Auris Blog - stand out

New Toyota Blog now up and running

NOS — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:24:47 +0000

We have some exciting news!

Toyota has decided to combine the Auris, Corolla and Masters of Africa blogs into one – The Toyota Blog (http://www.toyotablog.co.za/) This will allow you to access anything Toyota related in one place, rather than 3.

The Toyota Blog went live on 13 October 2009 and offers you everything from vehicle information, motorsport news, videos and photos, competitions, interactive forums and much more.

Join our new fanpage on Facebook, ToyotaSA and follow us on Twitter @ToyotaLive (http://twitter.com/ToyotaLive)

Have you seen the new Toyota Hilux Buddy advert? Visit the new Toyota blog to take a sneak peek of this advert that will flight for the first time tonight on South African TV.

Preview: BP Ultimate Rally 2009 (18 - 19 September)

NOS — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:19:33 +0000

Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh head to Cape Town for the BP Ultimate Rally, the 7th round of the Sasol South African Rally Championship determined to eliminate the three point gap to the championship leaders. The Castrol Toyota Auris pair knows that this is make or break time for their title aspirations after storming back into contention after dominating the recent Osram Rally.

Of the rally itself, Johnny said: “I’m really looking forward to it and doing again what we did last month. I have a plan but the S2000 cars are so evenly matched that it is not possible to predict the outcome. One little problem can cost you a couple of minutes which is impossible to make up again unless your rivals also have a problem. It’s flat out racing from start to finish – the spectators are in for a real treat”.

Toyota has a healthy 271 point lead in the all-important Manufacturer’s Championship, ably assisted by a fleet of privateer teams in all the major classes. Toyota has 18 Rally manufacturer’s trophies in their cabinet and a 19th will further entrench the marque as the most successful manufacturer in the sport.

Heading the privateer S2000 entry is Japie van Niekerk and Robin Houghton in their New Africa Developments Toyota RunX, fresh from their best outing of the season last month. The Pretoria property developer can be expected to mix it with the major players and with a bit of extra effort and luck, keep one or two Volkswagens lower down the finishing order.

The class A7 title fight is coming Toyota’s way after the 6th round with off road champion Evan Hutchinson and Elvene Coetzee leading the way in their Motorite Toyota RunX. Hutchinson has been one of the most consistent performers this season, scoring on every round to date which could see his current four point advantage wiped out if dropped scores to date are considered (his lowest score is four), leaving the class fight as a nett dead-heat for the lead.

Vusi Mabanga/Shaun Visser (Team Total Toyota Yaris) heads Toyota’s class A5 challenge, third on the class log. Mabanga has developed as a driver to be reckoned with since slipping behind the wheel of his Yaris and he will be looking for another win to add to his maiden victory on the Sasol Rally.

Dave Compton and Pierre Jordaan have already clinched the Class N3 championship in their Sasol Toyota RunX and hold second place on the overall Production Car Championship, ahead of bigger engined machinery. Compton will have to work hard to keep his overall position, but freed from the pressure of delivering the championship to Sasol, can go a lot harder in his new quest.

The BP Ultimate rally starts at 15h00 from Burchmore’s Auction House in Montague Gardens and takes in one gravel stage and two tarmac stages at Killarney on the first day. An early 07h45 start on Saturday takes the teams to Malmesbury and Moorreesburg for four long stages before heading back to Cape Town for a short 7km gravel stage and a final thrash around the Killarney racetrack, when a clearer picture of the championship situation will emerge ahead of the Toyota Dealer Rally Gauteng, the final round of the 2009 season.

World Premier of Toyota Auris Hybrid Concept at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show

NOS — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:07:27 +0000

The Toyota Auris HSD Full Hybrid Concept will take centre stage for Toyota from 15 to 27 September at the Frankfurt Motor show.

The Auris HSD concept introduces Toyota's full hybrid technology to a mainstream model and the first step in the deployment of Hybrid Synergy Drive across the company's model range.

The new Prius Plug-in Hybrid Concept will also make its world premiere in Frankfurt. Prius Plug-in Hybrid expands the capabilities of Toyota's full hybrid technology, enabling pure electric operation for short-range day-to-day transportation. In early 2010, en extensive field trial in Europe will see over 150 units being leased to selected fleet customers.

Frankfurt will also stage the European Premiere of the iconic, all-new Toyota Land Cruiser , which will go on sale in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Castrol Toyota 1-2 win at Osram Rally 2009

NOS — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:05:59 +0000

Final
results:

S2000 - Johnny Gemmell/Peter
Marsh - Castrol Toyota Auris - 1:31:47
S2000 - Mark Cronje/Robert
Paisley - Castrol Toyota Auris - 1:32:25
S2000 - Enzo Kuun/Guy
Hodgson - BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo - 1:32:43
N4 - Charl Wilken/Greg
Godrich - Sasol/Konica Minolta Subaru Impreza - 1:34:06
S2000 - Jan Habig/Douglas
Judd - BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo - 1:34:15
S2000 - Japie van
Niekerk/Robin Houghton - New Africa Developments Toyota RunX - 1:34:26
S2000 - Hergen Fekken/Pierre
Arries - BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo - 1:34:27
S2000 - JP Damseaux/Andre
Vermeulen - Team Total Toyota RunX - 1:36:06
S2000 - Theuns
Joubert/Hennie Botes - Salom Volkswagen Polo - 1:38:20
S2000 - Fernando Rueda/Cobus
Vrey - Team Total Toyota RunX - 1:39:10

Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh stormed back into championship contention by winning the Osram Rally, round 6 of the 2009 Sasol South African Rally Championship. Completing a perfect day at the office for the factory Castrol Toyota squad, Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley finished a strong 2nd overall, giving the class S2000 Toyota Auris its first 1 - 2 finish since making its debut on this event exactly one year ago.

Gemmell, lagging 14 points behind log leaders Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries going into the Osram Rally, has closed the gap to just three points with two rounds of the series remaining. This was Gemmell and Marsh’s third victory of the season and the toughest, in spite of a winning margin of 38 seconds.

Run through the Witteberg around Lady Grey and the southern Drakensberg near Barkly East, the roads are super-fast and extremely challenging, where mere seconds mark the difference between victory and an also-ran. Gemmell's winning margin demonstrated the Castrol Auris' domination of the event, with the title challenger taking the lead in stage two and never looking back, setting four fastest times on the seven stage event.

"It was a near perfect day for us. We had a huge moment in the first stage when I was blinded by the low sun. I hit a jump which I never saw and landed on the Auris' nose. Luckily, damage was only cosmetic and not mechanical. The Auris was perfect all day and never missed a beat".

The result was poetic justice for Gemmell after his chance of victory on the 2008 Osram Rally was thwarted by a stone jamming in the brakes, a freak happening which cost him a certain victory.

"I'm glad we could finish what we started last year", he laughed.

Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley did exactly what the team asked of them, riding shotgun for Gemmell and putting himself ahead of the chasing
trio of BP Volkswagen Polos. Cronje was crowned King of the Mountain, a special award for the fastest crew over the notorious
Joubert's Pass, a 45km long ribbon of road high in the snow-capped Witteberg mountains.

"That's a treacherous piece of road" is how Cronje described his first experience of the legendary stage. 'We had a bit of a moment in there so settled on what I thought was a comfortable pace as was quite surprised to have been quickest".

The second Castrol Auris pair had another big moment in stage two as well as a puncture 8km from the end, costing the early leaders 12 seconds.

"Stage two set the tone of the rally and I had last year's event in the back of my mind all the time (a reference to crashing while leading in 2008). I backed off after that and found a good rhythm. It was a clean, textbook rally for us. The car's in one piece".

Japie van Niekerk and Robin Houghton brought their S2000 New Africa Developments Toyota RunX home 5th overall, beating the current SA Rally
Champions Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries by a single second.

"That's what the team asked us to do and that's what we achieved", said a delighted Van
Niekerk.

Jean Pierre Damseaux/Andre Vermeulen brought their S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX home 8th overall after spending their day running first on
the road and sweeping the loose grit off the surface, but were happy to record their second finish of the year in what has been a character-building season. Fernando Rueda/Cobus Vrey, driving a similar
S2000 Total RunX rounded out the top 10 after a steady drive.

Toyota took the Manufacturer's Award as they build towards their 19th Manufacturer's Championship title.

The next 2009 Sasol Rally Championship event is the BP Ultimate Rally in the Western Cape on 18 and 19 September.

Get more info of this race on Rallyworld.net ( http://bit.ly/Osram2009 )

Images: dvj@toyota-media

Toyota Auris Hybrid to be built next year

NOS — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:51:36 +0000

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) is to produce hybrid versions of Toyota's hot hatch, the Toyota Auris.These vehicles will be manufactured in the UK in mid-2010.

The hybrid version is said to use 19% less fuel and emit 17% less CO₂ than the non-hybrid version.

Are you likely to buy a hybrid vehicle in the next 2 years? Please leave a comment.

Recap: VW Rally 2009

NOS — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:35:37 +0000

It was a tough weekend for the Castrol Toyota rally team in the Eastern Cape who had high expectations for Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh to close down their small championship deficit but it was not to be.

The S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris title challengers snatched the initiative when the crews hit the gravel stages with Gemmell storming into the lead of the Volkswagen Rally after six stages, ending Friday’s run with a slender three second lead over title rivals Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries’ VW Polo.

dvj@toyota-media

Gemmell and Marsh were quietly confident of building on their early lead as the Castrol Auris was strong on the gravel stages and Saturday’s route had five rough surfaces on the schedule. In the first stage, the Castrol Auris developed a serious misfire and Gemmell lost 35 seconds to Fekken, dropping to 5th overall.

With no service before the first Longmore forest stage, Gemmell managed to affect a temporary repair and set a respectable time in stage 8, clawing back some time to place 4th overall. The championship challengers set the fastest time in the 48 km long 9th stage to move up to 2nd overall and were able to fend off the VW crews chasing hard until the misfire returned. Gemmell hung on to third place and with one stage remaining, was 1.2 seconds ahead of Jan Habig/Douglas Judd’s VW Polo.

The final 1.19km stage at King’s Beach was crucial as Habig took more time from Gemmell, dropping them off the podium and into 4th place.

Gemmell - "I really thought we had a chance on this one. We won all the dirt stages on Friday and with five gravel stages on Saturday, we were in a strong position. We had shock absorber problems in stages seven and eight but the misfire killed off our chances. The Toyota Auris is still a very new car and we’re working our way through the development programme. We need to get to the bottom of this problem quickly. The championship is far from over, but it will be very difficult for us now and we will need an element of luck on our side”.

Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley, winners of the 2008 Volkswagen Rally fought a rearguard action all weekend after going off the road in stage three, damaging the radiator.

dvj@toyota-media

Cronje - “A ‘left three into right six’ instruction caught me out. We hit the side of a dugout and jumped over a heap of earth which damaged the left front side of the car which pushed the radiator back and punctured it”.

Cronje filled the radiator with bottled water before stage four before returning to service where the team set about replacing the radiator. In all, seven minutes of lateness was incurred and a one minute ten second penalty was added to the distraught driver’s time, pushing the Castrol Auris pair to 8th overall on Friday night’s score sheets.

A shock absorber broke in stage seven which had to be carried into stage eight. A control arm broke in stage nine before Cronje fought back to win the final gravel stage and move up into 6th place.

Privateer team Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin lost three minutes with a puncture in stage 9, bringing their Total Toyota Auris home second in class, well ahead of the A6 champion Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee (Total RunX).

The next outing for the Castrol Toyota team is the Osram Rally on 22 August.

[Read more]

Warning: Email being circulated about winning a Toyota

NOS — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:30:46 +0000

Toyota South Africa warns the public against fraudulent emails informing recipients that they have won a Toyota.

Toyota Motor Corporation and its affiliated companies have no involvement with the following competition currently in circulation.

-----

TOYOTA INTERNATIONAL LOTTO (HEADQUARTERS) Customer Service Department Affiliate of Toyota Japan . #28 Kanashiwa road Tokyo JP

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement made today, You are among the winners of the TOYOTA CAR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PROGRAM participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from all part of the world as part of our electronic business Promotions Program.

As a result of your visiting various websites we are running the E-business promotions for. You/Your Company email address, attached to ticket number 343- 221-8756, with serial number 454-17 drew the lucky numbers 3, 8, 13,22, 27, 41 and Bonus number 12 , Your INSURANCE Number: FLS433/ 453L /GMSA and consequently you won in the Second Category of the TOYOTA FORTUNE LOTTO DRAW.

You have therefore been approved for the payment of the sum of US$500,000. 00 in cash, including a Toyota car which is the winning present /amount for the Second category winners. This is from the total prize money of US$2,650,000.00 shared among the international winners in the Second category.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Please be informed that your won fund of the sum of US$500,000.00 is now with the payee center. Contact our agent and give them your full names so that they will re-insure your winning fund under your full names. Together with the port where your winning car should be shipped to.

To begin your claim, please call our claim agent or send email immediately to:-

Certificate Agent, Toyota Email Lotto Agent Monk Email:mgmonk@yahoo.cn Telephone: 008613527654635

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, Please quote your

1, Names in full:
2,Country of Residing:
3, Nationality:
4,Residential Address:
5, Date of Birth/Age:
6, Marital Statue/Sex:
7, Tel/Fax:
8, Mobile No:
9, Occupation:
10, Company:
11, Ticket No:
12,Serial No:
13,Ins.No:
14,Lucky No

Sincerely , Mrs. Ing Chunny Liu Hon Online Coordinator www.toyota.com.cn

-----

The VW Rally 10/11 July 2009

Craig Hannabus — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:54:39 +0000

It seems like we only just got back from the South Africa Rally in Ermelo and it's already time for the next one. The Volkswagen rally kicks off the second half of the 2009 Sasol South African Rally Championship and it's sure to be a nail biting affair.

