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Toyota HiAce 54 years young – 2021 Motoring Newsmaker No 18
The Ses’fikile minibus is a true South African icon that is keeping up with the times.
The Toyota HiAce Ses’fikile is a South African favourite.
Two-thousand-and-twenty-one was an interesting year for the South African motoring landscape.
Some things changed, like an acceleration towards greener cars, while others stayed the same like Toyota topping the monthly sales charts.
In this series of 2021 Motoring Newsmakers, The Citizen looks back at the top 20 most popular online stories of the year. The series is dominated by South Africa’s most popular body style, bakkies, while the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 was by far the most viewed single model on our website. Other local favourites in the form of hot hatches, fuel efficient hatchbacks, big, mean SUVs, compact SUVs, Mercedes-AMGs and BMW M cars also drew their fair share of attention.
The Toyota HiAce minibus is the preferred choice for taxi operators in South Africa. In fact, the HiAce moniker is so popular that it was brought back a few years ago after Toyota took the decision to brand the sixth generation of its van exclusively as the Quantum.
And the proof is in the pudding as the Toyota HiAce in November was South Africa’s second best seller overall, never mind in the light commercial vehicle category. Starting as price of R478 500, its sales of 1 763 was only topped by its stablemate, the Hilux bakkie.
In 2021 Toyota tweaked both the Hiace and the Quantum line-ups. The Toyota HiAce was uodated to include a revised driver’s safety guard on the Ses’fikile aimed at reducing Covid-19 transmission between the driver and passengers.
Last month more safety equipment was introduced on the Toyota HiAce lineup. Petrol and diesel models now come standard with Hill Start Assist, Vehicle Stability Control, Brake Assist and traction control. A redesigned hooter is claimed to more durable, while emergency brake lights have also been introduced as standard.
The Citizen this year paid homage to the iconic. Click on the link below to read our celebration of the minibus taxi.
2021 MOTORING NEWSMAKER NO 18: Six (of the best) facts about the Toyota HiAce
Click on the links below to read our first two newsmakers of 2021.
NO 19: New Ford Ranger revealed
NO 20: How to get a Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GR-S stuck in the mud
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