A recent study by South Africa's National Vehicle Testing Association (NVTA) concluded that 80 percent of the country's 8,544,902 registered vehicles are unsafe. The assertion has touched-off a national debate. iAfrica reports that the government rejects the notion outright. "The Transport Department Spokesperson Collen Msibi stopped short of denying that there were any unsafe vehicles on the roads. 'We've got institutions, such as the SAPS [the police], responsible for ensuring that cars on our roads are safe.'" As for reports of widespread corruption at government inspection stations, Msibi said the Justice Ministry was dealing. Be that as it may, NVTA spokesperson Wally Cracknell said the percentage of unsafe vehicles is probably higher than 80 percent. Their study was based on 1000 vehicles voluntarily submitted for inspection. "A lot of the vehicles that come to us for roadworthy tests fail outright. Adding minibus taxis and heavy commercial vehicles would blow the statistics 'right out of the water.'" Other evidence from the front line substantiates the claim. "The owner of Johannesburg-based Egoli Testing Station, Johan de Beer, said they tested between 55 and 60 privately-owned cars and trucks each day, with half failing on safety-crucial points like brakes, steering, tyres and shock absorbers." With world's worst automotive safety record (after Botswana), the South African government's unwillingness to tackle road safety on all fronts– licensing, inspection and enforcement– will continue to cost tens of thousands of motorists and innocent bystanders their lives.

In the real world, cars hardly ever deliver their official government fuel economy ratings. This is still the case in the U.S., where testing procedures were revised to better reflect Joe Blow's lead foot, but it's even more true in the European Union. To prove the point, Autobild recently tested a number of cars in [their idea of] real-life driving conditions. Their circuit consisted of 54 km on the autobahn, 61 km on highways and 45 km of city driving. The cars were driven speedily but not hard– never above 75 mph. The cars tested were up to 53% thirstier than rated (and advertised). Some examples:

Audi RS4 Avant 420HP
Rated 13.5 L/100KM
Test 14.0 = +3.7%

BMW M5 507HP
Rated 14.8
Test 15.2 = +2.7%

BMW 118d Diesel
Rated 4.5
Test 6.2 = +38%

Ford C-Max Diesel 109HP
Rated 4.9
Test 6.7 = +37%

Honda Civic Hybrid 95HP
Rated 4.6
Test 6.6 = +43.5%

Lexus RX400h Hybrid 211HP
Rated 8.1
Test 12.0 = +48%

Mercedes ML350 272HP
Rated 11.7
Test 15.6 = +33%

Toyota Aygo 68HP
Rated 4.6
Test 6.1 = +32.6%

Toyota Prius 78HP
Rated 4.3
Test 6.0 = +39.5%

Britain's Autocar has bestowed its annual awards on its patrons. This year's winners include the Jaguar XF, which received the Design Award for "leap-frogging an entire design generation to produce original, contemporary interior and exterior themes on which all future Jaguars will build." Joining the Jag: GM Car Czar Bob Lutz. Maximum Bob received Autocar's Outstanding Achievement award for "his long career as one of the motor industry's most successful and influential 'car guys'." Ford of Europe was named Car Company of the Year in recognition of its "key role in the progress towards recovery of the US-based Ford group, and as a future donor of models for the US market." I'm thinking these are all examples of that famous English dry wit; that sense of humor that Americans don't seem to understand. Yes? Please say yes.

Last month. we broke the news (to the English-speaking world) that Toyota's Hilux pickup truck failed Sweden's now infamous Älgtest (Elk test). News flash from the frozen north: Toyota has admitted the problem and is taking drastic if limited action to correct it. According to Teknikens Värld, Michel Koch of Toyota Europe confirmed that the Japanese automaker is halting sales of the Hilux with 16" wheels. Although the Swedes found that a Hilux shod with 15" wheels Elk-tested just as poorly as one with 16" wheels, ToMoCo "does not consider the 15" version to perform dangerously." When faced with the same issue re: their new A-Class, Mercedes fit ESP to the car, and retrofitted a few thousand customer cars at the company's expense. While Toyota has the technology to add stability control to the new Hilux, given the vast number of Hilux that have already hit the highway (hopefully not literally), the money needed to retrofit existing Hilux would make the A-Class expenditure look like pocket change. The extra (some say needless) expense would put the product at a competitive disadvantage/dramatically lower Toyota's profits. But this could be the start if a general move towards stability control on pickups– as U.S. federal law is already mandating the systems for SUVs. 

