Ten Years’ Young
2008 was not the best year to start a business, let alone a magazine. The global financial crisis was starting to bite, and only the brave or foolish would even attempt to rush in, while the angels were treading carefully. However, necessity is the mother of invention. This was the genesis of Automotive Business Review (aBr)

Little did we know as we celebrated the end of 2019, and welcomed 2020, what was to befall us. The scourge of Covid-19 was waiting in the wings, ready to pounce, and we were led like lambs to the slaughter....

Dizzy Dozen - Twelve years, folks. That is how long Automotive Business Review (aBr) has been going. Forged in the fire of mind-boggling deceit and bad faith, and launched in the vortex of the 2008 financial crisis, aBr reenergised and repurposed the moribund trade publication milieu, with a burst of kinetic energy. aBr turned the boring trade journal template on its head with well-written articles, knowledgeable insights, and relevant information, all laced with a wicked sense of humour and Words in Action. Now, 12 years later, after a dizzying ride, and in the midst of a new crisis, known as Covid-19, aBr continues to surprise and delight

South Africa's leading automotive aftermarket magazine.

Big Brother is Bullying You - I am writing this editorial on the afternoon of 13 May 2020, as the long-suffering citizens of South Africa endure the seventh week of a severe lockdown, and government overreach. How much longer do we have to suffer so unnecessarily? I pray that by the time our loyal base reads this at the end of May, the lockdown has ended, or at least it has been watered down significantly – but I have my doubts

Coronavirus Bloodbath
As I write this, I am anxiously watching the JSE index go down inexorably, and seeing my retirement funds
rapidly disappearing down the toilet. I cannot even call it a black swan event, as it is far worse than that and
more like an existential crisis

Time to Hit a Home Run, Cyril
Welcome to 2020, and welcome to another year of hope and despair. 2019 was our annus horribilis, and 2020 could be our anus horribilis, if our government does not get off their horribilis anus. But it does not have to be this way, and all we need is a president who puts the country before party, and the country before himself. One can hope, and one can clutch at any straw that is floating around


Taking South Africa Forward

My search for good news continues, and even though sometimes it seems like I am searching for a needle in a haystack, every now and then one strikes gold. One particular gem I managed to find was in Time magazine’s double issue of 23 September 2019. It may have been paid for editorial, courtesy of the South African taxpayer, but at this stage I will take anything. And it is a good way to segue into our now traditional year end good news issue

In the July/August issue of aBr, we looked at rays of light in South Africa. To add some flesh to these luminescent bones, I made my way to the second Nedgroup Investments ENGAGE event at Melrose Arch o 28 August 2019.

The Phoenix editorials in 2019 have been pretty gloomy, as I bemoaned the fact that our electorate do not seem to put their brains into gear when exercising their democratic right at the poll booths, and that even when the democratic right is exercised, it appears that those who are elected don’t give a fig about the electorate, or don’t have the competence to give a fig. Now for a change in gear, and to look at a heart-warming illumination …

In the previous issue of aBr (March/April 2019), I asked the question, tongue firmly in cheek, whether voters should be r equired to pass an IQ test. Upon reflection, a deeper question would be whether democracy is doomed?

SHOULD VOTERS BE REQUIRED TO PASS AN IQ TEST?
I am a great fan of the Financial Mail’s deputy editor, Sikonathi Mantshantsha. I always look forward to his “Between the Chains” column, because he never fails to impress with his insights, and he is never scared of tweaking the tiger’s tail. His column in the March 14 – March 16 2019 issue is a case in point...

As I was racking my brain how to explain the very weird year of 2018, an email
arrived from 21st Century, a company that operates primarily as remuneration
consultants. Chris Blair and Bryden Morton have managed to make sense of all the
contradictions, hopes and disappointments, through the eyes of the consumer…

Last year aBr, in its November / December 2017 issue, came out with a Good News Issue, based on the premise that political change was about to come, and the strong feeling was that this would naturally put the country on a strong growth trajectory. We got what we wanted, en kyk hoe lyk ons nou!

September is supposed to mean rejuvenation, growth and all-round happiness. Poets are also inspired by spring, as they unleash their quills, rejoicing about trees sprouting, birds singing, breezes blowing, and temperatures pleasing

In my youth I was a rabid free marketeer, and an avid disciple of Milton Friedman. To my mind, the market should dictate most everything, and I couldn’t understand why governments intervened in such a seamless process. 

