The Rally of South Africa, 4th round of the Sasol South African Rally Championship, takes place this weekend around Warburton, Panbult and Ermelo.

Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh go into the rally with a four-point lead at the head of the Sasol SA Rally Championship table.

Gemmell - "It won't be easy. Everyone wants to win and realistically, any of the five factory Toyota or Volkswagen drivers are in with a chance, so it's going to be a hard fight for every second on every stage. On top of that the organisers have put together a tough event with minimal servicing between stages as well as the killer stage, Jessievale, which is 60 km long. Get that one wrong and you can forget about winning".  read more »

With new car sales dropping in excess of thirty percent every month, year on year, the car industry is in a dire situation. With the recession resulting in potential buyers having less disposable income or access to credit people are trading down either to smaller or second-hand cars.

While new car sales are lagging, the used car market is still selling as many cars as before. Current figures show us that used cars outsell new cars by a factor of two to one and that they are losing less value than ever.

What second-hand car buyers are so desperate for is an easily accessible, reputable location to find second hand cars. Automark, the Toyota second hand car brand has recently launched a new, user-friendly website to address this need.

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NAAMSA vehicle sales statistics for April report total sales of 26 283 units including those of AMH, a 43,7% reduction from the 46 643 sales reported for April last year. Passenger vehicles accounted for 16 748 of those sales, light commercial vehicles 7 481, medium commercials 691, and heavy commercials and busses 1 511 units.

“Economic activity in general, and sales of big ticket items in particular, will have been stunted by the considerable number of holidays during the month with a reduced number of selling days directly impacting on sales performance,” says Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota South Africa. “This will have been compounded by the fact that the short working weeks provided opportunities to optimise leave availability.  read more »

The Castrol Toyota Team achieved incredible results at last weekend's Sasol rally, the 3rd event of the 2009 Sasol Rally Championship.

S2000
Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh had a remarkable last stage win in their S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris, with team mates Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley in the sister Castrol Toyota Auris in 3rd position. Rally leaders and defending SA Rally Champions Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries attained 2nd position in their S2000 BP Volkswagen Polo.

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South Africans are known for making their mark internationally. The latest South African to join the ranks of international heavy-hitters is Dr. Johan van Zyl. Currently the President and CEO of Toyota SA, he has now become one of only five non-Japanese to be promoted to the position of Managing Officer within Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC).

Following a board meeting scheduled for June 2009 to confirm this appointment, Dr van Zyl will take office as Managing Officer, but will also remain President and CEO of Toyota SA. TMC has only 50 Managing Officers globally and this appointment essentially makes Dr van Zyl part of the company’s global management team, reporting to the TMC Board. It sounds like he's going to be quite a busy man.  read more »

The third round of the Sasol South African Rally Championship is happening in Sabie on the 24th and 25th of April.

I was fortunate enough to be at the second round two weeks ago. The action was intense. Positions were being changed constantly.

Championship leader Gemmell has fond memories of the Sasol Rally as it was the first national rally he entered in 1999, then running a historic Toyota Corolla MK1 and saw him record his first victory as a works Castrol Toyota driver in 2007.  read more »