The Castrol Toyota team have won six of the last nine rally's heald there so the odds are good for another victory. Gemmel and Marsh are currently sitting second on the overall championship, this could be their chance to climb back up in the standings.

"It was a disappointing result for us and we will be looking to put that right and get our championship lead back", said an upbeat Johnny of his 6th place in Ermelo.

“There’s still a lot of points out there to take and we are determined to earn as many as we can over the remaining four rallies. It’s been a good fight with Hergen (Fekken) so far. We lead after the Tour Natal, then Hergen levelled with us. We re-took the lead after the Sasol, and now he is ahaead again, so hopefully, we will continue that sequence and leave Port Elizabeth in the lead again”.

The winners of the 2008 Volkswagen Rally, Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley driving the second S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris, was robbed of the Rally SA lead by “a R32 rose joint in the gearbox”. The upbeat driver, 5th in the title chase, rocketed into the lead of Rally SA, building a 33 second cushion in just two stages.

"I was pretty surprised to have such a big lead. The others must have been fast asleep because I was driving well within myself. I can’t wait for the rally because the team has done a lot of work on the car and they have definitely found something extra”, said the Roodepoort-based businessman.

In class S2000, Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Andre Vermeulen (Team Total Toyota RunX) got their campaign back on track with a solid third overall and re-energised, will be looking for another podium finish to make up for lost ground after failing to finish the first three rounds of the championship.

In class A7, the top two-wheel drive class, Evan Hutchinson/Elvene Coetzee (Motorite Toyota RunX) in 2nd place in the title standings, five points behind the class leader, Stevan Wilken/Greg Gericke. The current champions, Chris de Wit/Dean Redelinghuys (Team Total Toyota RunX) got their scorecard ticking over with a good showing after suffering the same start to the season as Damseaux did, recording three non-finishes.

Toyota rules the roost in class A6 with Mohammed Moosa and Grant Martin the quickest pairing in their Team Total Toyota Auris. Moosa is currently sharing the A6 lead with the Team Total Toyota RunX pair of Rodney Visagie and Carolyn Swan who also have two wins.

Images: Rally of South Africa 2009

NOS — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:06:20 +0000

As you may have seen from previous posts, the Auris Blog team attended the Rally of South Africa last week in Ermelo.

Andrew Crawford and Craig Hannabus blogged live from this event as well as provided up-to-the-minute updates on Twitter (@ToyotaLive). They've also captured captivating images of the excitement of this event. See the full gallery on the Auris South Africa page on Facebook. Don't worry, you don't need to be signed in to view it.

If you'd also taken pictures at the event, please share them here on the Blog.

Here's a quick summary of the results:

S2000 - Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries - BP VW Polo - 2:08:43
S2000 - Jan Habig/Douglas Judd - BP VW Polo - 2:09:06
S2000 - JP Damseaux/Andre Vermeulen - Team Total Toyota RunX - 2:11:17
S2000 - Mark Cronje/Robert Paisley - Castrol Toyota Auris - 2:12:58
N4 - Charl Wilken/Greg Godrich - Sasol Subaru - 2:14:05
S2000 - Johnny Gemmell/Peter Marsh - Castrol Toyota Auris - 2:14:35
S2000 - Theuns Joubert/Hennie Botes - Salom VW Polo - 2:14:42
2000 - Nicholas Ryan/Geoff Tyrer - Toyota RunX - 2:16:54
S2000 - Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson - BP VW Polo - 2:17:34
A7 - Stevan Wilken/Greg Gericke - Pannar VW Polo - 2:22:04

Rally of South Africa day two

Craig Hannabus — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:41:25 +0000

Within 30 seconds of arriving at the first stage this morning, Andrew managed to get himself covered in mud again. Perhaps he's a little too eager to get near the action.

Down to the business of rallying, today saw very little change in the top ten rankings. There were a few position shifts here and there, but the top 3 remained just about the same the entire day.

What was interesting to note is that several of the stages were repeated throughout the day and the drivers managed to improve their times quite dramatically the second time around. This is possibly due to the drier conditions in the afternoon, but also probably due to track familiarity. The results were impressive with some shaving almost 10-15 seconds off their times (Gemmell).

While Toyota did their best, the BP Volkswagen Polo's dominated with Habbig and Fekken doing extremely well. Although Damseaux took top times in several of the stages, it wasn't enough to unseat the the top top position holders. Damseaux himself had a brilliant rally. This will be the first rally that he has actually completed this year and he did it in style. Very impressive.

The final circuit-style stages were intense to watch. Honestly a very impressive location was chosen so it was easy to view the entire circuit at once. The times were incredibly close with several drivers clocking up exactly the same times (Cronje and Fekken).

I was particularly impressed with Damseaux in stage 13, managing to keep up with his competitor Van Niekerk despite the fact that he had no clutch. Another impressive driver was Nicholas Ryan. He has no sponsor at the moment, but hopefully that will change. He is pictured here in his plain white Auris.

All in all, this was quite a well organized event at what I would personally consider to be one of the best rally locations I've been to. There was a great combination of conditions to test the drivers and the spectator points were excellent (usually on hairpins). Hats off to the marshalls for doing a great job.

Here are the provisional results :

1. Fekken
2. Habbig
3. Damseaux
4. Cronje
5. Wilken
6. Gemmel
7. Joubert
8. Ryan
9. Kuhn
10. Van Niekerk

Well done guys!

Rally of South Africa day one

Craig Hannabus — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:18:26 +0000

Andrew and I set out this morning in the hopes of catching the opening ceremony of the Rally of South Africa. Unfortunately our trip so far has been plagued with bad luck. As we drove, I mused about the movie 'Dumb and Dumber'.

"Remember when they drove halfway across the country the wrong way and had to to turn around? That was pretty funny."

It's not that funny. Halfway to Durban we realized that we didn't seem to be getting any nearer to Ermelo. We're pretty sure those GPS co-ordinates were to blame. We took the scenic route through Standerton (which is not that scenic), and eventually arrived in time to catch the second stage. We leapt from the car and found a place next to the track that seemed pretty good as far as photo opportunities went. See our photograph? That's a split second before we got covered in mud. Andrew's very expensive Canon camera bore the brunt of the mud bath. Lucky there was no permanent damage.

Unfortunately we were just a bit too late to get any times or results for the day, but we'll make up for that in the morning. If you want to keep up to date with what's happening, check out our Twitter account.

If you're keen on joining us at the event, come through to Ermelo and pay a visit to the Mugg and Bean in Kerk str. They're giving away free spectator guides with all the info you need.

Rally of South Africa event this weekend, 12 and 13 June 2009

NOS — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:52:49 +0000

The Rally of South Africa, 4th round of the Sasol South African Rally Championship, takes place this weekend around Warburton, Panbult and Ermelo.

Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh go into the rally with a four-point lead at the head of the Sasol SA Rally Championship table.

Gemmell - "It won't be easy. Everyone wants to win and realistically, any of the five factory Toyota or Volkswagen drivers are in with a chance, so it's going to be a hard fight for every second on every stage. On top of that the organisers have put together a tough event with minimal servicing between stages as well as the killer stage, Jessievale, which is 60 km long. Get that one wrong and you can forget about winning".

"It's so competitive at the front of the field that nowhere can you afford to take things easy, even if, in the back of your mind, you know you need to preserve the car because there are three stages to run before you see the service park again. It's going to be a tense weekend for sure".

"I've had some good results [in Ermelo] in the past. I quite like the nature of the stages. They’re not too demanding on the car or the crew although dust will likely be a problem at this time of the year. The SuperSpecial stages can be a problem because the dust hangs in the valley. Imagine being tied for the lead like I was on the Sasol Rally and it has to be decided on a dusty stage with minimal visibility. At least it will run a little earlier in the day than it used to".

The second class S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris, is in the hands of Mark Cronje and double co-driver's champion Robert Paisley.

Cronje - "It's the most boring rally of the year for me. It's in the middle of nowhere and attracts very few spectators. We are a world-class travelling entertainment show and have no one to perform to, which is sad for me as a competitor and it’s sad for the sport”.

"I’m ready and willing to take the fight to the front. We had a great Sasol Rally and I’m aiming to be on the podium again – which step remains to be seen!"

"It's a tough event where you can't afford to relax. Everyone is going hard all the time so we must go hard to keep up and even harder to get ahead and stay there. I enjoy giving the older guys in the sport a hard time because I’ve always been told it takes ten years before you are ready to go for the championship. I think that is nonsense and I want to prove it".

Toyota currently leads the Manufacturer's Championship by 118 points with the aide of privateer run Toyotas in all the classes.

The support teams include:

Japie van Niekerk and Robin Houghton (New Africa Developments Toyota RunX),
Jean-Pierre Damseaux and Andre Vermeulen (S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX),
Fernando Rueda/Cobus Vrey (Team Total Toyota RunX), and
Nicholas Ryan and Geoff Tyrer (S2000 Toyota RunX).

In class A6, the Toyota Auris of Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin lead the title chase on 18 points after two consecutive class wins.

Wammy Haddad, Motorsport Manager - "We'll go flat-out and see what comes out of the forests on Saturday afternoon! I would rather Johnny had a 12-point lead but I'll take the four we've got. It's disappointing to see a rally scheduled with so many stages between servicing as a problem on the first of three could cause an un-necessary retirement. In these economic times and with a relatively small entry, it is vital to have as many competitors finish the event as possible".

The Rally of South Africa starts from Ermelo Toyota at noon on Friday and takes in three stages in the Warburton area, including the Jessievale stage, at 60km, the longest stage in SA rallying.

Saturday sees teams leave Ermelo Toyota to tackle three stages in the Panbult area before the first service, then another two stages, followed by a repeat of the morning’s three stages, again without any service.

The rally finishes with two spectacular runs over the Ermelo SuperSpecial stage and cars are expected at the Ermelo Toyota finish around 16h00 on Saturday afternoon.

The Auris Blog team, led by Craig Hannabus and Andrew Crawford, will be covering the event live. You can follow event progress via this Blog and can get more frequent updates via ToyotaLive on Twitter.

Read the full press release here and other info from Rallyworld.net

Automark.co.za: second-hand vehicle buying made easy

NOS — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:07:39 +0000

With new car sales dropping in excess of thirty percent every month, year on year, the car industry is in a dire situation. With the recession resulting in potential buyers having less disposable income or access to credit people are trading down either to smaller or second-hand cars.

While new car sales are lagging, the used car market is still selling as many cars as before. Current figures show us that used cars outsell new cars by a factor of two to one and that they are losing less value than ever.

What second-hand car buyers are so desperate for is an easily accessible, reputable location to find second hand cars. Automark, the Toyota second hand car brand has recently launched a new, user-friendly website to address this need.

The new site is built on a technology known as Ajax and what this means is that the site works like an application on your computer. Explains James Smith, Toyota’s Manager for Web Communication Systems:

“Essentially you need to download and install the website much like you would when installing a programme on your computer. Simply put, the site loads a little slower to begin with but what this means is that there is no reloading of any pages when searches or filtering occurs. The slightly longer initial load times result in instantaneous searches as well as instant filtering.”

“The site is uniquely positioned to allow for people with no technical competence to easily find the car that best suits their need while at the same time allow for more efficient interaction with dealers.”

He adds that a fairly large amount of time was spent looking at the current websites available for buying cars online while developing the Automark site.

“What was discovered in this comparison process was the lack of visuals and as such the emphasis on the new Automark site is to provide a visual experience for car buyers. For many buyers it is the looks that provide the added push to make the purchase of a vehicle. The Automark site has strong emphasis on imagery to provide a stimulus resulting in the purchase of a vehicle.”

Users can search either via car make, price or by car type. The site then allows the user to filter their results down even further by categories such as model year, province and accessories. In order to help a user decide there is also the ability to make a comparison between four different vehicles. Once chosen you can compare kilometres, price as well as accessories. When searching for vehicles the user is also given a list of 'recommended vehicles', making the process of finding a vehicle even easier.

With online shopping slowly becoming more and more prevalent in South Africa a potential buyer could actually buy a car directly from their bedroom and have it delivered once financing has been approved.

Visit the site on www.automark.co.za

Toyota comments on Naamsa sales figures for April

NOS — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:07:10 +0000

NAAMSA vehicle sales statistics for April report total sales of 26 283 units including those of AMH, a 43,7% reduction from the 46 643 sales reported for April last year. Passenger vehicles accounted for 16 748 of those sales, light commercial vehicles 7 481, medium commercials 691, and heavy commercials and busses 1 511 units.

“Economic activity in general, and sales of big ticket items in particular, will have been stunted by the considerable number of holidays during the month with a reduced number of selling days directly impacting on sales performance,” says Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota South Africa. “This will have been compounded by the fact that the short working weeks provided opportunities to optimise leave availability.

“If we remove the anomalies caused by the proliferation of public holidays the indications are that the vehicle sales trend has now entered a level phase.

“Locally a further reduction in interest rates with the promise of more to come will boost consumer morale as will the improved value of the Rand. The former will act to increase disposable income while the latter will provide respite from imported pricing pressures, especially with regard to fuel prices. Continued aversion to lending by the banks and the high interest rate premiums being charged on asset finance will remain impediments to growth in vehicle sales for at least the next few months. Loosening up the asset finance logjam is fundamental to any renewed growth in sales.”

Toyota continued to lead sales with a market share of 22,2% for the month from 5 824 sales. Export sales of 4 088 units represented 35,6% of the total to give Toyota 26,2% share of domestic and export sales.

