The Nation Newspaper

Category: Motoring

  • Honda to recall 69,000 SUV

    Honda Motor Co Ltd will recall 69,090 UR-V sport utility vehicles in China, market regulators has said.

    The recall was due to a cold-climate engine problem.

    The UR-V is produced and sold in China, the world’s biggest auto market, by Honda’s joint venture with the Dongfeng Motor Group.

    As many as 18,907 vehicle recalls are linked to problems caused by an unusual amount of uncombusted petrol collecting in the engine’s lubricant oil pan, the Defective Product Administration Center of State Administration of Market Regulation said.

    The issue in some cases caused a strong odour of gasoline inside the car and in other cases, the car’s check-engine light came on, Honda said.

    The company said the problem does not affect the engine’s performance and there have been no reports of accidents.

    Honda recalled 96,900 SUV Avancier vehicles last Monday. The same issue also prompted the recall of 130,000 of its popular CR-V SUV models and 294,500 Civic cars from China this year.

  • Drivers without driver licence

    After several researches carried out at various locations on all classes of drivers, one of the findings that shocked me is that over 40 percent of the drivers interviewed did not have valid driver licence. I categorised them thus:

    • Drivers without driver licence- This category of drivers have nothing to show as driver licence.
    • Drivers with expired driver licence. This category have driver licence with various expiry dates. The licence of a driver has expired for about two years already. Most of the printings on the licence are no more visible.
    • Drivers with fake driver licence – This category are holding driver licence gotten through illegal means and therefore not in the data base of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).
    • Drivers with forged driver licence – This category of drivers who manipulate the coloured photocopy of the licence of another driver and make it look like their own. A few of the drivers even smartly impose their passport photograph on the licence.
    • Drivers who use the coloured copy of the driver licence of another driver for use. This category are so bold that they answered to the names of the original licence owners.

    Would be drivers have been statutorily mandated to attend driving schools for the requisite Theory and Practical. It is however sad that a very high percentage of drivers, both commercial and private have been driving for several years without holding Nigeria licence. This is a clear evidence that they did not acquire the requisite training in the driving schools.

    Asked what gave them confidence to be driving without valid driver licence, some drivers of articulated vehicles told us that no FRSC officer and other traffic officers can stop them to check their driver licence. One of the drivers told our team that he will kill any traffic officer that stands on his way in a bid to stop him to check his driver Licence and vehicle particulars.

    There is an urgent need for the FRSC, VIOs, Association of Driving Instructors of Nigeria(ADIN) and other key Stakeholders to come together and proffer solution to this menace.

    All employers must make sure that every driver in their employment has valid driver licence. Any employer, whose drivers do not have valid driver licence should be prosecuted and fined. Some of the drivers said they bribe to secure their freedom whenever they were accidentally trapped for the checking of particulars. One of the drivers said between last January and May, he had spent N8,000 to settle officers because he had no valid driver licence(an amount sufficient to obtain a three-year driver licence).

    Nigerians must stop using personality to bypass the laid down rules for the processing of driver licence.

    Drivers need to be properly educated about the need and benefits of quality driver education, the implications of accidents involving drivers with valid driver licence and those without. Holding Nigeria driver licence without the requisite training in an accredited driving school and holding an invalid driver licence must be seen as unpatriotic and a criminal offence with the required judgement passed on them. Life is precious must not be allowed to be wasted carelessly on the road.

  • Firm launches CarXie, Swift2Pay

    CarXie,  a mobile application (app) developed in Nigeria, has been launched.

    The launch took place at Ace Olivia inside City Mall, Onikan, Lagos.

    It is the brain child of Dukan Stanley, a subsidiary of Dukan Group.

    The firm also introduced an online payment app, Swift2Pay.

    Dukan Group Operations Director Chinedu Amadi, the CarXie and Swift2Pay will enhance competitiveness and the ease of doing business in the country.

    The mobile apps, he said, are available in the Google Play store.

    According to him, CarXie answers many commuters’ questions, which include challenges of arranging trips, functionality of the cars with courteous drivers, traffic agencies’ ‘stop, search and demands of drivers’ particulars,’ zero per cent accident-free assurance, security of life and luggage, among others.

    “It is high time Nigerians realised that the only way to the industrialised economy of our dreams is to buy made in Nigeria products and services. The preference for everything foreign must end in the face of product and services that meet global standards. The greatest advantage of a home grown technology design is its ability to effectively solve local problems as CarXie is designed to do,” he said.

    Amadi said there are three tiers of supervisory partnership embedded in the car to ensure quality and trust. They are the executive, the state and Regional partners.

    He added: “The categories create 5,000 jobs for Nigerians through the opening of CarXie outlets for vehicle and driver registrations and inspections. When the fully operational, CarXie is expected to provide employment for 36,000 Nigerians. A huge significance that should elicit a patriotic patronage from all Nigerians.