The New Anatolian (Turkey's Only Independent English-language daily) reports that Proton plans to team-up with Iran and Turkey to adapt their products for the Islamic market.  We're talking about a built-in compass to determine the direction of Mecca for prayers, compartments specifically designed for storing the Quran and headscarves, and, uh, that's about it. Proton's Managing Director told Turkey's national news agency Bernama that the modifications were part of Iran's thinly-veiled (so to speak) plans to play the spiritual card to attract the region's car buyers. ''What they want to do is to call that an Islamic car,'' Syed Zainal Abidin said. Since it's inception in 1983, the Malaysian automaker has been no stranger to governmental intervention. Proton's domination of its home market was in no small part due to onerous import duties levied against its erstwhile competition. ("Was" in the sense that their share of the Malaysian market has slipped from 60 percent to 23 percent.) Will Iran skew the market in a similar way to favor domestically-built "Islamic" cars, and exclude any automaker who isn't in bed with the ruling regime? Sounds like a plan to me.  

iAfrica reports on CARS' (Committee for Active Road Safety) on-going campaign to raise South Africa's automotive safety standards. The association claims that a recently released report from the National Vehicle Testing Association shows that 80 percent of vehicles on the Republic's roads are unsafe to drive. "This is a totally untenable situation and we fully support them in their call to have the regular testing of vehicles written into our statutes," announced CARS' chairperson Ian Auret. Yup, that's right: there is no annual, bi-annual or any kind of annual testing procedure for South Africa's privately-owned passenger vehicles. Stats on Africa's automotive carnage are notoriously hard to come by (reliable stats even more so). The UN's Global Road Safety Partnership estimates 111.4 deaths per 10k licensed RSA drivers. That's not bad compared to the Central African Republic's (under-reported) 339.2, but it's still a plenty heavy toll for automotive independence.

Ford is kicking ass in the UK. Just-auto [sub] reports that private sales of the recently redesigned Ford Mondeo are up by over 20 percent year-on-year. Even better, high-profit top variants account for more than half of these retail orders. "Since the latest Mondeo went on sale in June, more than 16,500 have been registered in the UK and almost 52% of customers have specified top trim levels such as Titanium," Just-auto reports. "This compares with a share of under 35% for equivalent high series Mondeos two years ago." But wait, there's more! The new Focus is also a hit with private buyers. Non-fleet sales are up more than seven percent compared to last year. And more! Galaxy minivan and S-Max' retail registrations doubled in the same time frame. Clearly, someone within the Ford empire knows what they're doing…

Ironically enough, the name of the rare earth element "dysprosium" is derived from the Greek δυσπροσιτος [dysprositos] meaning "hard to obtain." But obtain it Toyota must; the element is crucial for the manufacturer of nickel metal hydride batteries and hybrid engines. The Guardian Newspaper reports that Japanese Trade Minister Akira Amari is lobbying China to ease-up on their tightening grip on dysprosium, platinum (needed for catalytic converters) and other rare metals. Earlier this year, China banned duty-free exports of rare earth ores for processing. On Wednesday, the PRC announced it would bar foreign investment in mining rare minerals or those that can't be recycled. China produces roughly 90 percent of Japan's rare earth earth minerals (i.e. "China's got Japan's manufacturers by the throat."). According to CBC News, that's because "Over the past two decades, China has tapped into a motherlode of cheap, easy-to-extract, rare earth resources, byproducts of the country's Bayan Obo iron ore operations in the north." Minister Amari isn't placing all his elements in one basket. He's also heading to South Africa and Botswana to secure alternative supplies. What was that about the total environmental impact of hybrids?

Now that BMW and Audi are creating more than line extensions than dueling cocaine dealers, Volvo seems ready to follow suit. Their answer to BMW's MINI Clubman and Audi's A3 Sportback? The ungainly Volvo V30. Based on the platform that spawned the S40, V50, C70, C30 and Segway (just kidding), the V30 is yet another five-door wagon. This one's slated to be almost 11" shorter than the V50 wagon, and haul about half the köttbollar. In fact, you could say the V30 four-seater is the P1800 wagon reincarnated, but I couldn't possibly comment. Expect the usual Volvo engine lineup of I4s, smooth I5s and Euroe-only diesels. The news guys at Teknikens Värld claim we'll see Volvo's DSG-style tranny– dubbed "PowerShift"– when the V30 finally rolls into town. Let's just hope the pictures don't do it justice.

Let's say you're an American car buyer looking for the cleanest, safest and most fuel efficient vehicle money can buy. You can pop on over to www.fueleconomy.gov and research a vehicle's mpg and emissions, complete with side-by-side comparisons. You can then click across to www.safercar.gov and check out your prospective whip's crash worthiness, albeit one vehicle at a time. As of today, frugal, safety-minded, environmentally-conscious New Zealand car buyers have a much easier time of it. A box fresh Kiwi government website– www.rightcar.govt.nz— ranks, sorts and compares 2300 new and used cars according to their relative fuel economy, CO2, pollutants, Driver Safety, Others' Safety or a combination of all five. Yes, but– The Land Transport New Zealand (LTNZ) says it set-up the site to focus on just one of these criteria. Speaking to Stuff.co.nz, LTNZ chief executive Wayne Donnelly said reducing carbon dioxide emissions was his department's primary goal. Anyway, we can't help but wonder if inter-departmental rivalries and commercial "concerns" would prevent the U.S. government from providing the same sort of user-friendly car buying widget– especially one without a cupholder count.

