IN past August issues, we’ve focused on so-called “green” cars. Each year, for the past three or so, you’d see CAR’s editors scour content providers for interesting articles on fuel efficiency, green technologies and so on. We’d also constantly be on the phone to car importers, hassling them for a test of something hybrid-ish… It was a battle, to be honest, because there simply wasn’t much out there that was of relevance to the South African car buyer or enthusiast. And you can only test a Toyota Prius so many times…
But no more. Recently, everyone has jumped on the wagon, most notably government with its ridiculous CO2 tax. As a result, we’re jumping off…
As you’ve undoubtedly noticed, there’s no claim on the cover of this being a “green issue”. In fact, the only green thing about the cover is the hot-green Scirocco R that graces it (see page 54). But there’s method in the (seeming) madness.
The greening of the automobile is now all-encompassing. It is the subject of every major new-car launch, every accompanying speech and the recipient of larger and larger slices of manufacturers’ budgets and resources. Green has become the norm, not the exception. Green has gone mainstream.
This means that green content now appears in every issue of CAR, whether we try or not. This issue, simply by virtue of what is newsworthy, features several such articles. I drive the new Porsche Panamera Hybrid (page 34), the Honda Jazz Hybrid gets the road treatment (page 42), we put the focus on Lexus’s entire hybrid range, including the new CT200h on page 68, Jake Venter explains how new materials are going to make all future cars lighter (page 118) and Peter Palm visited the Michelin Challenge Bibendum event in Germany (page 122), where a raft of new green technologies were demonstrated.
So, in actual fact, this is a green issue of CAR, even though it’s clearly not. You know what I mean… Either way, enjoy the read!