Ever since our February 2018 issue, I have been dishing out political advice to all and sundry, albeit with the knowledge that I am just a kibitzer, or as many of my acquaintances call me, a space cadet. I accept that I am only a bit player, and as Lyndon Johnson would describe it, as someone outside the tent, pissing in. And I have no chance of getting inside the tent, so I will rather leave the sane and reasoned advice to an insider, Mcebisi Jonas

Some Advice to Cyril Ramaphosa – from Kipling and Sunter
My editorials in the March, April, and May 2018 issues of aBr clearly spelt out the failings and even worse of our esteemed governing party over the past ten years. These editorials, titled “Our Bloated Ship of Sate”, “The First Step – with a Long Way to Go”, and “Cutting Out Wastage”, focused on the profligate ways we are being governed, and were by their very nature of a negative bent, because when pointing out the bad, things look dark. Now for some light, and some good countervailing advice from two sources, over a hundred years’ apart

The Phoenix editorials In the March and April 2018 issues of aBr were highly political, and I am afraid, for those of you who are heartily sick and tired of my pontifications, the May issue carries on the theme of providing advice to the president of the country. But these are highly unusual and turbulent times, which to me justifies my trilogy of high horse and soap box articles
We’ve discussed the size of the cabinet, and we have discussed, in barbed and confrontational language, albeit entirely justified, the merits of some of the cabinet appointments, and the morals and decency of the individuals involved. Now we need to revisit my central theme, our bloated and wasteful ship of state.


In the March 2018 issue of aBr I was presumptuous enough to give Cyril Ramaphosa advice on the size of his cabinet, and even more presumptuous to suggest who should not be there, starting with Malusi Giggle Gigaba, and a list that I promised to reveal in this issue.

Our Bloated Ship of State

As I write this, it is 17h20 on 15 February 2018, and Matamele Cyril Ramaphosa has just been sworn in by chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. All of South Africa is euphoric, and rightly so, because our very own Caligula, one Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, has revealed that the emperor has no clothes, and a new era has begun

But hold your horses. And I’m not referring to the horse that Caligula promoted to high office, although if you look at some of the appointees of Zuma, he may as well have appointed horses. The reason why I’m asking you to hold your horses is because one swallow does not make a summer, and dear Cyril has an enormous job ahead of him, in clearing out the Augean stables.

Enough of the metaphors, and down to business. My advice to Ramaphosa is to take all of your political capital, and to spend it on cleaning house – not just in removing the crust of pus that Zuma baked onto our body politic pie, but to overturn the whole filthy maggot infested pot of corruption. It is a herculean task, so let us remove the elephant in the room, bite by bite. There I go again with my metaphors - but then again what is a meta for?

The automotive aftermarket is in good shape at the moment, what with close to 10 million vehicles plying the South African roads, and depressed vehicle sales an indication that people and businesses are postponing vehicle purchases because of low consumer and business confidence, thus creating bigger maintenance demand

South Africa is on the precipice, and we need all the help we can get. By the end of December 2017 we will have a pretty sound idea about where we as a country are going, so for the last issue of aBr in 2017 I have decided to try and give fate a nudge, by calling the November/December 2017 edition the GOOD NEWS issue.

Inclusive Growth
What exactly is inclusive growth? If you go to Google this is the definition that pops up first: “Inclusive growth is a concept that advances equitable opportunities for economic participants during economic growth with benefits incurred by every section of society. ... The definition of inclusive growth implies direct links between the macroeconomic and microeconomic determinants of the economy and economic growth.” Spot on, but a little wordy, so Bruce Whitfield, the MC at the IQbusiness workshop and function on the topic, held at the Inanda Club on 15 September 2017, gave Pravin Gordhan, South Africa’s yo-yo finance minister, ten seconds to come up with a seven word definition.


When the Going Gets Tough - During its hosting of the State of the Motor Industry (SOMI) event on 8 August 2017 at its headquarters at Wesco Park in Sandton, Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) announced the creation of the Toyota Empowerment Trust (TET). 
Quite an impressive feat. No, not the announcement, I’m talking about getting three acronyms into one sentence. We South Africans love our acronyms - something like the TET offensive. But seriously, the TET has been seeded with R42 million in start-up funding to focus on skills and enterprise development initiatives in the automotive industry. Initially, it will facilitate the training and qualification of specialised automation technicians.