Thomas L. Freidman is at it again. After earning the American auto industry's ire by portraying Detroit automakers as lazy, greedy, foot-dragging Luddites, the New York Times columnist has some advice for aspiring Indian motorists: don't do it. Spooked by the potential environmental impact of a new (if still theoretical) $2500 car, Friedman's urging India to look at wasteful western ways and "leapfrog us, not copy us." Apparently, it's common sense calling.  "Just as India went from no phones to 250 million cell phones — skipping costly land lines and ending up with, in many ways, a better and cheaper phone system than we have — it should try the same with mass transit." To that end, Friedman's championing the ideas of Sunita Narain, the "dynamo" who directs New Delhi's Center for Science and Environment: "India can't ban a $2,500 car, but it can tax it like crazy until it has a mass transit system that can give people another cheap mobility option." Friedman tries to recruit our support for his Indian anti-car stance by suggesting that it's one of those win-win deals. "An India that makes itself the leader in both cheap cars and clean mass mobility is an India that will be healthier and wealthier. It will also be an India that gives us cheap answers to big problems." I'm confused. While it's easy (enough) to imagine an Indian mass transit utopia, how exactly would that help us?

London's infamous congestion charge is having an unintended if not unpredictable consequence: a rise in the number of stolen or counterfeit license plates. The Wall Street Journal reports that unscrupulous motorists attach someone else's "number plate" to their car to avoid the $16 daily charge for driving in downtown London. When a scofflaw's car gets caught on camera with a plate that doesn't match those who have paid the fee, the genuine owner of the license plate gets a citation in the mail. (As you can imagine the paperwork involved in contesting the fine/rectifying the identity theft is listed in the OED under both "enervating" and "labyrinthine.") England's Automotive Association estimates that up to 300 cars with illegal plates amble about in the congestion charge zone every day. While some companies are selling anti-theft devices to cut the number of stolen plates, that doesn't stop the counterfeiting. All you have to do is order a set of "decorative plates" from several companies on the internet with whatever license number you desire. 

Chinaview reports that China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has issued regulations for manufacturers of alt. fuel vehicles. From now on, any company in China wishing to sell hybrid cars, battery electric vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles, hydrogen-fueled vehicles or vehicles powered by an alt. fuel to be named later must have "adequate research, production and after-sale service to ensure the reliability of the autos." The director of the Center for International Energy Security at Renmin University of China in Beijing, warned-off pretenders to the throne of environmentally responsible transportation. "Enterprises wanting to manufacture new-energy cars should pay attention that their development of new type of energies should be truly 'energy-efficient' rather than only 'new in name,''' Professor Zha Daojiong said. "It is also crucial to avoid creating new sources of pollution in the process of the production of vehicles fueled by new energies." One might also see the regs as a way to control pesky start-ups and unwanted foreign automakers from swooping-in on the Chinese automotive market. And I'm not quite sure how Chinaview figured that the NRDC announcement's timing was part of an effort to quell public unrest at recent gas price hikes…

The London Evening Standard reports that GoinGreen, the UK distributor of the G-Wiz battery-powered car, is recalling the machine amid fears that an overheating battery charger can cause the cars to burst into flames. "The recall was undertaken as a precautionary measure following a single incident of failure," Managing director Keith Johnston assured the press. "No one was injured."  The recalled involves 629 vehicles, about two-thirds of those sold to date. GoinGreen will replace the G-Wiz' heat-sensitive cutout switch and fit a new fire retardant cover. The recall re-focuses attention on the Indian-made machine's safety. "Government research found the G-Wiz failed the sort of crash test conventional family cars and 4x4s must pass to be allowed on the road. And in May, the motoring magazine Top Gear produced spectacular photographs of a G-Wiz disintegrating in a standard crash test." In case you're wondering how GoinGreen can sell the G-Wiz in a country where toasters must comply with safety regulations, the electric cars are officially classified as "quadricycles." In other words, they're "unconventional vehicles not intended for mainstream use." While G-Wiz' celebrity clients must be thrilled with that designation, Tesla's Elise-based Roadster and the Chevrolet Volt will presumably aim a bit higher. You know, eventually.  

GM has announced that it will begin exporting its Chinese-made Cadillac SLS (a.k.a. STS stretch) to the Middle East in the first quarter of 2008. Huliq reports Shanghai General Motors Co. Ltd will debut the SLS in Dubai at the Middle East International Auto Show later this month. This will be the first export deal for the Chinese Caddy, which went on sale in the military dictatorship known as The People's Republic of China in March. Cadillac GM Jim Taylor believes the SLS "will be just as successful with luxury car consumers [in the Middle East] as it has been in China." There are no plans to bring the the big Caddy cruiser stateside. Meanwhile, GM's Chinese sales rose by 128 percent year-to-date. [Spin alert: the actual number of vehicles sold may be quite small.]