32 WORDS IN ACTION http://www.abrbuzz.co.za
Start Your Engines
AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
by Jeff Osborne, Head of Automotive for Gumtree SAGLOBAL
Electricity is very current. India, Norway, Britain, France and China have announced their intention to eliminate the use of fossil fuels in
cars by 2040 and Germany vows to achieve this goal by 2025. Impressive and aff ordable electric and autonomous models are already
available but in 2018 we’ll see the big brands fi ght to launch the fi rst mass-produced electric vehicle.Even smarter cars. CES 2017 (the international Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas) was choc-a-bloc with prototypes boasting
some form of autonomous driving capability and intelligence. Honda’s impressive artifi cial intelligence assistant (HANA) and their ‘Safe
Swarm’ concept, enabling vehicles to mimic the behaviour of schools of fi sh to ensure safer driving, were the stand-outs. 2018 is likely
to see further exciting developments in this space, especially as tech giants like Google and Apple are either competing or partnering
with traditional manufacturers to gain a slice of the pie.
The law chases the tech. The fi rst autonomous motor vehicle fatality occurred in 2016, which sparked draft bills for autonomous and
electric vehicle testing in Europe and the USA. 2018 will likely see these bills fl eshed out even further as legislation tries to catch up to
technology.LOCAL
Vehicle sales recovering. After 18 months of negative numbers in SA, the new car market saw some improvement mid-2017. This uptick
is likely to continue into 2018, with the huge proviso that the local political and economic environments are relatively stable.Movement on the Right to Repair. The proposed New Code of Conduct, which seeks to provide consumers with the right to choose
independent workshops and alternative parts without voiding their warranties, could lead to legislation. Should that happen, it will provide
freedom of choice for consumers and, possibly, some reduction of cost but it will also place some strain on dealerships and insurers, and
will seriously compromise the vehicle manufacturers’ ability to preserve the technical and safety integrity of their products.
More shifting sands among brands. Chevrolet withdrew from SA during 2017, following Daihatsu & Citroen’s departure the year before,
and SsangYong eff ectively paused their operations. But Opel decided to stay, with a new distribution and service arrangement, and two
Chinese brands, BAIC and Haval, arrived. The local market probably has too many players for its scale so some more changes can be
anticipated but they won’t all be negative – there’s talk of VW bringing the popular Skoda range into the country.Consumers will continue trading in and up. According to the latest VPI by TransUnion, pre-owned car prices are climbing while new
cars are priced below infl ation for the fi rst time in years. This will no doubt see many consumers “trading up” – selling their current vehicle
and taking advantage of competitively priced new cars, particularly since private vehicle sales are becoming more commonplace. Gumtree
alone sees over 1.4-million South Africans browsing the pre-owned car section every month, while tens of thousands of pre-owned cars
are listed for sale at any given time.THE BIG CAR TRENDS FOR 2018
“The automotive industry has faced a turbulent 2017. Manufacturer exits, global political upheaval and recalls have proven that the
only certainty for the market is uncertainty – nonetheless, there are early indications of new trends emerging”, says Jeff Osborne of
Gumtree Automotive.W
ith more than 9 000 types of starter motors and alternators, Pos Service Holland covers more than 85% of the automotive and
agricultural industry. PSH also provides units for trucks and the shipping market.From November of last year, PSH has introduced the R-Line. These are imported rebuild units which are assembled at the PSH plant in
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PSH is an importer of various brands including OEM starter motors
and alternators from Bosch, Denso, Leece Neville, Mitsubishi,
Prestolite, Valeo, Visteon and many others.T: +27 11 704 5196 • W: http://www.psh-sa.co.za