The Hilux was once again the top selling vehicle in South Africa with deliveries of 1 653 units, a figure that was greater than any other manufacturer’s total LCV sales for the month. The popular Quantum was the second best selling light commercial for the month. Toyota accounted for 34,2% of light commercial vehicle sales in April.

The first month of truck sales under the Hino banner within Toyota SA saw the company at the top of the medium commercial sales log with 141 sales. Hino was also the sales leader in the Heavy Commercial Vehicle category (8501-16500kg).

Stunning Performance by Toyota at Sasol Rally 2009

NOS — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:29:18 +0000

The Castrol Toyota Team achieved incredible results at last weekend's Sasol rally, the 3rd event of the 2009 Sasol Rally Championship.

S2000
Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh had a remarkable last stage win in their S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris, with team mates Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley in the sister Castrol Toyota Auris in 3rd position. Rally leaders and defending SA Rally Champions Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries attained 2nd position in their S2000 BP Volkswagen Polo.

Gemmell had this to say "It’s a brilliant way to win the rally. We had a leaking power steering pump after stage 12 but that was fixed for the showdown. We also had a spin and stall in stage two and still set a good time only three seconds slower than Hergen, so I knew we had the measure of him. It was a perfect weekend for us”.

Fernando Rueda/Cobus Vrey brought their S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX home 7th overall, overcoming a misfire and puncture in the late stages of the event.

Nicholas Ryan/Geoff Tyrer ended 8th overall in their S2000 RunX having run the entire rally without power steering.

Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Andre Vermeulen had intermittent starting problems, later traced to a faulty fuel pump relay and withdrew before Saturday’s stages.

A7
Schalk Burger Junior and Armand du Toit, the current Northern Regions Rally Champions, headed a Toyota class A7 one-two in their Spike Energy Drink Toyota Corolla, well ahead of the Motorite Toyota RunX of Evan Hutchinson/Elvene Coetzee.

A6
Mohammed Moosa and Grant Martin dominated the class A6 field in their Team Total Toyota Auris, ending nearly 2½ minutes ahead of Team Total’s Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan and Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee, both driving Toyota RunXs, who were separated by nine seconds. Moosa took the class A6 championship lead following the A6 Auris’ second consecutive win from three outings.

A5
Vusi Mabanga and Shaun Visser came of age and gave Toyota the class A5 win, taking their Team Total Toyota Yaris to their career-best result after a brilliant drive in testing stages. The Sasol Toyota Yaris was less fortunate, ending upside down 125 metres off the road in stage two after rolling four times down a mountain but without any injury to Riyad Jaffer/Henry Dearlove, testament to the inherent strength of the Toyota Yaris.

N3
Dave Compton and Pierre Jordaan drove their Sasol Toyota RunX to an unopposed class N3 win, their third consecutive visit to the top step of the class podium.

Ashley Haigh Smith/Hilton Auffrey (React Toyota Yaris) were going well until overshooting a corner in stage 12 and beached the car.

The next event in the 2009 Sasol SA rally championship is the SCC Pretoria Rally in Ermelo on 12 and 13 June. See Toyota Motorsport for more info.

Toyota SA president promoted to a key position

NOS — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:55:58 +0000

South Africans are known for making their mark internationally. The latest South African to join the ranks of international heavy-hitters is Dr. Johan van Zyl. Currently the President and CEO of Toyota SA, he has now become one of only five non-Japanese to be promoted to the position of Managing Officer within Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC).

Following a board meeting scheduled for June 2009 to confirm this appointment, Dr van Zyl will take office as Managing Officer, but will also remain President and CEO of Toyota SA. TMC has only 50 Managing Officers globally and this appointment essentially makes Dr van Zyl part of the company’s global management team, reporting to the TMC Board. It sounds like he's going to be quite a busy man.

“I am extremely excited about this opportunity and although I’m sure I’ll be much busier, it is business as usual at Toyota SA and my commitment remains firmly with this company,” he said.

“An appointment of this nature is indeed a vote of confidence in South African management and I am proud that this could be achieved without my leaving the country, but remaining here to help build this great nation and company.”

Sasol Rally (24-25 April 2009)

NOS — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:58:40 +0000

The third round of the Sasol South African Rally Championship is happening in Sabie on the 24th and 25th of April.

I was fortunate enough to be at the second round two weeks ago. The action was intense. Positions were being changed constantly.

Championship leader Gemmell has fond memories of the Sasol Rally as it was the first national rally he entered in 1999, then running a historic Toyota Corolla MK1 and saw him record his first victory as a works Castrol Toyota driver in 2007.

“I enjoy the Sasol Rally and have a wealth of fond memories of the event, from my first national event, a couple of production car wins to my first victory for Toyota”, Gemmell reminisced. “It is a tricky event, far more challenging than first meets the eye. Sasol put enormous effort into making it spectator friendly and the atmosphere in the stages is quite incredible”.

Gemmell added: “Last year was not a good event for us after both Mark and I went off on the first day. That is a memory we want to erase and the best way of doing that is to repeat what we did on the second day of last year’s event, when we set the fastest times on every stage running under the Superally rules. The Toyota Auris is a brilliant package, so much better then the RunX was in so many areas”.

It will definitely be an interesting battle this time around. There are several drivers that could easily take top position in this rally. Competition is very tight.

The Sasol Rally starts in Sabie at 11am on Friday, 24th April, taking in 4 gravel stages and two tarmac night stages through the heart of Sabie and White River. Saturday sees the Toyota crews tackle the Nelspruit SuperSpecial stage before hitting the dirt for another seven gravel stages.

Toyota Dealer Rally '09 - The Round up

NOS — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:55:26 +0000

What a hectic weekend of rallying. I flew down to Cape Town at 6am on Friday morning, and I managed to make it to the first stage just minutes before it started. The driving was impressive to say the least. I covered a rally last year, but I had forgotten the kind of speeds that these guys hit. It's a rush just watching the cars speed past.

The track was dry and exceptionally dusty. It was actually incredibly easy to see the progress of the rally, I just had to follow the dust clouds on the horizon. This did cause a problem for a lot of the drivers though. Reduced visibility meant that caution had to be exercised and valuable seconds were lost.

The rally was a fast one and the times were incredibly close. The top four trading top position regularly through out the day. Gemmel managed to pull off a four second lead after the first day of racing. “The S2000 cars are so equal that on these fast stages, it is very difficult to make a big break; it comes down to who brakes half metre later for a corner. We had a good, clean run and I would rather be four seconds ahead than four seconds behind”, said a relaxed Gemmell.

However, Saturday proved to be a bit of a dampener for the Gemmel/Marsh pair. After some hard rallying, their car suffered a rear broken shock absorber. This left them 29 seconds behind the leaders, Habig and Fekken. Habig came first, Fekken second, with Gemmel following in third spot.

Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin brought their class A6 Team Total Toyota Auris home to its first win of the season, ahead of the Team Total Toyota RunX of defending class A6 champion Craig Trott and co-driver Robbie Coetzee.