In the Jan/Feb 2017 issue of aBr I indulged in a bit of numerological whimsy when I said that the number 23 would play an important role in 2017 in getting this country the leadership it deserves. Well, that pesky number 23 came up again at the Automechanika Johannesburg briefing on 29 June 2017.

In these times of frustration with the appalling levels of corruption at the highest levels of government, and the depressing realisation that things are unlikely to change in the short to medium term, it is always good to come across decent human beings who work for the good of the country rather their own atavistic and avaricious benefit, and to discover rays of hope peeping through the dark clouds of despair.

Every quarter I attend a presentation by Dr Azar Jammine, chief economist of Econometrix, on the state of the domestic and global economy. These presentations are usually delivered at the Johannesburg War Museum in Saxonwold, which many may consider an idiosyncratic choice of venue for an economic presentation.

15 August 1985 is seared in my memory. This was the day that PW Botha made his infamous Rubicon speech, which while cocking a snook at the international community and world markets, it precipitated the decline of the National Party, the unbanning of the ANC, the release of Nelson Mandela, and the end of apartheid. The Groot Krokodil, as Botha was known, thanks to his fierce temper, had single-handedly, against the advice of his more progressive cabinet colleagues, delivered an unexpected reactionary response to the world’s anti-apartheid pressure, and single-handedly given the coup de grace to the South African economy.

During March I attended an automotive workshop, convened by the Competition Commission of
South Africa, looking for solutions and remedies in addressing the vexing issue of improving access to
the automotive aftermarket’s products and services.

October / November / December

August /  September 2020

June / July 2020

May / June 2020

March /  April 2020

January / February 2020

November / December 2019

September /  October 2019

July / August 2019

May/June 2019

March/April 2019

January/February 2019

November/December 2018

October 2018

September 2018

August 2018

South Africa's leading automotive aftermarket magazine. Covering all aspects of the automotive aftermarket market from technology to people and community. Every month (except December and January when we release a single issue for the two months) we give you in depth news and reviews on the industry, delivered in a highly digestible format for your reading pleasure.

1. You agree that the use of Magzter.com, the application and its services, are at solely at your own risk. Neither Magzter.com nor its associates nor employees nor third party content providers guarantee that the service will be completely uninterrupted or error-free or foolproof against miscreant activities. Nor do they warranty that you will get the exact results as expected or promised by the website or product.

11. THE SERVICE AND ALL PUBLICATIONS ARE PROVIDED ON AN 'AS IS' AND 'AS AVAILABLE' BASIS. MAGZTER, ITS AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, LICENSORS AND AGENTS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER MAGZTER NOR ITS AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, LICENSORS OR AGENTS, MAKES ANY WARRANTY THAT (I) THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (II) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, (III) THE INFORMATION THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE OR THAT MAY BE CONTAINED IN THE PUBLICATIONS WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, OR (IV) THE QUALITY OF ANY PUBLICATIONS OR THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBTAINING AND MAINTAINING RELIABLE INTERNET CONNECTIVITY AND YOUR DEVICE. MAGZTER IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR INABILITY TO DOWNLOAD CONTENT. ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICE IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR MOBILE DEVICE OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM MAGZTER OR THROUGH OR FROM THE SERVICE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY.

2. You will maintain and promptly update that information to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password and for restricting access to your computer, and you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account, including the selection and use of all content and services.

2.You will maintain and promptly update that information to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password and for restricting access to your computer, and you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account, including the selection and use of all content and services.

3. In no event will Magzter.com or any person or entity or third party involved in the creation, production and distribution of the content on the website and the application be liable in contract or legally for any damages, including and not limited to, direct, indirect, incidental, special, and consequential incurred to you while or on using Magzter.com. By registering on the website or downloading the application, you agree that the provisions mentioned in this section shall apply to all use of and content on the website and the application.

3. Without prior written or authorised permission from Magzter, you should not modify, copy, distribute or sell any content obtained from Magzter as everything published here is the proprietary property of Magzter or its licensors. As such unauthorised use may also violate applicable laws including copyright and trademark laws, Magzter strictly prohibits these and will terminate your access and account if any such illegal activity is proved or detected. You should also stand liable for the damages caused by these unauthorised activities. Except as permitted by the Publication's lawful owner, you acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights by downloading Publications accessed through the Service. Except as explicitly required under copyright law or permitted by the features of the Service you may not modify, reverse engineer, publish, transmit, display, participate in the transfer or sale, create derivative works of, or in any way commercially exploit or provide to a third party the content of the App, the Publications, or any portion of them without the express permission of Magzter and the owner of such content. We do not grant you any licenses, express or implied, to the intellectual property of Magzter or Magzter's licensors.

