From the Editor’s Desk – June 2025

From today, the June 2025 issue of CAR Magazine will hit shelves around the country. Here is a preview of what to expect. June 2025

Looking for a new or used vehicle? Find it here with CARmag!

The news that Great Wall Motors had used the occasion of the 2025 Shanghai Auto Show to unveil a new twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine, which it describes as its “secret weapon in luxury markets”, would no doubt have ruined the taste of many early-morning cups of coffee in automotive company boardrooms across Europe. The extraordinary growth of the Chinese auto industry over the past decade had, until this moment, appeared to have left a few stones unturned in terms of plans for global dominance, including targeting the highly evolved, if somewhat endangered, realm of large-capacity internal combustion powertrains. While GWM is keeping its cards close to its chest with regards to outputs, potential hybridisation and applications for its new V8 engine, its mere existence adds more pressure on the so-called legacy brands to keep pace – or risk being left behind.

Related: All-New Honda Amaze Lands in SA – Pricing and Spec

Closer to home, the fact that a 24th brand needed to be added to our list of Chinese automotive brands operating, or about to open for business, in South Africa as we were compiling our A-Z feature speaks to how rapidly our automotive landscape is changing. Almost on cue, where we’d been accustomed to commentary about relatively unrefined throttle calibrations and compromised fuel consumption in petrol-powered products from China, GWM delivered its new turbodiesel Tank 300 for evaluation.

Related: Toyota Celebrates 40 Years at Le Mans With Throwback Liveries

Of course, one virtue that the Chinese brands can’t replicate is legacy. As much as vehicles like the GWM Tank continue to ruffle feathers in their respective segments, we continue to ask just how much value we place on the established reputation for rugged reliability associated with brands like Isuzu, or customer care, and aftersales service from the likes of Hyundai while compiling our exclusive first tests of the updated MU-X and the reimagined Grand Creta, now known as Alcazar.

On the subject of legacy, our attendance at the Cape 1000 rally – a timed event that echoes such racing epics as the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio – and our exclusive drive of Ferrari’s retro-leaning 12Cilindri on local soil served as a timely reminder that, as much as the automotive industry continues to evolve, the world is still a better place for man-made machinery that can still evoke an emotional response.

Find the full feature in the June 2025 issue of CAR Magazine.

Click here and browse thousands of new and used vehicles here with CARmag!

The post From the Editor’s Desk – June 2025 appeared first on CAR Magazine.


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