Tokyo — TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced today that it has reached an agreement with its joint venture partner in South Africa, Wesco Investments Ltd. (Wesco), under which its local affiliate, Toyota South Africa (Pty) Ltd. (TSA), will become a wholly owned TMC subsidiary.  Under the agreement, TMC is to acquire Wesco’s 25% share in TSA in late August 2008.

By making TSA a wholly owned subsidiary, TMC will put in place a structure better allowing it to strongly drive forward its South African production, sales, and export activities, as TSA is a holding company for Toyota South Africa Motors (Pty) Ltd. (TSAM), the local entity responsible for TMC’s South African production and sales.

TSAM, which has maintained the leading market share in South Africa since 1980, sold 153,000 units there last year and currently holds a market share of 22.6%.  As a base in TMC’s global production and supply system, TSAM began exporting the “Hilux” and “Fortuner” models to other countries in Africa and to Europe in 2005, and launched exports of the “Corolla” sedan to other countries in Africa in October 2007 and to Europe in February 2008.

TMC intends to continue to further enhance its production, sales, and export activities in Africa.

Source: TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION

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Toyota Motor, Corolla

It was a day of ups and downs for Nissan Motorsport on Saturday with disappointment in qualifying and race one offset to some extent by a podium finish in race two. The Nissan Dealer Team had another good day with a second and a fourth in the day’s two Kyalami races.

Leeroy Poulter qualified second on Friday despite only completing one timed lap before an over-zealous marshal insisted on doing a sound check on the Nissan, preventing the 2006 champion from completing any more laps. He crashed in Saturday’s warm-up, managing to spin the car backwards into a tyre wall when a brake caliper bolt broke.

Hard work by his pit crew saw the car ready for race one, but the unfortunate Poulter then pulled off the circuit after the Esses on the warm-up lap when the engine cut out. The battery had become dislodged in the morning’s warm-up accident and by the time Poulter had identified and fixed the problem he was already a lap in arrears. He pitted during a safety car period for fresh tyres and eventually finished 11th, but with the consolation of scoring a championship point for fastest lap of the race.

“I was pretty sure I could have got pole position on Friday after our good showing in the three official practice sessions,” said Poulter. “We didn’t have much luck this weekend, but I have to thank my team for getting my car ready for the first race after this morning’s crash.”

Team-mate Tschops Sipuka also endured a hard day at the office. He struggled with the set-up of his car all weekend and was disappointed with ninth place in race one after starting from the pit lane (a penalty imposed for his clash in the previous round in East London). “I had a lot of understeer and the car just wasn’t as good as it was in EL,” said Sipuka.

Marco da Cunha who drove the Nissan Dealer Team’s two Tubular-backed 350Zs had a good day, qualifying third on Friday (his best result of the season so far) and finished second in race one. He was in the points again in race two, scoring a well-earned fourth from seventh on the grid. This gave him and his team a memorable first overall for the day.

Source:Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.

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Insurance premiums for imported cars could cost 50 percent more than the premium for a locally manufactured vehicle of similar value, largely because of the cost of vehicle parts, according to research by short term insurer Mutual & federal (M&F).

However, Manny de Canha, the chief executive of Associated Motor Holdings (AMH), South Africa’s biggest vehicle importer, said there was “no truth” in the M&F claims.

De Canha said he had challenged the short-tern insurer on its view but he was not provided with anything to substantiate the company’s claims, according to media reports on the Internet.

He said AMH was doing a survey on its parts every year to make sure it was competitive, and this was supported by the independent Kinsey parts pricing survey.

“If this was the case, we would not gain market share and people would not buy our cars,” he said. “We [importers] are gaining market share and 40 percent to 45 percent of vehicles sold are imports.”

Keith Kennedy, executive general manager for claims at M&F, voiced concern about the rising costs of automotive repairs and the impact on premiums.

He said the effect of repair costs on motor insurance premiums could encourage car buyers to consider the total cost of ownership when buying a new vehicle.