I’m probably doff but is there something super special about this Diess guy?
This type of thing happens all the time, just earlier today I read of someone very high up in Apple’s chip team who left to join Samsung.
Some context: New CEO to Drive Volkswagen - Executive Search - Boyden
I hear a lot of strategy changes are happening for VW. No “small” cars anymore and a move to their high end brands and a ditching of the “people cars”. VW to scrap dozens of models to focus on profitability | Financial Times
Tesla and the rest of the EV focused manufacturers adding to the pressure. What will this mean for VWSA and the PE factory and local supply chain…??
And this from MBSA… Mercedes-Benz SA opposes plan for electric vehicle subsidies - Moneyweb
Interesting thanks, guess I’m not as up to date with what’s happening in the motoring world.
Interesting that Ford SA is also following that direction from what I read a while ago, I’m not sure if Ford international is doing it as well.
Ford SA plans to eventually only offer the Ranger and Everest, think the Mustang as well.
All smaller cars, Fiesta, Focus, Icon is already gone and Figo as well as Ecosport will also stop soon.
Common sense tells me a vehicle brand should have entry level options in the market. When I got out of school for example your typical first student car was a City Golf, some hippie okes got Beetles. As you progress in life if your City Golf gave you good service then you probably upgraded to a Polo, Golf and later a Jetta, brand loilty and all.
Now you’ll get out of school and the entry level is a Amarok or Touareg, alternatively something from the oposition.
If someone starts out with a Etios, then chances are good later in life they will end up at a Hilux, not a Amarok.
Then again these days with younger people brand loilty is apparently less and less of a thing.
I’m sounding like a old ballie now, I’m still 33 years young, allegedly discovered the first grey hair on my head this past weekend. 
One way to do this, is to cooperate with another manufacturer.
In the US, Toyota cooperated with GM for a while, which gave them the Geo Prizm, a rebadged AE110.
Toyota also cooperated with PSA, which gave them the Citroën C101 and the Peugeot 107 (rebadged Aygo).
We had a Yaris which was really a Daihatsu (3-door model), and a panel van/people carrier (Avanza) as well. Not as weird, since Toyota basically own Daihatsu.
We have the 86 which is really a Subaru, and the Supra which is really a BMW… sort of 
Now we have the Urban Cruiser and the new Starlet which are rebadged Suzukis.
VW cooperated with Seat (before just buying the whole thing) which gave us the Polo Playa.
This sort of thing is always going on so that a manufacturer might have a car in a segment where they normally would not have one.
Intrestingly car brands also grows their model with that age group of users. They will introduce a new entry level and then the next model of that will then be slightly bigger and more expensive until at some stage they review the hole thing and clear out some models when it model count gets too bloated.
For instance the first Toyota Yaris was a small little hatch and the last model before they stopped them was bigger and more expensive than some Corollas.
Same with the VW Poly where the latest version looks (and cost) more like a Golf, while the golf itself was the small entry level car at some stage.
But nou I’m too showing my age…
I think (my view) that we will see a huge influx of cheaper Chinese, Indian, etc cars soon. I wouldn’t be surprised if VWSA sells its PE plant to one of these…
Hyundai has some really good replacements for the small VW’s (eg. Venue), for example.
I am also hoping for some small EV’s (200km range) as well but I think I am optimistic
Indeed! Renault were saved by Darcia (also fully acquired) and the Sandero which now comes out having grown on steroids…
Cars have become consumables I’m afraid 
Any F1 fanatics on the forum??
If so we can move to the weeds dept.
PS: SA possibly to get a slot (I think to have a race on the missing continent)
The Chinese is coming no doubt and all the Chinese offerings we are already getting these days is super impressive. Just the other day I drove with a friend in his new GWM P series and I was stunned. Whether it will last, whether all panels will still be attached after 100k km of grondpad remains to be seen, but that Chinese bakkie is seriously impressive.
I also have a friend that bought a new P-Series, he is loving it so far, personally I would not take the chance until I see what’s left of it after 200K KM doing grondpad and casual overloads every other weekend, because I know the tried and true workhorses : Toyota/Isuzu will still be going even with that abuse.
Perhaps it is the other way round, although I do think there’s been a lot of saving each other in that department.
Financially, Renault saved both Nissan and Dacia (pronounced da-chee-ah). Bit in turn it got access to some of their model ranges and vehicle lines. The 4x4 versions of the Renault Duster for example, borrows from Nissan.
