Watts & Wheels Ep 3: 'We drive the new Dongfeng Box'

Loading player...
The Dongfeng Box electric city runabout has landed in South Africa, and Watts & Wheels has taken the vehicle – one of the cheapest electric cars currently on sale in the country – for a test drive.
One of China’s biggest and oldest motoring manufacturers, the state-owned Dongfeng Motor Corporation has identified South Africa as a key export market and, through E Auto Motor, has launched the brand in South Africa – starting with the Dongfeng Box, whose pricing begins at R460 000.
Watts & Wheels hosts William Kelly and Duncan McLeod take the Box for a drive around Johannesburg and share their thoughts on this intriguing and relatively low-cost hatchback designed for urban and city driving.
Also in this final episode of the three-part pilot season of Watts & Wheel, William and Duncan get animated about:
• The state of the EV charging infrastructure market in South Africa – and is it getting overtraded?;
• A new report on EV sales in South Africa over the next five years;
• Chery’s reporting plans to build a car plant in South Africa;
• The challenges at Mercedes-Benz South Africa’s East London production plant, especially in the light of US President Donald Trump’s tariff wars;
• Tesla’s challenge to the like of Waymo – a look at Elon Musk’s determination to win in autonomous ride-hailing services;
• Xiaomi’s beautiful YU7 and how it’s going toe-to-toe with Tesla in China;
• What’s happening at Porsche; and
• Christian Horner’s exit at Red Bull Racing.
Don’t miss this episode.
11 Aug 2025 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS | Charge’s R1.8-billion bet on an off-grid EV future

South Africa has fewer than 400 public electric vehicle charging stations – up from zero just 15 years ago – and EV adoption remains stubbornly slow. Yet Charge, formerly known as Zero Carbon Charge, is betting big that a coast-to-coast network of off-grid, renewable-powered charging stations is exactly what’s needed…
18 May 37 min

TCS+ | The Up&Up Group on the hidden cost of AI

Companies large and small are pouring capital into AI projects, chasing the promise of efficiency, speed and scale. But as Jason Harrison, chief operating officer of The Up&Up Group, argues in this episode of TechCentral’s TCS+, the upfront price tag tells only a fraction of the story – and many…
13 May 46 min

TCS+ | The retirement decision most South Africans get wrong

What happens to your retirement savings when you leave an employer is one of the most consequential financial decisions most South Africans will make – and one of the most commonly mishandled. In this podcast conversation with Mpho Chitapi, 10X Investments senior investment consultant Michael Rossouw sets out what should…
6 May 55 min

TCS | The Cape Town start-up listening for TB with AI

AI Diagnostics, a Cape Town-based med-tech company that has built an AI-powered stethoscope designed to detect tuberculosis, recently raised R85-million in a pre-series-A funding round. In this episode of the TechCentral Show (TCS), Nkosinathi Ndlovu speaks to the company’s CEO, Braden van Breda, about the funding round and its mission…
4 May 36 min

TCS+ | ‘The ISP for ISPs’: Vox’s shift to wholesale aggregator

Vox, a well-established retail internet service provider is expanding its services to the wholesale market through aggregation. In this episode of TechCentral’s podcast series TCS+, Andre Eksteen, senior product manager for fibre to the business at Vox, discusses the rationale behind this strategy and the services Vox is offering as…
20 Apr 16 min