Unfortunately one of the favourites, JP Damseaux had to retire early due to mechanical problems.

Gemmel and Marsh still maintain an advantage on the leaderboard after finishing the opening event in Natal three weeks ago.

Check out images on Flickr.

Toyota Dealer Rally '09 (Day 2)

NOS — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:36:56 +0000

The morning started out very wet. That changed dramatically. The sun came out and temperatures soard to 34 degrees. This made the track incredibly dusty.

The battle for top spot raged on for most of the day. Gemmel entered stage 5 as the leader, but that soon chenged. Fekken put on an incredible display of rally prowess, and he lead stage 5 by 15 seconds. Very impressive. This performance ensured that Fekken would walk away with the lead.

These results are provisional :

1. Hergen Fekken, Pierre Arries (VW Polo)
2. Jan Habig, Douglas Judd (VW Polo)
3. Johnny Gemmel, Peter Marsh (Toyota Auris)
4. Mark Cronje, Robert Paisley (Toyota Auris)
5. Enzo Kuun, Guy Hodgson (VW Polo)
6. Wilken/van Niekerk (Subaru Impreza, Toyota RunX)

As you can see, 6th place was a tie. We will be posting final results as soon as they become available. In the mean time, well done to team VW Polo!

This rally was a exciting to watch. With times so close, the spectators were kept on the edge. Performances were impressive all round. Toyota did well, managing to keep 17 of their 20 cars in the rally. As one commentator quipped, 'These Toyota engines are bullet proof'.

Keep your eyes on the blog, there will be more images and video going up soon.

Toyota Dealer Rally '09 (Day 1)

NOS — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:18:12 +0000

What a great day of rallying it was. The sun was out, conditions were a little dry (and very dusty), but perfect for a brilliant rally. This one was close.

The rally took place near the quaint town of Caledon. Although it is quite some distance from Cape Town (around two and a half hours), it is quite a spectacular setting for this rally.

The battle for first position was a jostle between, Habig (VW Polo), Gemmel (Auris), and Damseaux (RunX), and Cronje (Auris). It was heated, with times that closely matched. It was the third stage that was the decider, with Gemmel pulling ahead of the pack by four seconds. He'll have the choice start position tomorrow, my guess is that he'll choose to go 8th, simply because he won't want to be the one to clear up loose gravel for the others. We'll see what happens.

The rally was very enjoyable as a spectator. There are excellent commentators at every spectator point and this really helps when it comes to understanding everyones position in the field.

The last stage for the day was held at the Pick 'n Pay in Brackenfell. A rather odd venue, but it did draw a crowd, so well worth it. There were several drivers that made navigation mistakes on this short 0.7 km course, but I think that this circuit was merely for show. We'll see the real times being clocked up tomorrow on the long tracks.

If you're keen to come along and have a look, download the attached spectator guide. Please allow extra travel time as their are quite a few road works in progress between Cape Town and Caledon. Add about an extra hour on to your travel time.

Pics and videos will be uploaded on Monday morning, so check here again. I got some excellent video, especially of the splash in stage one.

If you want quick updates, don't forget to visit http://twitter.com/Toyotalive. As I progress through my rally day, I'll post bite size chunks of information to keep you in the loop.

See you guys tomorrow!

Toyota Dealer Rally (3-4 April, 2009)

NOS — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:47:52 +0000

I am looking forward to this coming weekend for quite a while now. Why? Well, it's the opening round of the 2009 Sasol SA Rally Championship. I'll be off to the Caledon region in the Western Cape on Friday, armed with my cameras and laptop to make sure that I can get as much coverage as possible. You'll recall that I went to cover the final round in the Cape last year and it was an immense amount of fun.

Enough about me, Toyota are hoping to make this another successful rally. They already have 93 rally victories and 17 Manufacturers under their collective belt, and they're already ahead (139 points) in the Manufacturer's Championship fight. One of the teams to watch out for is Johnny Gemmel and his co-driver Peter Marsh. “I really like the Toyota Dealer Rally”, Gemmell has said. “The roads are super fast and I believe we have an excellent package in the S2000 Auris. The car is a tad heavy at the moment, but it did the job, so our confidence and that of the team is on a real high”.

Of course, we'll all be watching out for Damseaux, who recorded his first career win on these roads in September (S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX). I recall that his name was mentioned quite a lot trackside during the races, he's definitely got a few fans.

Backing up the Toyota effort is former African Rally Champion Fernando Rueda and Cobus Vrey in another Team Total-backed S2000 Toyota RunX. The pair scored a solid 6th on their class debut last time out and should be a reliable bet for more of the same; like Damseaux, Rueda knows the area well having won two Western Cape Regional Rally Championships.

Pretoria businessman Japie van Niekerk and Robin Houghton are out to open their score after failing to get their S2000 New Africa Developments Toyota RunX to the finish in KZN. Van Niekerk was well up the order when forced to retire, and was one of the most reliable finishers last year, something he wants to restore.

Class A7, the top front-wheel drive class in the series, sees the defending champions Chris de Wit/Dean Redelinghuys make a belated start to the season after being forced to miss the opening round. De Wit will be going hell for leather to take the win to make up lost ground.

The Class A7 Motorite Toyota RunX, pedalled to great effect by Evan Hutchinson/Elvene Coetzee, should also be in contention for the class win to add to their class runner-up placing on the Tour.

Class A6 is a three-way fight between Team Total team mates Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee, the current class champion in his familiar RunX, Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin (Toyota Auris) and class newcomer, multiple champions Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan (RunX).

Visagie took the win on round 1, but it was the Auris of Moosa and Martin that held a two minute lead before retiring, and the RunX crews will be hard pressed to match the Tzaneen businessman’s pace.

Three Toyota Yarises feature in class A5; former circuit racer Riyad Jaffer (Sasol Toyota Yaris) makes his debut in the Cape with his experienced co-driver Henry Dearlove to help guide the young Pretoria law student through the hazards.

16-year-old Ashley Haigh Smith and Hilton Auffrey field their React Yaris, while Team Total’s Vusi Mabanga/Shaun Visser should bring their Yaris home in the points.

Dave Compton/Pierre Jordaan brings the Sasol-backed class N3 Toyota RunX to Cape Town fresh from their maiden class win.

Well, there you have it. A run-down of what to expect this coming weekend. After swamping through the mud and sand last time with my Mac, I realised that the best way to cover a rally on-line is to use Twitter. If you want a constant update from the various spectator points, head over to http://twitter.com/toyotalive. Also, don't forget to visit the blog as I'll be summarizing the days events, complete with pics. Feel free to drop your comments, I'll try to reply to everyone where possible (the 3G coverage at most of the rally points is pretty dodgy).

