Y ou have to hand it to the folks atToyota. Not only do they build good, high quali- ty vehicles, but they’re astute mar- keters, too.The competition must be absolutely shell-shocked at the pricing of the new locally built Fortuner SUV, which has the looks, equipment and capability of vehi- cles costing much more.

And by all accounts the market has been just as impressed, taking every one of the 500 or so units a month that the Prospecton plant is currently able to make. By our reckoning, that already makes the Fortuner South Africa’s best-selling SUV… Of course, as the Special Report in this issue points out, the com- petitive pricing comes from the fact that Fortuner forms part of tune Toyota’s new wagon has turned the local SUV market on its head Toyota’s IMV programme, benefit- ing from the economies of scale that this international project brings to parts-sourcing and manufactur- ing. But what is the SUV model like to live with, and to drive