Toyota 86 causing a buzz in South Africa

The all new Toyota 86 has been the cause of a major stir in South Africa. The new sports car has been the talk of the town with its stylish looks, great performance, and the fact that it is very well priced for the market. Whether you are taken in by this new release from Toyota or just want more information on the vehicle, here are two great articles featured on Cars.co.za:

Toyota 86 articles

Toyota 86 price revealed for South Africa
New Toyota 86 now in South Africa

The Toyota 86 is currently for sale in South Africa.

4 Top car brands achieve their Millenium!

With the recent injection of used car stock onto Cars.co.za, many milestones have been achieved. Cars.co.za now has four brands with over 1000 vehicles listed for sale.

Without further ado, I give you our Millenium brands:

1. used Volkswagen (2108)
2. used Toyota (1183)
3. used Chevrolet (1110)
4. used BMW (1077)

Whilst VW, Toyota and BMW are generally recognised as top car brands in South Africa, it was somewhat of a surprise to see Chevrolet pipping BMW for the third spot. Chevrolet, a huge brand overseas, has been underrepresented in the South African market for sometime. The introduction of the Chevrolet spark coupled with an aggressive marketing campaign has done wonders to further the Chevrolet brand in South Africa.

Car sales in South Africa hit by Tsunami?

The affects of March's catastrophic Tsunami in Japan will begin to be felt by the South African car community as parts for various Japanese manufacturer vehicles may become scarce. The natural disaster experienced earlier this year put a huge dampener on many Japanese industries, not least of all the Motor trade. Whilst the affects of this were not immediate on the majority of the world, largely due to shipping delays, they are certain to be felt in the near future, if not already. This could severely harm major brands like Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda.

While there is no certainty surrounding this matter, it is believed that it may impact hugely on new and used car sales in the South African market and around the world. Hopefully this should stabalise as the year wears on and the Japanese market recovers.

New car sales keep on improving with impressive May stats for many manufacturers

New car sales throughout the US for many of the major manufacturers are all on the rise and showing strong sales figures.

Recent Toyota Land Cruiser recall wont effect South Africa

Continuing from their previous car recall program, Toyota has now begun recalling additional vehicles. The Global recall program will effect the Toyota Prado, Toyota Land Cruiser and Lexus GX 460, as mentioned in a previous post.

This recall however will have no effect on South African Land Cruisers or Prado models, as they are right hand drive models and it is only the left hand drive models that are in need of the recall. The recall is to fix an issue with the left hand drive models, there is an issue with their Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) under certain conditions.

The reason the right hand drive models are not effected is because they have different weight distribution.

Source: Toyota

A new Legend is born as Toyota introduces the Hilux Legend 40

As a sign, written in the stars, the first Hilux Legend 40 rolled of the production line on the same day that Chuck Norris celebrated his birthday.

Toyota South Africa launches campaign to correct accelerator mechanism

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) today announced the vehicles to be included in its recall service campaign to correct the accelerator mechanism in these cars.

The list of affected vehicles is the result of an exhaustive technical study which covered all Toyota vehicles on sale in South Africa. The affected passenger vehicle models are:

Toyota Corolla (February 2007 to January 2010) – 45 040 vehicles

Toyota Auris (June 2006 to January 2010) – 6 665 vehicles

Toyota Verso (October 2008 to January 2010) – 841 vehicles

This equates to a total of 52 546 Toyota vehicles that will form part of this campaign.

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) today announced the vehicles to be included in its recall service campaign to correct the accelerator mechanism in these cars.

The list of affected vehicles is the result of an exhaustive technical study which covered all Toyota vehicles on sale in South Africa. The affected passenger vehicle models are:

Toyota Corolla (February 2007 to January 2010) – 45 040 vehicles

Toyota Auris (June 2006 to January 2010) – 6 665 vehicles

Toyota Verso (October 2008 to January 2010) – 841 vehicles

This equates to a total of 52 546 Toyota vehicles that will form part of this campaign.

Recall service campaign – Corolla, Auris and Verso

The Corolla, Auris and Verso will be recalled as part of a service campaign to correct a potentially faulty accelerator pedal mechanism. This is done as a pro-active precaution and is based on the fact that the mechanism is similar in operation to those which have proven faulty in other regions.

In these regions the mechanisms, in severe circumstances, have deteriorated and become harder to depress, slow to return to idle or have, in just a handful of cases, become stuck in a partially depressed position.

In more detail the problem relates to the operation between the mechanism’s friction shoe that provides pedal feel and ensures pedal stability, and the adjoining surface.

The corrective action will take the form of a small precision-cut steel plate that will be placed in the assembly to alleviate the friction between the friction shoe and adjoining surface. This will prevent the problem from surfacing in vehicles equipped with this steel bar for the life of the vehicle.

Toyota will start contacting customers of the affected vehicles immediately. All Toyota dealers in South Africa and the countries that TSAM serve will be involved. These include Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Reasons for the recall service action in South Africa

Toyota South Africa Motors chose to participate in this worldwide recall service action as a precautionary measure. The action will take place despite the fact that the problem has not surfaced to the same effect in the hot and dry climate of South Africa.

TSAM has, since the first announcement of its participation, received a small number of requests from concerned owners and will study each individual instance to understand whether the problem has indeed surfaced locally.

“We would like to apologise to all Toyota vehicle owners for the uncertainty and inconvenience that this process may have caused. We value the trust and confidence that Toyota owners have put in our brand over the past five decades and we will do everything in our power to honour that,” says Dr Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of TSAM.

Actions taken

Toyota South Africa Motors and its nationwide dealer network will immediately start contacting owners of the identified vehicles to inform them of the recall service action. Owners will be given the opportunity to contact

their nearest Toyota dealer at their convenience and schedule a time for the insertion of the steel bar. Repairs will start from 23 February 2010.

The corrective action should take less than an hour, but could take longer if the dealer is experiencing very high levels of service calls. It is important to note that the full cost of the corrective process will be borne by Toyota and that no owner will be required to pay, regardless of the state of his or her service plan, warranty or the ownership status of the vehicle.

As further support to the campaign concerned customers can visit www.toyota.co.za or phone the

Customer Contact Centre on 0800-139-111 for up to date information on the recall service campaign.

Source: Toyota

Toyota Unveils Compact Dedicated Hybrid Concept

DETROIT, January 11, 2010---Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A, Inc., today unveiled the FT-CH dedicated hybrid concept at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. The FT-CH is a concept that would address Toyota’s stated strategy to offer a wider variety of conventional hybrid choices to its customers, as it begins to introduce plug-in hybrids (PHVs) and battery electrics (BEVs) in model year 2012, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCHVs) in 2015 in global markets.

“Within the next 10 to 20 years, we will not only reach peak oil we will enter a period where demand for all liquid fuels will exceed supply,” said Jim Lentz, TMS president. “A century after the invention of the automobile, we must re-invent it with powertrains that significantly reduce or eliminate the use of conventional petroleum fuels. One of many alternatives is through what is commonly called the electrification of the automobile. By far, the single most successful example of this has been the gas-electric hybrid.

The CH stands for compact hybrid as in compact class and it’s a concept that can best be defined by comparing it with the mid-size class Prius. The FT-CH captures the spirit and functionality of a car that thrives in the inner-city environment; sized right to be nimble, responsive and maneuverable.



Source: Toyota