Cape Talk

The keynote opening address from the Transport Minister. Does that mean now Safer Cars for Africa has got the backing of the South African Transport Ministry? So we've got it in principle. And what I'd like is that the government has woken up to the reality that we need safer vehicles to the extent that the NRCS, sorry, acronym, National Regulator of Compulsory Standards, has gazetted that we are about to change the minimum standards for safety across all light passenger vehicles in South Africa.

That's heavy speak for we're going to get more airbags, safer side impact protection and electronic stability control for all cars going forward. So this means South Africa or Africa won't be the dumping ground for the inferior vehicles that are built from all of these big heritage manufacturers? 100%. So we're going to see a lot less despeccing of vehicles for the African market. Will that affect the price of these vehicles by the time they land on our shores? Many a manufacturer will say, oh, it's going to cost more.

Toyota has proven that it doesn't necessarily mean that it impacts the consumer's pocket. So today, the style it moved from zero star to four star with no price change. Okay. So then the WHO, the FIA, and major manufacturers like Ford were all in the room this week. How close are we to actually seeing general regulations tightened? We're probably about a year away from that to give the government some time. So how will this process will.

Likely unfold as we're in the public participation phase, which ends at the end of September. Then it gets presented to Parliament, it gets passed as law. A six-month grace period is afforded to manufacturers and distributors to ensure that the stock they have in the country is compliant and that that which is not compliant is either discarded or returned to country of source and then the ball rolls. So you're looking at about next year, June onwards, if you're in the market for a car. Hold back if you're looking for a brand new entry-level vehicle.

Car, you will be able to shop with the comfort of knowing that your car meets the minimum standards that we're talking about today. Is there any particular reason that was that there was only a vehicle manufacturer like Ford there? Was this not open to other manufacturers, especially the ones who are building cars locally? Look, we extended the invite to pretty much every manufacturer, but you got to keep in mind that from a panel perspective, you can't host everyone. Ford's a great company to have on stage. They manufacture very safe vehicles. In fact, we are