Devoted husband, dad & son of God - living life 1 day at a time & changing the world 1 deed at a time.
Buffelspoort, South Africa
Joined June 2012
- Tweets10.1K
- Following1K
- Followers538
- Likes71.5K
Andre Knipe retweeted
🇿🇦BIG PROBLEM FOR ANYONE WHO BOUGHT A CHINESE CAR IN SOUTH AFRICA‼️
South Africa is being flooded with cheap Chinese metal. Showrooms full of Haval, Chery, GWM, BYD, Changan, Omoda and the next badge that arrived last month. Big screens, fake-SUV stance, lights that dance and soft leatherette. A price that looks like a bargain next to a Volkswagen, Toyota, Suzuki, BMW or Mercedes.... That is the con.
Youth is buying the advert, not the car, not the service book and not the trade-in. They see gadgets and think they stole a German interior at half the money. They did not, they bought a pretty box from a market that is being force-fed volume by a country that treats exports like a weapon.
Established cars earn their residuals.
Toyota and Suzuki start, service and sell again. VW has parts on a shelf in this country. BMW and Mercedes cost more because the used market still respects the badge when you walk into a dealership three years later. That is not snobbery, that is a number on a valuation sheet.
Chinese volume brands do the opposite. Day one they look loaded. Day 800 the screen is still shiny and the offer on trade-in is "kak". Buyers discover the hard way that a car is not what it costs new. It is what a dealer will pay when you are done with it. That gap is where these brands live.
Parts is where the romance dies.
Break something on a well-known Japanese or German car and the country already has the pipeline. Break something on one of these new imports and you sit, week or sometimes months. Finance does not pause while a control arm or a screen module sits on a boat. You are the one without a car. That is not “growing pains.” That is the product.
This is market manipulation with a smile, flood the segment, undercut the monthly and stuff the cabin with toys. Long warranty on the brochure. Photograph it like an SUV even when the tyres and the drivetrain say city car. Take the young buyer who would have walked into Toyota, Suzuki or VW. Take the family that would have stretched for a used German. Push them into something that looks expensive and depreciates like a phone.
South Africa loses twice. First the customer leaves a proven brand. Then the same customer comes back poorer, waiting on parts, staring at a trade-in that does not cover the hole. The “cheap” car was never cheap. The marketing was.
Give it two years. That is when the first wave of owners hit real mileage, first serious failures, first refinance, first trade. Then the clever campaign from Beijing stops looking clever. It looks like a dump of disposable product into a market that cannot afford to learn the lesson twice.
If you want a toy with a tablet on the dash, buy the toy and admit it.
If you want a car that still has a spine when you sell it, buy what this country already knows how to fix: Volkswagen, Toyota, Suzuki, BMW, Mercedes.
The rest is a costume. Beautiful in the parking lot but ugly on the valuation and when it breaks, you are not a customer, you are a waiting list.
Continue reading:
topauto.co.za/news/167231/bi…
Andre Knipe retweeted
The United States has decided to remove South Africa from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), ending duty-free access to its markets for key industries.
businesstech.co.za/news/busi…
Andre Knipe retweeted
One of Bach’s most timeless masterpieces, delivered with God-given talent. Pure perfection.
HAUSER - Air on the G String (J. S. Bach)
Andre Knipe retweeted
250 starts. 73 wins.
Max Verstappen's simply lovely run continues. 🏆
ALT Max Verstappen stats 250 race starts 73 race wins 136 podiums 50 pole positions
Andre Knipe retweeted
Minister Maynier Declares New National Park In Eastern Cape
The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, David Maynier, has declared 18 properties in the Eastern Cape, covering a total of 10 225.9242 hectares, as the Grasslands National Park. The declaration was published in Government Gazette No. 55531 under Government Notice No. 8002.
Situated in the Eastern Cape highlands between Nqanqarhu and Rhodes, the park will help protect underrepresented grassland ecosystems and part of the Eastern Cape Drakensberg Strategic Water Source Area. These landscapes are important for water security, biodiversity and the livelihoods supported by the region’s working agricultural land: shorturl.at/m5ABv
Andre Knipe retweeted
This is unsustainable, and warrants an imminent implosion:
Since the GNU took office, real GDP is up R85 billion.
The national debt is up R810 billion.
That is about 10 times the growth. The Reserve Bank now has debt just under 80% of GDP.
Interest alone is almost R1.2 billion a day.
Nothing is paid off.
youtu.be/4aJdcKIO9nU
Andre Knipe retweeted
Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.
But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said
We are at our best when we serve others.”
Andre Knipe retweeted
Yesterday in church, my pastor carried two things to the front: a $100 note and an envelope.
He asked us which one had value.
Obviously, we said the $100.
Then he crushed the $100 note and asked, “Does it still have value?”
Yes.
He crushed the envelope too.
Then he placed the $100 inside it and asked, “Does the envelope now have value?”
Yes.
And that was the lesson.
Sometimes life will crush you.
You may find yourself in places where people don't recognize your value. You may go through rejection, disappointment, failure, or difficult seasons.
But being crushed doesn't mean you have lost your value.
The $100 was still $100, even when it was crushed.
Then we read 2 Corinthians 4:1–5, which reminded us that we are carrying a treasure, but we are not the treasure's ultimate destination.
We don't preach ourselves; we preach Christ Jesus as Lord.
That made the lesson even more powerful for me.
Yes, you are valuable.
But the greatest value in your life is not simply what people see in you. It is what God has placed in you and what He can do through you.
Your experiences can become a testimony.
Your struggles can encourage someone.
Your journey can give someone hope.
And when you share what God has done in your life, you are not glorifying yourself you are pointing someone back to God.
So wherever you are today, remember:
You are valuable.
You may be crushed, but you are not worthless.
You may be overlooked, but God has not overlooked you.
And whatever treasure God has placed in you, use it to point others to Christ.
Sometimes the world sees a crushed envelope.
God sees what He has placed inside it.
Andre Knipe retweeted
Maybe I’m just old school, but being on time still matters to me. If we agreed to meet at 6:00, I’m probably getting there at 5:50. Making somebody sit around waiting for you isn’t fashionable lateness. It’s rude.
