Festival of motoring

Chinese car builder Baic, ahem, pooled its resources to sponsor snooker in South Africa.

In comparison to SA's oldest car festival, the annual Cars in the Park in Pietermaritzburg, the third installment of the Festvival of Motoring is tiny, taking up the pit area at the Kyalami Race Way.
But in terms of importance, the new kid on the block this year offered more new model launches per
square metre than any other car event in South Africa.

The new Suzuki Jimny has these guys to thank for this small 4x4’s legendary status in SA. From left are Ryno Cloete, Monty Montgomery, Eric Lawrenson and Vic Randle, all ‘elders’ in the local Jimny club, which was founded in 2008 and now boasts some 2 600 members.

The launches of new 4x4s like the Suzuki Jimny, Haval H9 and previews of Baic's BJ and Audi's Q8 underscored the confidence industry players expressed during a conference on the future of the car trade in Africa, held by National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa).

The third instalment of the annual event also saw racing, a 4x4 village, displays of 50 modern super cars, as well as official championship rounds for the Sasol GTC Championship and Investchem Formula 1600 Series.

The author dressed up nicely for a chance to drive dirty in the big new Haval H9, which the premium Chinese SUV specialist is aiming squarely at drivers of large 4x4s, like the Pajero, Prado and Pathfinder.

The longest queue over the three-day event, however, was in front of Pits 1-7, where Mercedes-Benz offered hot laps in the AMG GT range of performance cars — the AMG GTC, AMG GTR and the AMG GTS — with the AMG Driving Academy team.

Outside on the 4x4 track, Haval’s big Prado competitor, the H9, drew as much attention as the new V6 Merc bakkie — the X350d.

Nadia Trimmel, vice-president of Mercedes-Benz Vans southern Africa, said the flagship bakkie develops 190 kW and a peak torque of 550 Nm, and is sure to change the bakkie landscape in SA.

Mercedes-Benz Vans also showed the Mercedes-Benz V-Class, which Wheels lists as the vehicle that does it all for the family man. As Trimmel said: “The V-Class combines exemplary functionality with high-class appeal, comfort, efficient driving enjoyment and safety.

Audi is ready for the Zombi apocalypse.

“This makes the Mercedes-Benz among MPVs the perfect vehicle for anyone who appreciates boundless space but does not want to sacrifice style, comfort and opulence on wheels,” she said in a statement.