In fact, when I first learned that Renault and Nissan are in an alliance now, I was a little shocked at just what it means (for Nissan, a prized Japanese brand). As part of the alliance, the two companies own part of each other. So Nissan owns 15% of Renault… but (here is the shocker), Renault owns 43.4% of Nissan. Nissan has no voting rights in Renault, but Renault has voting rights in Nissan. For all practical purposes, Nissan is now a French brand.
Renault is now the third biggest car maker in the world (after VW and Toyota), if you account for all the alliances.
Here is another thing people might not know. Geely owns Volvo. Volvo, who is still very much Swedish in design and build, has a Chinese parent company
It is the 4th best seller in South Africa! (Toyota, Isuzu and Ford are still the leaders, in that order, except in June because of the floods in KZN, which pushed Ford into the lead and Toyota second). It totally knocks the Amarok out of the competition.
There is a theory floating around that, that is exactly what led to the crazy escape story of Carlos Ghosn.
Some in the inner circle of a proud Japanese carmaker didn’t appreciate him bringing Nissan even closer to Renault as he was planning.
I know that being overly brand-conscious isn’t always a good thing, but knowing that Nissan is now French really takes them off the table for me.
Gone are the years of the Safari and the Patrol, the Skyline, Exa, the SSS and the later 350/370Z models, the Maxima and the big Cressida-like luxury offering we had in the 80s of which I forgot the name. And then of course they pumped out the GT-R (there is one walking distance from where I am sitting, though locked up in the owner’s garage of course), which is sadly also going away now, because it is apparently too hard to make it quiet enough for Europeans
Many car brands have a bad reputation in SA because of after sales service and backup, Nissan / Renault you mentioned for example. In Europe, not only in France, a Renault is a very good reliable car, almost the best thing since sliced bread, but in SA many people myself included, won’t touch a Renault with a barge pole. It’s funny, a friend who emigrated to the Netherlands a few years ago, a Toyota man threw and threw, he drove a Hilux, his wife a Rav4, now they drive a little Renault match box thing, when he was here earlier in the year, I gifted him a pink John Deere sticker to stick in the window of his Renault.
My dad always say stick to the vehicle brands who didn’t run away during apartheid, because those are the ones who will always be solid in SA.
Also prior to the 350/370Z models the 200SX and 300ZX models were also something else.
Especially the 300ZX, for better or worse it was a pretty advanced car for its time.
I know most people look at French cars with disdain, perhaps I just have some survivor ship bias because I had a 2005 Renault Megane 1.6, but I guess crucially : manual and naturally aspirated.
I drove it all the way from 80K KM to 170K KM with very little issues (except once when there was a faulty neutral switch sensor which caused the car to think it was not in neutral, preventing the push-to-start from working, I run started the car pretty much every morning on my way to varsity for a couple months)
But I would happily buy another baguette box on wheels
Indeed. The British like the (Dacia) Duster and it is practically one of the best value for money propositions on the market. But here in SA, I prefer about the length of a ship’s mast (nevermind a barge pole) between myself and the nearest Renault. With some exceptions, maybe. The Sandero appears to be okay, if what you are going for is a cheap car and for some reason you don’t like a Suzuki Swift (built in India by Maruti, so also no longer the Japanese icon it was before 2014). One car I will absolutely never touch is a Renault Scenic. Luxury electronics and The French does not mix well. It’s on par with British Electrics of the 80s, if you remember… Lucas made the first anti-theft devices.
The Duster is a sore point for me, ticks so many boxes, but it’s a Renault.
What else in the market at that price point is so light on fuel, has that amount of space and would be able to gravel travel even do light 4x4 work without falling apart within 6 months.
Apart from the Jimny there’s nothing else in that class, you can’t even really compare the Jimny and Duster.
I need a small Plug in Battery EV SUV for 4 passengers for a 130km round trip commute (1-2 times per week).
Rest of the time it can be plugged in on my home system…
That’s exactly where I say the problem lies with the current mainstream EV manufacturers, everybody pushes range, trying to get it as much as possible.
I believe there will be a huge demand for a much cheaper EV with a 100, 150 km range for city commuters. Short range means much smaller battery means shorter charge time means much cheaper, so cheap that it can be a second or third car, a tool to do a job. For weekends and holidays you can still keep the V8.
Quite a while ago I actually read of a Chinese EV maker who planned to bring such a car to market at $5000 to $6000, seats 4 people, has a range of 60 miles, tiny battery etc.