Latest news with #AutoWeek
Daily Maverick
10-06-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Maverick
Automotive Business Council announces Gqeberha as host of 2025 SA Auto Week
Naamsa, the Automotive Business Council, announced on Monday that Auto Week 2025 will be held in Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay, from 1 to 3 October. Both the major automotive manufacturing showcases in the country, the Automotive Business Council's Auto Week and the Naacam Show 2025, hosted by the country's components industry, will be held in Nelson Mandela Bay this year, for the first time in history. The Automotive Business Council (Naamsa) announced on Monday that it was 'going back to their roots' and will hold its premier event, Auto Week 2025, in Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay. The metro houses the biggest automotive manufacturing sector in South Africa and Gqeberha is the city where Naamsa was founded. It is home to almost half of the country's auto manufacturing and components sector. The event will be held in partnership with the Eastern Cape Provincial Government. Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane said, 'We are ecstatic to form a partnership with Naamsa to host this lucrative event in our province, specifically in Gqeberha, a city that embodies our rich automotive heritage. 'As a province which hosts some of the biggest Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), with a 38% contribution to the country's vehicle production, this opportunity is critical in fostering partnerships that will bring the much-needed investment into our provincial economy.' Founded in 1935 in Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha, Auto Week 2025 will take place at the Coega Vulindlela Accommodation and Conference Centre, a premier facility owned and operated by the Coega Development Corporation. Naamsa CEO Mikel Mabasa said, 'It is profoundly symbolic that the SA Auto Week 2025 takes place in the city where Naamsa's journey began. This historic city, now a model for reindustrialisation, will convene all of us in October to map the next chapter of African automotive excellence. It is our strongest conviction that the automotive industry will change faster in the next decade than it has in the last century and that a strong foundation for change will be laid in Gqeberha.' Coega Development Corporation CEO Themba Koza said this was a milestone for the Coega Special Economic Zone. Automotive Manufacturer Stellantis is building its new R3-billion factory in the Coega Special Economic Zone. 'Bringing SA Auto Week to Coega is more than just an event, it's a powerful endorsement of what's possible when visionary leadership, enabling policy, and industrial capability align. We are proud to host global automotive leaders and stakeholders at our world-class Special Economic Zone. This is a moment of pride for the Eastern Cape and a catalyst for future growth,' Koza added. The Coega Special Economic Zone houses several leading global manufacturers such as BAIC and FAW Trucks, alongside component suppliers including Grupo Antolin, Faurecia, Hella, Rehau and Schnellecke Automotive. The theme for Auto Week will be, 'Reimagining the Future, Together: Cultivating Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity'. Auto Week 2025 will happen hot on the heels of the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers' Naacam Show that will be held at the Boardwalk International Conference Centre in August. Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber CEO Denise van Huyssteen said the chamber was excited about the holding of both showcases in Nelson Mandela Bay this year. She said the decision to host the events in the Bay reinforced the importance of the metro as an automotive manufacturing hub on the African continent. 'This is the first time in the history of our metro that both of these major automotive events are taking place here in the same year,' Van Huyssteen said. 'The fact that both of these events are being held here underscores the depth of the automotive ecosystem which is based in the Bay, which encompasses a wide range of automotive components right through to the assembly of passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and trucks,' she said. DM
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
At $2,950, Would You Add This 2010 Saab 9-5 BioPower To Your Bio?
The ability to run on E85 makes today's Nice Price or No Dice Saab a flexible fueler. Let's see if this high-mileage ethanol imbiber comes with a price that's not too corny. In the relationships between journalists and businesses, the embargoing of information is an agreed-upon means for the former to meet deadlines while still allowing the latter to offer surprise and delight to its customers. The 1987 Toyota Supra we looked at last Friday brings to mind an instance when that tacit agreement was broken. Two years before our car hit the streets, and before Toyota had made any announcements about the impending model, a series of pictures of an undisguised version of the unannounced car crossed the desk of an editor at AutoWeek (then a print publication.) The magazine decided to run the images, breaking the embargo against their release and incurring the wrath of Toyota's marketing team. The blowback was AutoWeek losing out on some early access information for a time, but the scoop probably proved worth it for the journalistic feather in the cap it provided the publication. We had no such drama with our now well-known Supra. Featuring a fairly fresh coat of paint and a T-top roof, it proved pretty as a picture in the ad. That presentation, along with a $9,000 asking price, combined to earn the big Toyota a 59% Nice Price win in our voting. Read more: This Is Every Car Brand Killed By GM Toyota also wins when it comes to car production. The Japanese juggernaut is presently the world's largest car maker, with production totaling over 10 million cars and trucks last year. Saab, on the other hand, is... well, long out of business, the small Swedish manufacturer having shut its doors in 2011. Long before that, though, Saab established a modest but loyal fan base and a general reputation for the fun, safe, and arguably quirky nature of its cars. Bought by General Motors in 2000 (the company maintained a 50% stake in Saab all the way back in 1989), the company's cars started to lose some of that quirky nature as it was saddled with developing models from "off-the-rack" platforms from GM's German division Opel, and global platforms that tended to suffer from a one-size-fits-all approach to design. The 2010 Saab 9-5 we're looking at today is one of those GM-era cars. It is imbued with some Saab DNA—the ignition (here a button, not a key) is between the seats, and the car has unique styling that at least feels familial. Other than that and some suspension tuning, though, it's pretty much the same chassis as under an Opel Insignia or Buick Regal. The last 9-5 was also the last Saab to go into production. That run lasted less than a year before a bankrupt GM Old Yeller'd both company and car. In total, less than 12,000 9-5s were built before the lights went off for good. That makes this a fairly rare car, and the BioPower E85 engine makes it even rarer still. It's done a remarkable 220,000 miles, showing that the passing of a parent company need not spell doom for the models it produced. It's got some impressive deets, too: That flexi-fuel engine makes a solid 220 horsepower and 235 lb-ft of torque. Routed through an Aisin six-speed automatic transmission, those ponies spin all four wheels via an all-the-time AWD setup. According to the ad, it's fully loaded—although the absence of a center stack screen does date the car—and the seller says it "looks great!" On the exterior, the deep blue paint presents well, belying the car's age and miles. Those factors are evident in the factory wheels, though, which are a bit beat up. The cabin is in a similar state, with the leather on the driver's seat and the floor mat below that showing substantial evidence of occupancy. Only the latter has been worn through, though. Everything else appears to be in solid shape, and the styling has held up as well. The Saab comes with a panoramic roof, a clean title, and an unfortunate number of stickers on the boot lid and rear bumper. Those demonstrate an affinity for wire hair terrier dogs, among other things, and would likely need to be removed lest people think the new owner is someone who befouls their ride with bumper stickers. Nobody wants that. Of course, we must consider the car's $2,950 asking price before we even think about going all-in on de-stickering it. This is a fairly rare opportunity, and the car does seem to be in decent shape. Plus, while limited in its description, the ad at least doesn't call out any mechanical malarky that could call a purchase consideration into question. Where do you stand on this flexi-fuel Saab and that asking price? Does that feel like a steal despite the high miles, the dead brand, and the dog stickers? Or has this Saab's time come and gone? You decide! New York, New York, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears. Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at robemslie@ and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your commenter handle. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