5. You specifically acknowledge that Magzter.com is not liable for any kind of defamatory or offensive or illegal conduct of other users or third parties or their content and that the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with you.

8. Magzter reserves all rights to monitor the content published and inputted by you for the purpose of determining whether you are compliant with these terms and conditions and other operating rules determined by Magzter. Magzter has the right to take decisions about the content and delete them at its own will.

9. Magzter is a distributor and NOT a publisher of the Publications and so Magzter has no editorial control over the content, including opinions, advice, statements, services, offers etc., that is represented in the magazines. So Magzter will not take responsibility for the accuracy or the reliability for any information or facts provided therein or that is made available through the service, by anyone other than authorised Magzter employees who are acting on their official capacities. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered by the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of Magzter. Magzter will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information obtained through the Service or from the Publications. The Service may contain links to other Internet sites and third-party resources and Magzter does not assume any responsibility or liability for communications or materials available at such linked sites. These links are provided for your convenience only. You are solely responsible for understanding any terms and conditions that may apply when you visit or place an order through a third-party site.

Details of the objectionable content, including its link on our platform

Download your favorite titles and read them offline, anytime and anywhere

Gift your loved ones with a Magzter Gift Card instantly and give them the freedom to read their favorite magazines and newspapers from thousands of best-selling titles.

Gift your loved ones with a Magzter Gift Card instantly and give them the freedom to read their favorite magazines from thousands of best-selling titles.

Gift your loved ones with a Magzter Gift Card instantly and give them the freedom to read their favorite magazines from {{magCount}} best-selling international titles.

Girish Ramdas is the Co-founder and CEO of Magzter, a New York based startup that has been making waves in the global digital publishing business. Magzter has crossed 80 million users since its inception in 2011 from more than 150+ countries with 1000s of magazines, newspapers and books from more than 4,500 publishers worldwide. He has more than 25 years of experience in cross-platform publishing, including print, mobile, and Web development. During this period, he has co-founded and run three successful start-up businesses. He has enabled magazine companies to go digital and helps them monetize their content across the digital world. Girish's deep industry experience in online, mobile and publishing ecosystems has made him an expert in acquisition, marketing and monetizing digital content across platforms globally.

In the event that you encounter any objectionable content on our platform, we have put in place a grievance redressal policy to address your concerns.

Magzter Inc. (“Company”, “we”, “us” or “our”) knows that you care about how your personal information is used and shared. Please read the following privacy policy (the “Policy”) to learn more about our privacy practices. By visiting any of the websites operated by the Company, and any sub-domains thereof, or using any of our mobile applications and other methods of content distribution (collectively, the “Service”), you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Policy, and you hereby consent that we will collect, use, and share your information in the following ways.

Magzter Inc. is the World's largest and fastest growing self-service, cross-platform digital newsstand with over 80 million users since its inception in 2011 and thousands of magazines and newspapers across 40+ categories and 60+ languages. Headquartered in New York, Magzter has its local presence in Amsterdam, London, Mexico City, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Singapore, and will soon be expanding to other countries. Founded by global entrepreneurs, Girish Ramdas and Vijay Radhakrishnan in June 2011, Magzter enables magazine and newspaper publishers around the world to create and deliver digital editions of their titles to global consumers.

Magzter is committed to providing a safe and secure platform for our users. Please note that Magzter is merely a platform for publishers to distribute their content. We do not control or endorse the content published on our platform. We cannot be held responsible for the actions of our publishers or their content.

Magzter is not responsible for compensating any party that has suffered damages or incurred costs due to any content, or part of the content, that violates their rights. Magzter is not liable to face any legal action in civil court for any violation of rights caused by any content, or part of the content, that infringes the rights of a third party.

Magzter offers the world’s largest {{allyoucanread}} subscription service called {{gold}} which gives digital readers unlimited access to 8,500+ magazines and newspapers for a monthly subscription price. Magzter also has the largest number of stories in the world with its game-changing ezRead 2.0 feature for its apps, which enables smartphone and small-screen mobile users to enjoy magazine content the way it was meant to be enjoyed, with article text that is easy to read and is accompanied by stunning videos and high resolution photography.

