Five Car Features We Wish Were Standard

Many cars come fully-equipped and jam-packed with the latest in technology, safety and comfort. However some car companies still skimp on what you’d assume would be standard kit by now. What makes it even worse is some even charge you a small fortune for basic extras like a little cable to connect your music devices.

Five Car Features We Wish Were Standard – By David Taylor

Here is a list of what we’d hope to see fitted as standard to passenger vehicles. Let us know what you’d like to see standard in your next car, or what feature your current car is missing, that you hoped it would have.

USB Port

This is a simple one. With so many car buyers owning smartphones, the ability to charge devices is invaluable. It seems there are few smartphones (especially those named after fruit) which have a battery life spanning more than 12 hours and given the amount of usage, that device is going to bleat like a dying sheep until it can be charged. Little USB flash drives have grown considerably in size, and you can easily cram a dozen CD’s worth of music into a tiny piece of plastic the same dimensions as your thumb. It’s very convenient, but some cars still don’t have this as standard. Let’s hope the port is located somewhere sensible too, like the centre armrest, or glove compartment.

Anti-lock brakes

We find it abhorrent we live on planet with over a billion cars and yet there are still vehicles being manufactured without anti-lock brakes. Trying to justify the slower and smaller vehicles don’t actually need them because they’re slower isn’t a valid excuse. Vehicles are can be deadly regardless of whether they’re travelling at 60km/h or 120km/h. Countless studies have shown that an inexperienced driver with an ABS-equipped car can stop quicker than an experienced driver using a traditional cadence (braking hard and releasing pressure when the wheels are about to lock up) technique.

Electric windows

Many cars companies fit these without second thought and regard them as standard equipment. However there are still some cars rolling out with manual winders in the front. This isn’t the ‘90s. At the very least there should be electric windows in the front and we will accept manual winders for the rear.

Air conditioner

In case no-one had noticed, we live in Africa which happens to offer a rather warm climate. In winter the conditions can be pleasant, but during the summer months temperatures rocket over the 30 degree mark. Your car essentially becomes a sauna on wheels, and you’ll soon make the seat damp with your sweat. We’re not asking for state-of-the-art climate control here, just a simple system to blow cold air into the driver’s face, his feet, the windscreen or a combination of the above.

Spare wheel

Despite road surfaces being of generally good quality in urban areas, there’ll come a time when a motorist will suffer a puncture He or she will need to replace that wheel in order to resume driving. The boot however doesn’t have a spare wheel and instead, there’s a tyre repair kit with a can of sealant. What is this nonsense? How do you use it? You can’t expect the average person to know how to use this stuff effectively. All we ask for is a spare tyre and it doesn’t even have to be a full-size wheel if space is limited.

GMSA Sales Summary in South Africa for July 2013

General Motors South Africa delivered 5487 vehicles in July which is an increase of 376 vehicles from last month. The demand for the Chevrolet brand was at a high level of interest from both private and fleet buyers, with 737 units sold during July.

The refreshed Captiva logged 178 sales for the month, and the new Isuzu KB experienced a significant boost in sales on the back of increased production.

We’ve put together a breakdown of GMSA’s sales including key sales figures, Top 5 model sales and the most popular GMSA used cars for July 2013.

GMSA new car sales summary – July 2013

• Total new car sales: 5487
• Total market share: 9.4%
• Total passenger vehicle sales: 2053
• Total Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) sales: 3082

Top 5 GMSA new passenger car sales – July 2013 (compared to June 2013)

• 1. Chevrolet Utility – 1587 units (1672)
• 2. Isuzu KB – 1379 units (1012)
• 3. Chevrolet Spark – 737 units (484)
• 4. Chevrolet Cruze – 356 units (511)
• 5. Chevrolet Aveo – 293 units (232)

Most popular used GMSA cars in South Africa (in terms of views on Cars.co.za) – July 2013

• 1.Opel Corsa
• 2. Isuzu KB Series
• 3. Opel Astra
• 4. Chevrolet Cruze
• 5. Opel Corsa Utility

GMSA in the news

• Chevrolet Lumina SS Ute Reviewed
• Opel Corsa OPC Nurburgring Edition on its way to SA
• Striking Opel Monza Concept Shows Future Design Direction
• The Opel Astra OPC reviewed
• Opel performance app is a petrolheads dream

South African new car sales analysis

According to the National Association of Automobile Manufactures of South Africa (NAAMSA), July sales are very much in line with what the industry expected because of subdued economic growth and above-inflation new vehicle price increases.

That means new car sales have showed a substantial increase in South Africa for the past four years, and in July a total 58140 vehicles were sold which reflected an improved year on year growth of 7.5%, even though export sales registered a decline of 3.6%.

Naamsa further stated that while the outlook for the automotive sector for the balance of the year appeared less promising than at the beginning of 2013, the year as a whole would still represent the second or third best year on record with aggregate sales of approximately 660000 vehicles versus the record of 714000 achieved in 2006.
Here is a summary of new vehicle sales in South Africa for the month of July 2013, including export figures, Top 5 Passenger and Light Commercial Vehicles.

South African new car sales summary – July 2013

• Total new vehicle sales: 58140 units, an increase of 7.5% compared to July 2012.
• Total export sales: 26608 units registered a modest decline of 994 units or 3.6% compared to the 27602 vehicles exported in July 2012.
• New car market sales totalled 40274 units, representing a gain of 6.4% compared to July 2012.
• Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) including bakkies, and mini busses totalled 15047 units, an increase of 9.2% or 1266 units sold compared to July 2012.

South Africa’s best-selling car brands – July 2013

Top 5 Selling Passenger Vehicles

Top 5 Selling Light Commercial Vehicles

Out of the total reported industry sales of 58140 vehicles, 47665 units represented dealer sales, 11.4% represented sales to the vehicle rental industry, 4.6% to industry corporate fleets and 2% to government.
A strong contribution by the car rental industry contributed to the July sales totals and this trend was expected to continue over the next two months. The outstanding performance in sales of light, medium and heavy trucks was indicative of higher levels of investment spending and was in part related to infrastructural development projects.

Various sectors are encouraged to lend support to the industry. Over the medium term, pre-emptive buying by consumers to avoid possible further increases in prices of new motor vehicles, as a result of the weaker Rand, could also lend support to the industry.
In contrast decreasing sales, replacement demand, the highly competitive trading environment, ongoing attractive incentives and high technology new model introductions are some of the positive factors that contribute to the growth of the industry.