(Image courtesy of MotorPics)

Honouring Toyota's top dealers

NOS — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 07:36:53 +0000

Unitrans Motors made a clean sweep at Toyota South Africa’s annual Dealer of the Year Awards held in Durban recently, with two of the group’s outlets taking top honours – East Rand Toyota scooped the Toyota Dealer of theYear, and Limpopo Truck Centre’s Hannes Pretorius walked off with the inaugural Hino Dealer of the Year Award.

This is the second time in just five years that East Rand Toyota has walked away with the top dealer award. The dealership opened its doors in April 2004 and since then has consistently achieved top ratings in Customer Satisfaction studies and was also one of the first dealerships in the network to achieve environmental ECO III status.

Pretorius, who has been with Toyota South Africa for more than 40 years, said he was deeply humbled and honoured when he received the Hino Dealer of the Year Award.

The dealer awards are presented annually as part of Toyota South Africa’s ongoing commitment to dealer development and improvement. The awards celebrate excellence amongst dealers and are highly prized.

Maiden win for the Toyota Auris S2000 at Tour Natal Rally

NOS — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:23:02 +0000

As we were hoping it would happen, The Toyota Auris S2000 (under the direction of Johnny Gemmell and co-driver, Peter Marsh) won first-prize at the Total Tour Natal Rally this past weekend. We at the Auris Blog are ecstatic about this news as you can imagine.

Here's a detailed account of what went down:

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Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh got their 2009 rally championship challenge off to a flying start by winning the Total Tour Natal Rally in style, taking their S2000 Castrol Toyota Auris to a clear 2 minute win over the chasing pack in the opening event of the 2009 Sasol SA Rally Championship.

It was a near perfect start for the Castrol Toyota squad, who led the 15 stage event from start to finish, firstly with Mark Cronje/Robert Paisley and later with Gemmell and Marsh. Toyota won the event’s Manufacturer’s Award and claimed six fastest stage times, in conditions that ranged from blistering heat on Friday to wet and muddy on Saturday.

Gemmell was thrilled to give the S2000 Toyota Auris its maiden win. “The Auris has shown its potential since we started using it on the Mountain Trial. The development done has made it a formidable rally weapon and I’m really excited to have given the car and the team a win on the Tour, as Toyota has their manufacturing plant down the road and there were lots of hard-core Toyota fans along the route”.

“It’s been a very tricky event. One slip and you’re not coming out of the cane”, said Gemmell of the conditions. “We were drawn second on the road on Friday but 6km into the first stage we were first on the road and sweeping the loose gravel away for the others. We lost a good 40 seconds on Friday”, Gemmell explained.

“After Mark went off, we had a lead of nearly two minutes so I backed off enough to maintain my concentration and bring it home, with the added luxury of slowing a little for the rougher bits”.

Cronje was devastated when he was caught out by a tricky corner in stage 9, the second of Saturday’s eight stages. With a lead of nearly a minute, the instruction was ‘left 6, no cut’. As Cronje lined up the second Castrol Auris, committed to not cutting the apex of the corner, he found the cars before him had sliced the apex and left a heavy coating of loose gravel on his line.

“The back stepped out and the cane caught the nose, pulling us in. I hit a hole and that flipped us over”, Cronje explained. “It was in the bag. We had a good rhythm going in the car and Robert was spot with the route notes. The irony is the times were coming without pushing that hard. I’m devastated for the team, who’ve worked so hard”.

Cronje was full of praise for his teammate: “Johnny did an awesome job. He really put a good rally together”.

Wammy Haddad, Motorsport Manager said: “I’m disappointed not to have a 1 – 2 result, but I’m more than happy with a 1!" Mark was a little over exuberant, but fortunately we build strong cars and both he and Robert are fine and the damage is only superficial. It’s a good start to the year for us”.

S2000 Toyota debutant, Capetonian Fernando Rueda/Cobus Vrey (Team Total Toyota RunX) ended a solid 6th overall after a trouble free run, while Nicholas Ryan/Geoff Tyrer’s 7th place helped Toyota to the manufacturer’s award.

Jean-Pierre Damseaux/Andre Vermeulen (S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX) slid off the road 6km into stage 1, while Japie van Niekerk/Robin Houghton (S2000 New Africa Developments Toyota RunX) rolled gently after a tie-rod end broke in stage 4.

Toyota dominated proceedings in classes A6 and N3, thanks to the efforts of Rodney Visage/Carolyn Swan (Team Total Toyota RunX) and Dave Compton/Pierre Jordaan (Sasol Toyota RunX) respectively.

Evan Hutchinson/Elvene Coetzee (Motorite Toyota RunX) gave Toyota a class A7 runner-up spot.

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We'll be attending the next round of the Sasol SA Rally Championship, which is theToyota Dealer Rally in the Western Cape on 3rd and 4th April. Expect to get live updates via our Twitter stream at http://twitter.com/ToyotaLive and a posting of results as soon as their finalised.

All images courtesy of MotorPics

Total Tour Natal 2009: provisional results

NOS — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 07:20:52 +0000

The Toyota Auris S2000 in first place in the first rally event of the season? Could this be a sign of things to come?

Below are the provisional results of the Total Tour Natal Rally which took place over the last two days. We'll make the official announcements tomorrow here on the Blog along with detailed happenings of the event.

Johnny Gemmell S2000 Toyota Auris 1:50:23
Charl Wilken N4 Subaru Impreza + 129
Hergen Fekken S2000 Volkswagen Polo + 140
Jannie Habig S2000 Volkswagen Polo + 212
Hein Laegan N4 Subaru Impreza + 243
Fernando Rueda S2000 Toyota Run X + 306
Theuns Joubert S2000 Volkswagen Polo + 406

Sources: rallynews.co.za and Carsinaction.net

February vehicle sales down 35%

NOS — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:59:03 +0000

With February vehicle sales down 35.6% when compared to the same month last year, it’s evident that the vehicle market is feeling the effect of the credit crunch and the global economic turmoil.

Toyota achieved a market share of 22.9% in February with 7 453 sales. The company exported 6 802 vehicles for 45.5% share of export sales. In the combined domestic and export market Toyota accounted for 30% of sales.

“Although our banking and credit systems have proven to be more resilient than those in the developed economies of the world we are clearly not immune to the impact of the meltdown in those economies,” says Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota South Africa. “There is understandably a high level of caution being exercised by potential buyer.”

Van Zyl attributes the down turn in vehicle sales to the difficulty experienced by consumers in terms of obtaining vehicle finance, and he cautions that the lowering of interest rates is no “quick fix”. “We will only feel the impact of lowered interest rates around mid-year and we anticipate that interest rate reliefe will assist in levelling off the market as opposed to triggering a growth phase.”

Toyota’s overall top selling vehicle for the month was the Hilux with 1 900 units delivered for the month, followed by the Corolla with 1 686 units. In the medium commercial sector the popular Dyna was the top selling vehicle with 228 sales.

