Driving South Africa’s locally-produced cars around its most-famous racetrack

Local legends
BMW X3 – produced at Rosslyn Plant in Pretoria
Next-gen Ford Ranger – produced at Silverton Plant in Pretoria
Isuzu D-Max – produced at Isuzu’s Production Plant in Gqeberha
Mercedes-Benz C-Class – produced at Mercedes’ Production Plant outside East London
Toyota Corolla Cross – produced at Prospection Plant in Durban
VW Polo – produced at Kariega Plant outside Gqeberha

South Africa recently played host to its first-ever Auto Week, which took place at the Kyalami Gran Prix Circuit.

The event offered a chance for many of the country’s automakers to showcase their local catalogues, including models built right here on the tip of Africa.

The local automotive industry employs more than 30,000 people and produces a wide range of cars both for our showrooms and for export to over 150 foreign nations.

We had the opportunity to check out several of South Africa’s locally-produced vehicles up close and even take a few of them on a brief spin around the old Formula 1 track.

Local legends

The afternoon kicked off with our arrival at the staging ground, which felt like a giant toy box for any car enthusiast with a variety of cars from several manufacturers just waiting for someone to take them for a spin.

First up was the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which is produced at the brand’s world-class factory in East London in the Eastern Cape.

This particular model was the C220d, which has a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine packing 147kW and 440Nm, and this results in an acceleration time of 7.3 seconds with a top speed of 245km/h

Unfortunately, we were not able to push the car to the max due to the nature of the event, with people leaving and entering the track at random with all manner of vehicles, though the acceleration was still palpable even with our speed capped at around 100-120km/h.

The interior is exquisite, with white leather upholstery and a large tablet infotainment screen, though even with the electric seats pushed all the way forward it proved a bit of a stretch to reach the pedals for a shorter individual like myself.

In a radically different change of pace, the next car was the Isuzu D-Max, specifically the top-of-the-range V-Cross in a 2×4 guise, which is manufactured outside Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.

Of course, while a race track is far from the bakkie’s home turf, it nonetheless offered decent performance around Kyalami thanks to a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel plant with 140kW and 450Nm.

Comparing it to South Africa’s other top bakkies, the D-Max has a reasonably nice interior, but as a whole it feels distinctly more utilitarian.

Our next ride was the Ranger, and while Ford had a new Wildtrak on display at the event, sadly we weren’t allowed to drive it.

We were, however, able to check out the interior which looks awesome with yellow cross-stitching and Wildtrak emblems adorning the leather seats, enormous air vents, and an impressive vertical touchscreen that is shared by the Ranger’s co-developed sibling, the new Amarok.

Both the new Ranger and Amarok will be manufactured at Ford’s Silverton plant in Pretoria, Gauteng.

Moving on, the next model to be taken around the track was BMW’s popular X3 SUV, which is produced at the brand’s Rosslyn plant in Pretoria.

The particular model on offer was the M-badged M40i, which has a 3.0-litre turbocharged powerplant generating 285kW and 500Nm.

This leads to an incredible sprint time of 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 250km/h, though once again our test run of the car was constrained by the day’s events.

In any case, the BMW delivered a great run, and its interior did not disappoint either with a slick digital driver display, M branding, and great seats.

From Toyota, we had a chance to run around in the Corolla Cross Hybrid, which is made at the Prospecton Plant in Durban.

This go around the track was an excellent opportunity to see the hybrid battery in action, which can be displayed on the central monitor.

Unusually, the hybrid lacks a traditional rev counter, and instead has a display showing how hard the engine is working and when it switches between its different power modes.

In practice, it’s functionally the same as a rev counter, as high-energy driving will tip the crossover into full engine mode, while more restrained use of the throttle brings it back down into the green, literally.

The regenerative brakes were also on display, with the touchscreen showing when energy was being recovered and sent back to the battery during intense braking.

Finally, we ended the day with one of South Africa’s favourite hatchbacks, the VW Polo, which is made at the Kariega Plant in the Eastern cape.

The R-Line model we had access to proved to be a joy around Kyalami, with great handling brought about by the Polo’s small stature.

Under the Polo’s hood is a 1.0-litre turbocharged drivetrain providing 85kW and 200Nm, and while its acceleration is listed at over 11 seconds, it felt an awful lot quicker than that around the track.

The package is rounded off with a nice interior featuring a digital driver display, an uncluttered dash, and a set of aluminium sports pedals.