The Baboons Pass Experience Was Not Only Thrilling; It Was An Eye-opener As Well
Earlier this year I came up with the idea of asking and answering the following question: Can Southern Africa's roughest public road be driven using a standard luxury 4x4? Discovery-4 was my choice. Baboons is recognized as probably the roughest and most challenging public road in Southern Africa. It is indicated on more than one map as a vehicular track, but it鈥檚 more of a donkey trail than a road. Providing its distance is irrelevant as the going is so slow, it is better measured in time. A large section of the trail has been upgraded and we found evidence of a mechanical digger. This, I was told, saved us well over and hour. The improved section could be regarded as a grade-three trail where one averages about five kilometers per hour. When the grade four and five sections happen, they happen with a bang. Drivers are confronted with the inner thought, 鈥楬ow the hell am I going to get over that? 鈥?But over you go, one rock climb, switchback, at a time, inch by inch.
The company developed some of the earliest of vehicles, with the first as the Mazda Go. It launched in 1931. Once World War II occurred, the plant began creating military equipment and this put off the development of cars. The company first took on its official name in 1984. However, every vehicle sold by the company throughout its early vehicle had the same name, Mazda, as a part of it. One of the factors affecting the success of the company was its ability to develop something new and different to keep it from blending in with the other Japanese auto manufacturers in the industry. It created the Wankel rotary engine to do just that. The Cosmo Sport in 1967 was the first to feature this engine. Even the latest vehicles, including the RX 8 still contain this specific type of engine. The Mazda company continued to expand throughout those early years. In 1968, it moved to Canada to open formal operations there. It exported both piston powered and rotary powered vehicle engines around the world. These vehicles, in the early days, had a combination of strong power while still being lightweight in design. This make these vehicles popular. The V6 or V8 engine options other vehicles had were of little difference to the engines found in these models. The Mazda company is large and growing. It partnered with Ford Motor Company in the 1960's to enable it to get the financial aid it needed at the time. It has created numerous sports cars for racing and continues to dominate many of the vehicle marks. Mazda's "Zoom Zoom" tag line is one that many Americans, and others around the world, are familiar with. In short, it provides a way to showcase the company's powerful engines that remain fully featured and cutting edge. Yet, this is an affordable make with all of the fuel efficiency possible.
To sum things up: after a successful, record-breaking MY 2017 when the two brands marketed exactly 621,109 vehicles worldwide, JLR鈥檚 fortunes are on a downward path once again. Their global sales totaled 592,708 cars in 2018 which is a 4.6 percent drop compared to previous year. The Land Rover division鈥檚 sales accounted to 66 and 70 percent of the JLR鈥檚 total sales respectively over the last two years which further proves its significance over Jaguar. Since we鈥檝e established that the U.S. 鈥檛 at fault for JLR鈥檚 global slump in sales for 2018, the culprit needs to be found elsewhere. That鈥檚 an easy thing to do considering the ever-increasing Chinese market鈥檚 sales went down by 21.6 percent for the entire year and a staggering 42.4 percent for December 2018, plunging both divisions into chaos from a sales perspective. Brits will hope this is just a temporary setback which they鈥檒l be able to fix soon. Although not among the best-selling models in the U.S., the Range Rover Evoque is still an important part of the Land Rover lineup.
Jaguar Land Rover today officially opens its first assembly plant in India. The facility at Pune in the Maharashtra region of India, will assemble Land Rover Freelander 2 vehicles supplied in Complete Knock Down (CKD) form from Jaguar Land Rover鈥檚 Halewood manufacturing plant in Liverpool, UK. The inauguration ceremony was led by Carl-Peter Forster, Chief Executive Officer and MD of Tata Motors and Dr Ralf Speth, Chief Executive Officer of Jaguar Land Rover. Mr Carl-Peter Forster, said: 鈥淭oday marks a significant step in our growth strategy for the Indian market. The opening of this plant demonstrates close co-operation between the parent company TATA Motors and Jaguar Land Rover and we are keen to develop this further鈥? Dr Ralf Speth, said: 鈥淛aguar Land Rover is delighted to have officially opened our first assembly facility in India. The facility in Pune will be subject to Jaguar Land Rover鈥檚 mainstream launch quality processes and will be overseen by experienced manufacturing and quality managers who have moved to India from the UK. The award winning Freelander 2 is available in India in two variants, the TD4 SE Automatic and the SD4 HSE Automatic. The prices start at Rupees 33.89 Lacs (ex-showroom price in Mumbai, pre-octroi). Jaguar and Land Rover鈥檚 acclaimed vehicles are well known around the world. Jaguar has become one of the world鈥檚 leading producers of beautiful fast cars. Land Rover produces the world鈥檚 most versatile all-terrain vehicles, combining refined luxury with a true breadth of capability.