    ‘’CarXie also reduces the amount Nigeria loses daily through capital flight to foreign cab companies. If we are forced by limited access to technology to be dependent of foreign airlines, there’s no reason why we should depend on foreign cab companies for our intra /intercity rides.

    ‘’At CarXie , we have put in place global standards to ensure the maximum satisfaction for the commuter – set a code of conduct for drivers based on international best practices; equipped drivers and cabs with state of the art technology to deliver timely and affordable services; only cars manufactured from 2008 and above can get registered on CarXie.”

    The Swift2pay, he noted, is an easy way to use payment gateway and card to ensure “only your wallet-like feature is exposed to online transaction. Swift2pay has additional features including Automated Teller Machine (ATM). This is an innovation to ensure that Nigerians can move around with a smart wallet.”

  • Avoid over inflating tyres, warns expert

    A tyre expert, Rajendra Vishwakarma, has cautioned

    motorists against over-inflating or under-inflating their tyres, saying it hampers smooth driving and compromises safety.

    Viswakarma, who works with Infinity Tyres Limited, said this at a  workshop organised by the Nigeria Auto Journalists Association (NAJA) at Golden Tulip Hotel, Lagos.

    According to him, an over-inflated tyre loses grip of the road from the sides of the tyre, while an under-inflated tyre loses grip of the road from the middle.

    He listed the effect of incorrect pressure to include premature failure of tyre, uneven wear, vehicle stand-still on roads, hard steering, more fuel consumption, less grip of the tyres on the road leading to increased braking distance, as well as financial losses.

    Viswakarma listed the important roles played by air in the tyre to include carrying of the load of the entire vehicle, ensuring wear pattern of the tyre and elongating the life of the tyre.

    He advised motorists to check inflation pressure of their tyres at regular intervals, saying: “It is advisable to check inflation pressure on every tyre every trip or 2000 kilometres due to adverse road conditions.

    “Motorists should allow tyre to cool down for at least 15-20 minutes before checking and inflating, ensure that pressure gauge used for checking are in good condition; check any possible leakage from valve or bead area, and close the valve with valve cap after inflating,” he added.

  • Globe Motors rolls out Hyundai, Higer vehicles

    A Lagos-based auto dealers Globe Motors has started the production of Hyundai Cooling Van and Higer brands of vehicles at its Lekki, Lagos Assembly Plant.

    The plant has an installed capacity of 6,000 vehicles yearly, which the company said would be increased.

    Globe Motors is among the 30  auto manufacturers accredited by the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), under the Nigeria Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP).

    The company about three years ago announced plans to set up a multi-auto assembly plant worth $200 million.

    Globe Motors Managing Director Victor Oguamalam said production begun at the plant since last year, though the firm is yet to hit its expected capacity. “We have an annual installed capacity of 6,000 vehicles at the plant, but daily production is subject to market and other forces,” he said.

    He said the firm has enough personnel in the plant.

    The company, he said, is operating at Semi-Knock Down (SKD) level and plans to move to Complete Knock Down (CKD) stage soon.

    Oguamalam said the company has qualified staff manning the plant, while Hyundai and Higer experts from Korea and China  give backup.

    He said: “Before we started assembling, engineers from Hyundai Corporation came and set up the plant, trained our staff for months and we took it up from there. They came in two batches, made up of group of engineers who installed the equipment and set up the assembly lines and the marketing department who took our staff on the marketing aspects of the business. Even the engineers who came to put us through were amazed at the competence of our staff. They confessed that technical staff in Nigeria are knowledgeable and pick faster than in other countries where they tried to set up plants. Most of our workers were drawn from existing auto garages and Globe Motors workshop across the country. You know Globe Motors is reputed for its competence in automobile maintenance and we are replicating this in our assembly plants. For over 30 years, we have been in the business of automobile so we are not new in this line of business.”

    The Plant Manager, Mr. Simon Njere, said the plant compares with the best in the country.

    “We are well-equipped with modern facilities for checking the quality of products we are producing here and our equipment are procured from Korea. There are diagnostic equipment, speed tester, wheel balancing machines, among others, to ensure that they conform to international standards of Hyundai and Higer brands,” Njere said.

  • Volkswagen hits 3.12m sales

    Volkswagen has announced its sales and financial results for the first half of the year.

    Just in the first six months, Wolfsburg managed to surpass the three-million mark in sales with 3.12 million units sold, making it the best half-year performance for the company.

    As a result, Volkswagen brought home €42.7 billion in sales revenue, an increase of eight per cent over the same period the year before, translating to a 20 per cent increase in operating profit at €2.1 billion.

    However, the company had to make €1.6 billion in one-off expenses due to processes related to the diesel emissions cheating scandal, dropping that figure to €0.5 billion.