Total Tour Natal Rally this weekend, 13 – 14 March

NOS — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:26:03 +0000

The 2009 Sasol SA Rally Championship kicks off this weekend with the Total Tour Natal Rally in KZN. The Castrol Toyota Rally Team is revving to go and is aiming for Driver’s, Co-Driver’s and Manufacturer’s Championship. You can look forward to a pair of new Toyota Auris S2000 vehicles driven by Mark Cronje and co-driver Robert Paisley as well as Johnny Gemmell and Peter Marsh.

Those who have been following the season and the Auris Blog closely will remember that the S2000 Auris made a remarkable debut deep into the 2008 season, setting a string of fastest stage times.

Some of the other members of the S2000 team include:

Jean-Pierre Damseaux and new co-driver Andre Vermeulen in their S2000 Team Total Toyota RunX (the Total RunX has been re-shelled and starts the year with a fresh engine to help them along their way),
Japie van Niekerk and Robin Houghton,
Fernando Rueda (a former production car rally champion) and Cobus Vrey (winner of Swartland Rally last year alongside JP Damseaux) debut their Team Total Toyota RunX in class S2000, and
Nicholas Ryan and Geoff Tyrer in their un-sponsored Toyota RunX.

A few quotes from the team:

“The Auris has yet to show its full potential as it’s still at the start of the development cycle. The fundamentals are all in place for us to deliver a couple of championships to Castrol and Toyota. It’s up to us as a team to harness the Auris’ strengths and convert them into wins, which we have really good chance of doing this year. We need a bit of luck, as in any sport as unpredictable as rallying. We showed at the end of the year the team still has the recipe to win, so I’m confident for the year ahead”.

"The stages are quite slippery with a coating of fine gravel on the surface. The roads are technically challenging as they flow around the contours while visibility is restricted by the height of the cane, creating a tunnel effect that can be quite disconcerting".

--- Johhny Gemmell

"We learnt some very hard lessons last season in our first year of Super 2000 rallying. The trick now is to put those lessons to good use and bag a couple of wins early on, which should put us in championship contention; but make no mistake it’s going to be a tough year. Last year was pretty dismal, so we can only go up. The team has done some engine work and if we can shed a bit more weight, the Auris will be a phenomenal car”.

--- Mark Cronje

“It’s a survival year for us. Given the economic circumstances, we have a difficult year ahead but can assure Toyota fans throughout the country we will do the very best we can with the resources at our disposal. It is heartening to see that Toyota still dominates the entry list as the vehicle of choice and stands us in good stead to claim our 18th Manufacturer’s Championship".

--- Wammy Haddad, Motorsport manager

As the Auris Blog we'll also be keeping close eye on the Team Total Toyota Auris of Mohammed Moosa/Grant Martin (A6) who won on the new A6 specification Auris’ second ever outing in the Cape last year. See the interview with Mohammed Moosa that we conducted last year on the Auris Blog channel on Youtube.

We're pretty excited about this year's season and hope you are, too! If you're attending the event, please sign up and upload your images as well as your thoughts and experiences. The best submission will earn the author a cool Auris hamper, courtesy of the Auris Blog.

Toyota – MTN Cycle Park

NOS — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:29:29 +0000

If having fun, getting dirty and being outdoors is your idea of a good time then the Toyota MTN Cycle park situated in the heart of Fourways in Sandton is just the place for you.

We recently attended the open day for the cycle park and despite the rain and rather muddy conditions I was surprised at the amount of a fun someone like myself, who is not particularly into cycling could have.

Much careful, strategic thought went into the design of the cycle park to ensure the ultimate experience for the riders and while to the untrained eye the park may appear to be a few mounds of dirt, to the cycling enthusiast, this is Mecca.

Using the International Mountain Bike Association trail colour coding system, as used the world over, the Toyota MTN Cycle Park provides riders with a park that truly lives up to international standards. Clearly it must since the likes of SA BMX Champion Sifiso Nhlapo was seen spinning a few tricks for the crowd.

With a range of activities and offerings available such as ‘Dirt Jump Heaven’ and ‘Free Ride Friday’, the Toyota MTN Cycle park is sure to pique the interest of the novice as well as the well seasoned rider.

For those who are not all that keen on the cycling, the park also offers a great opportunity for the family to get outdoors, enjoy a fresh cup of Seattle coffee on the wooden decks and enjoy the feast of entertainment provided by the “hooligans” that frequent the park. The Toyota MTN Cycle Park is a must-do and its fantastic to see a resource being provided to help cultivate future cycling champions!

For more information and contact details be sure to visit: http://tinyurl.com/d3wfzb

Toyota optimal drive engine : building better cars

Craig Hannabus — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 08:32:08 +0000

Toyota have always been on the cutting edge of 'greener' technology. First they brought us the Prius, packed with innovations that make it the most environmentally friendly car on the market. The problem is, many people have grown attached to their petrol engines, and they're not ready to do the switch-over to a green car. What is the solution?

Introducing the Toyota Optimal Drive engine. This breakthrough means that you'll be getting almost 20% more fuel efficiency. You might be wondering what the trade-off is? You're right, there is a trade-off of sorts. Your engine will also be up to 5% more powerful. It truly is a win-win situation. But what about the environment?

The good news is that this engine achieves quite a drastic reduction in CO2 output. So, if the Toyota Prius isn't your cup of tea, and you prefer the Auris, then you'll be in for a treat. Selected Auris models will be bundled with this engine shortly.

It sounds too good to be true? Well, it shouldn't be. Toyota have been at the forefront of innovation for some time now, and the Toyota Optimal Drive is just another example of a car manufacturer hard at work to bring you a quality automobile.

2009 South African National Rally Championship events

NOS — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:18:50 +0000

The Sasol SA National Rally Championship starts in a few weeks and we're very excited about this year's season.

Listed below are the events and dates:

Total Tour Natal Rally on 13 March
Toyota Dealer Cape Rally on 3 April
Sasol Rally 2009 on 24 April
Mpumulanga Rally on 21 May
Volkswagen Rally 2009 on 10 July
Osram Rally on 21 August
Swartland Rally on 18 September
PMC Rally on 23 October

There will be more Auris cars racing and we're hoping to cover as much Auris and Team Castrol Toyota team action as possible, live from selected races. We'll also have Team Castrol Toyot driver profiles, final results for every rally, pictures, videos and just about anything else you of interest throughout the season so visit the Auris Blog often.

If you're planning to attend any of these events, we'd love to hear from you. Simply click on 'contact' on the top menu to get in touch with us.

You can also visit Rallyworld.net for all sorts of info on rallying, international events included.

Join Toyota's Clubhouse

NOS — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:25:24 +0000

Join the Toyota Clubhouse to become part of the official Toyota community in South Africa.

There are discussions, competitions, fanatics news, a regular e-zine just for members and much more. All what you have to do to join is visit http://www.toyota.co.za/clubhouse/ and follow the instructions. You do not have to be a Toyota vehicle owner or even own a vehicle at all; it's open to everyone.

When you're done signing up and checking out the place, please come back to the Auris Blog to tell us all about how you're enjoying Clubhouse benefits.