-tickled?) cars. And no your eyes are not deceiving you – at this point it is little more than an outline, a white shape on blue – the exact sort of thing you’d tease out at a shareholders’ conference, which is precisely what occurred. Crucially, it is all systems go for this project which will most likely see the light of day in 2021 and with a range of 700km. You can expect a larger reveal of the concept by end of 2018.
Also teasing, Opel South Africa with the Corsa GSI
We can now confirm that the luke-warm hatchling will be moved by a turbo’d 1.4litre engine capable of 110kW and 220Nm and a 0-100kph sprint of 8.9 seconds before eventually topping out at 207kph. So it hasn’t really moved the game on from the current Corsa Sport in terms of performance, has it?
Let’s talk about Japanese luxury with the new Lexus LS
You know something is luxurious and premium when it has a sticker price of R2,141mil. Am I right? Here be the fifth rendition of the LS, the flagship Lexus saloon with the face of a predator and an enviable metre-age of length. It’s badge is the LS500 despite the fact that under all of that bonnet lives a 3.5litre V6 mated to a 10-speed automatic gearbox. Together they make 310kW and 600Nm obey their way to the rear 20 inch wheels exclusively. The cabin is richly appointed, naturally. Whilst technology of both safety and entertainment ilks are akin to what you’d commonly find in a five star penthouse. So that’s quite nice.
The new Audi A6 is a handsome thing
It’s business as usual in Ingolstadt with the new A6. That means it’s a familiar design – and if I’m mean I might say it’s in dimension neatly between an A4 and an A8, and in design similar to the model that precedes it but with a neater crease in its suit. Still, it commands attention, demands presence and as the case with most Audis, is a notable improvement over the model it replaces. Well done Audi. And you can damn well be sure that its cabin will be a class-leader in design too.
In other news, Idris Elba made a short car film
Grand Basel, an auto exhibition of supremely exotic motor cars, has commissioned the gravely voice of Mr Elba to produce the following short film about his lifelong obsession with cars. We’d say more but we don’t want to spoil it for you so please, just watch.