    The increase in sales – 6.3 per cent up on the 2.93 million units sold in 2017 – was partly attributed to the company’s strong SUV offensive, which has led to marked growth in all regions.

    The new Touareg went on sale beginning in the second quarter of the year, joining the bestselling Tiguan and the smaller T-Roc, which has received 100,000 orders since it was introduced late last year. An even smaller T-Cross will follow.

    The results are telling, as within just one year, Volkswagen’s share in the global SUV market went up from 13 per cent to 18 per cent, and its piece of the European market pie jumped from 17 per cent to 25 per cent. The biggest gains, however, were made in the United States, where its share almost quadrupled from 10 per cent to per cent.

    Overall, the company recorded mid to high single-digit growth in deliveries both in Germany and in major automotive markets in Western Europe, China and the US. In Russia and Brazil, the figures went up by over 20 per cent. A higher share of sales were made up of high-margin SUVs, improving company earnings; Volkswagen also made productivity improvements and expects a cost saving of around €2.2 billion by the end of the year.

    Even so, Volkswagen is not resting on its laurels, as it said that it will need to make additional funds to be able to transition itself to electric mobility and autonomous driving, as well as for its digital initiatives from its own resources.

    The company’s board of management and its works council will decide on further measures and work together to continue to be sustainable and competitive in the future.

    The company will retain its financial forecast for the full year, despite the impending changeover to the new, more time-consuming Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP).

    Volkswagen expects sales revenue to increase by up to 10 per cent and an operating return on sales before special items by between four and five percent , resulting in a positive cash flow once again, before special items.

  • Kia Rio, Stinge win awards

    Kia Motors America (KMA) has earned two more J. D.

    Power Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) awards for its stylish subcompact and fastback sports sedan.

    This followed the launch the launch of the 2018 Rio and Stinger.

    The awards helped increase Kia’s overall score by eight points since last year, while also securing the brand’s spot among the top 10 non-premium nameplates.

    The announcement follows Kia Motors being named the highest ranked mass market brand in J. D. Power Initial Quality Study for the fourth consecutive year, with the Rio also capturing a win in the small car segment.

    “Whether it be a practical commuter car for people just looking to get from point A to B, or a sports sedan with up to 365-horsepower for enthusiasts, we design every Kia with the customer in mind,” KMA Product Planning Vice President Orth Hedrick said.

    “Earning a J.D. Power APEAL award for both the Rio and Stinger demonstrates the level of dedication we put on delivering a superior combination of the desirable features and attributes today’s savvy car buyers want from their vehicles,” he said.

    Redesigned for the 2018 model year, the Rio outshined the competition in the small car segment, being one of the only contenders to score the highest marks in overall performance and design, comfort, features, and style. The highest performing vehicle in Kia’s history, Stinger bested its more expensive European counterparts in the compact premium car segment.

    The J. D. Power APEAL study measures new-vehicle owners’ overall satisfaction with their vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership.  The results are divided into 10 categories and weighted accordingly: exterior, interior, storage, audio, seats, heating and ventilation, driving dynamics, powertrain, visibility, and fuel economy.

    The Kia Rio received the lowest rate of reported problems among small cars in the J.D. Power 2017-2018 U.S. Initial Quality Studies of new vehicle owners’experience with their own vehicle after 90 days of ownership.

  • In support of Nigeria Road Safety Commission Act

    I want to use this forum to, once again, commend the House of Representatives for their on-going deliberations on the Nigeria Road Safety Commission, which has passed through the second reading. It is long overdue, but it is better late than never.

    In one of my articles in this column, I had raised a very serious concern about the conflicting statutory functions of the Federal Road Safety Commission(FRSC), the state Vehicle Inspection Officers(VIOs), Nigeria Police and the state traffic management Agencies.

    For years, the battle was centred on the supremacy of the Constitution over the Acts of the National Assembly on the regulation of driving schools and issuance of driver licence. The tri-partite arrangement between these agencies is still shaky as oftentimes demonstrated in their arguments at every National Council on Transportation meeting that I have attended.

    The Road Traffic Management functions of the Nigeria Police before the creation of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the various state government traffic management agencies are still intact(I do hope the proposed amendment of the Nigeria Police Act will adequately address this).

    All the above-mentioned clashes of functions and interest have been slowing down a lot of policy formulation and implementation, thereby hindering the speedy accomplishment of the goal of reducing the rate of road traffic crashes, injuries and deaths.

    I humbly implore the House of Representatives to objectively address the conflicting areas among the FRSC, VIOs, Nigeria Police, and the state traffic management agencies. The objective of the Act should not just be to eliminate the federal and state road structure from the operation of FRSC. Their functions should be streamlined insuch a way that there will be no more conflict. Hence the need for the input of these agencies in the proposed Act.

    Similarly, when the Federal Road Safety Commission Establishment Decree came into being in 1988, there were less than 50 driving schools in Nigeria, thereby making it necessary to encourage the FRSC and state governments to establish  model driving schools to complement the private driving schools. This forced the FRSC and some state governments to violate the moral law of not being a referee and player in the same game. For some years, the FRSC and some state governments have been playing the role of a regulator(regulating the establishment and operation of driving schools in Nigeria) and at the same time an operator(operating  driving school and competing with driving school to run commercial driver training which is different from their statutory free public education function).

    There are about 2,000 driving schools spread across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FRSC) offering employment to  youths. I plead that the proposed bill should confine the FRSC and the state governments to their regulatory role while only the accredited driving schools should play the role of operators, using the curriculum they designed for the driving schools. There is no state driving school that is standard enough to be a model, proving further that the government should have no business in doing business. Driving school business should be left in the hand of the private sector to create more job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths who will also be paying taxes to the governments. The principle of the Separation of Powers should come to bear in the functions of these agencies and even the driving schools to prevent further friction, unhealthy rivalry and stalemate in the road safety.

    Just like the Ghana National Road Safety Commission, the Governing Board of the Nigeria Road Safety Commission should comprise FRSC, representatives of VIOs, Association of Driving Schools and other stakeholders. Since this did not generate friction in Ghana, it should not be so here. Rather, it be positioned to boost efficiency and effectiveness in road safety.

    Finally, I would implore the House of Representatives not to stop at enacting the Nigeria Road Safety Bill, the provisions should be incorporated into the Amended Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to eliminate the previous argument of the superiority of Constitution over the Act of Parliament.

    While commending the efforts of the lawmakers and other stakeholders, we must all go the extra mile to stop to the careless loss of irreplaceable lives and valuable properties on the roads. No price is too much to pay to achieve this goal.

     

  • Firm opens Mercedes-Benz showroom in Lagos

    MB Automobile Services Limited, the authorised passenger cars dealers of Westar Associates Limited, has opened a state-of-the-art showroom in Victoria Island, Lagos.

    The showroom boasts of convenient parking space, world-class comfort for clients and visitors and an array of latest Mercedes-Benz vehicle models are also on display.

    The auto firm said the facility was established as a strategic point of sale location to appeals to customers and provides easy access and better customer service for existing and prospective high net worth clients in Lagos.

    General Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany to Nigeria, Mr Ingo Herbert  applauded MB Automobiles Services for its commitment to keeping the Mercedes-Benz brand alive.

    “I am thrilled and excited with the unveiling of this showroom.This shows that the Mercedes-Benz brand is waxing stronger on a daily basis in the Nigerian auto market. This increase has been made possible by the uniformity of increased bilateral trades between Nigeria and Germany, ‘’ he said.

     

     

  • Group launches Three-Wheeler

    Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M Ltd), a subsidiary of Mahindra Group in conjunction with VIP Merchandise Enterprise Limited, a GeePee Group subsidiary, has launched its three-wheeler Alfa P400 for Nigeria.

    The Alfa P400 offers more space for lovers of three-wheeler otherwise called tricycle.

    It is powered by a 400cc gasoline engine and comes in both passenger and cargo variants.This product comes with best-in-class features, such as longest wheelbase, multi-reflector headlamps, battery lock, powerful 1KW starter motor, large windshield, mobile charger, and bottle holder.

    Owing to its superior engine, Alfa P400 offers increased seating/cargo capacity and lower cost of maintenance that is unmatched in the market in turn providing improved earning potential to its consumers.

    Mahindra & Mahindra Head of International Operations (AFS) Arvind Matthew, said: “At Mahindra, we’ve made humanity’s innate desire to raise our driving purpose. We have been working steadfastly with VIP Merchandise to ensure that we deliver innovative mobility solutions to meet the needs of the community here.The Alfa P400 is a testimony to our intent.We are launching this product across the country with due support on warranty, after-sales service, spare parts availability and local mechanic training. We will continue to up the ante on technology and innovation to offer solutions in Nigeria that will drive positive change.”

    Also, Geepee Group Chairman MPrakash Vaswani, said: “We have been working closely with Mahindra to provide customised mobility solutions for Nigeria. Our two-wheeler – Arro – has been successfully running in the Okada segment across Nigeria. With Alfa P400, we are now bringing a differentiated and specially designed three-wheeler for the market that provides improved capacity, be it for carrying passengers or cargo, for the customers. With our products, Arro and Alfa, we not only offer customised and unique mobility solutions for the market, but also deliver employment and entrepreneurial platforms to empower the community to rise.”

    The Mahindra Alfa P400, made at the company’s state-of-the-art plant in Zaheerabad,Telangana, India, comes with a warranty of six months/10,000 KMS.