WeeklySA_AdminGENEVA DEAD, LONG LIVE QATAR
After 119 years, the Geneva Motor Show is dead. Organizers for the event announced in a Facebook post on Friday that it’s ending the show in Switzerland “due to ongoing industry challenges and competition.”
The event has faced severe headwinds since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic over four years ago. The coronavirus canceled the show in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. When it did return in 2024, just a handful of automakers attended. Organizers started a companion show in Qatar in 2023, which will continue. It returns in November 2025.
SOWETO VINTAGE CLUB TOUR
The Soweto Vintage Club is inviting all vintage cars collectors to join them on a sightseeing tour of SA’s most famous township next Sunday on June 16.
Enthusiasts are expected at the Maponya Mall at 9am and the tour will include historic places like Regina Mundi, Soweto Towers, and you guessed it, the famed Vilakazi Street in Orlando West. For further details contact Mpho at 078 683 3068 or Mjakes at 073 194 9844
HIGH FIVE
The validity period of South African driving licences will not be extended to eight or ten years according to transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga. This follows former transport minister Fikile Mbalula’s statement in September 2022 that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet had approved the motion to do so. However, transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga told Moneyweb that this is no longer in the works and that the validity period will remain five years.
TOYOTA’S 300 MILLION CARS
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) has reached a cumulative global production total of 300 million cars, Including production numbers for September 2023.
This number was achieved 88 years and two months after Toyota’s very first cars, the Model G1 truck, was produced by the Automotive Production Division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. (later Toyota Industries Corporation) in August 1935. It includes domestic and international production, with 180.52 million cars produced domestically, and 119.6 million produced abroad (as of end September 2023). The model with the highest total production is the Corolla, with the Corolla series achieving cumulative global production of 53.399 million (as of the end September 2023).
DRIVE LIKE A WOMAN
A French road safety association said Monday (13 May) it had launched a campaign urging men to drive like women, aiming to cut traffic deaths while debunking the sexist stereotype that men are better behind the wheel.
“Drive Like A Woman”, runs the slogan on the ads, seen mostly in metro stations and posted online, from the association Victims and Citizens. “A look at the data tells you that there’s no truth” to the stereotype that men are better drivers, the association said in a statement. Some 84% of deadly road accidents were caused by men, it said, citing a governmental road safety report.
BACK SEAT DRIVERS
THREE in ten love rats have romped in their car with their lovers — with Jaguar drivers the worst. Sixty per cent of cheating Jag owners admit using their prestige motor for illicit sex. BMW fans (49 per cent) are the second biggest back-seat betrayers. Audi drivers came third with 47 per cent steaming up the windows behind their partner’s back.
Fiat (45 per cent) and Kia (40 per cent) complete the top five, according to the poll for used car dealership Big Motoring World. The company’s Ian Hajyzamanali said: “The Jaguar is the ultimate symbol of British motoring and represents style and quality.-The Sun UK
Overall, 58 per cent of drivers have romped in a motor although they were not all cheating.
Another 14 per cent have had sex in a car in the past year.-The Sun UK