Magzter offers the world’s largest “All-You-Can-Read” subscription service called Magzter GOLD which gives digital readers unlimited access to 8,500+ magazines and newspapers for a monthly subscription price. Magzter also has the largest number of stories in the world with its game-changing ezRead 2.0 feature for its apps, which enables smartphone and small-screen mobile users to enjoy magazine content the way it was meant to be enjoyed, with article text that is easy to read and is accompanied by stunning videos and high resolution photography.

Name

Note: This will only share the cover and the publication information, but not the content.

Please fill out this form if you need any help regarding publishing your content on Magzter

Prior to Magzter, he was the President of Dot Com Infoway (DCI) and Galatta Media. His duties included strategic marketing, partnership development, and monetizing content globally. DCI grew from a small team of 3 in 2000 to 300 by 2011 and was dealing with web, software and app development for clients globally.

Since we launched, Magzter has been committed to partnering with global organizations to provide the greatest possible newsstand technology & service to our customers. Whether you are looking to offer magazine subscriptions to your customer database or just want to learn more, Magzter is committed to helping your business grow. To find out more, please fill out the questionnaire below:

The DMCA allows us to restore the removed content if the party filing the original DMCA Notice does not file a court action against you within ten business days of receiving the copy of your Counter Notice.

This Policy covers Company’s treatment of personally identifiable information (“Personal Information”) and other information about you and your computer or device that Company gathers when you are accessing the Service. We may collect Personal Information from you, as explained in more detail below, and we use this Personal Information internally in connection with our Services, including to personalize, provide, and improve our products, services, content, and advertising, and to allow you to set up a user account and profile, to contact you, to fulfill your requests for certain products and services, and to analyze how you use the Services. In certain cases, we may also share some Personal Information with third parties, but only as described in point 4.

This title is included with your Magzter GOLD subscription

To analyze the quality of content and provide appropriate feedback to publishers

We have designated a Grievance Officer to address any complaints related to objectionable content.

We request that any complaint related to objectionable content be sent to the Grievance Officer through email to the above-mentioned email address. We also request that you provide the following details when making a complaint:

and the App that provides you the capability to order, subscribe to and receive the delivery of various magazines, books, news and magazine and publication related content (collectively known as 'Publications') and to have these digital versions of the Publications delivered to you

c. We also collect information associated with your use of the application in order to make personalized recommendations. If you provide your third-party account credentials to us, you understand some content and/or information in those accounts (“Third Party Account Information”) may be transmitted into your account with us if you authorize such transmissions, and that Third Party Account Information transmitted to the Service is covered by this Policy.

f. The Personal Information we collect allows us to respond to your requests, improve our products and services, customize the advertising and content you see, and communicate with you about new products.

is the World's largest and fastest growing self-service, cross-platform digital newsstand with over 87 million users since its inception in 2011 and thousands of magazines and newspapers across 40+ categories and 60+ languages. Headquartered in New York, Magzter has its local presence in Amsterdam, London, Mexico City, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Singapore, and will soon be expanding to other countries. Founded by global entrepreneurs, Girish Ramdas and Vijay Radhakrishnan in June 2011, Magzter enables magazine and newspaper publishers around the world to create and deliver digital editions of their titles to global consumers.

n. We will also use usage information in order to ensure users adhere to our Terms of Use. For example, a user’s usage information will help us confirm that a user only downloads a magazine or other content a permitted number of times or to a permitted number of devices.

which gives digital readers unlimited access to 8,500+ magazines and newspapers for a monthly subscription price. Magzter also has the largest number of stories in the world with its game-changing ezRead 2.0 feature for its apps, which enables smartphone and small-screen mobile users to enjoy magazine content the way it was meant to be enjoyed, with article text that is easy to read and is accompanied by stunning videos and high resolution photography.

{{magzter}} is the World's largest and fastest growing self-service, cross-platform digital newsstand with over 87 million users since its inception in 2011 and thousands of magazines and newspapers across 40+ categories and 60+ languages. Headquartered in New York, Magzter has its local presence in Amsterdam, London, Mexico City, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Singapore, and will soon be expanding to other countries. Founded by global entrepreneurs, Girish Ramdas and Vijay Radhakrishnan in June 2011, Magzter enables magazine and newspaper publishers around the world to create and deliver digital editions of their titles to global consumers.

Automotive Business Review Magazine - September 2018

Automotive Business Review Magazine - September 2018

In this issue

Automotive Business Review Magazine Description: