Lepas L4 Embarks on its South African journey
A new chapter begins as the first Lepas L4 vehicles depart Port Taicang in China, bound for South Africa.
- Product News
- 2 February 2026
Co-founder of Red Bull energy drinks, Dietrich Mateschitz, died this past Saturday (22 October) at the age of 78, after a long-term illness.
Austrian Mateschitz founded the company in 1987 with Thai national, Chaleo Yoovidhya. The company quickly became and remained the leader in the energy-drinks market.
Red Bull became associated with extreme sports owing to its sponsorship of, among other sports, big wave surfing, cliff diving, mountain biking and trail ultra-running.
But one of the brand’s biggest success stories remains its venture into Formula 1 when it bought the then-Jaguar team in 2004. Over two decades, the team was built into a champion team with Sebastian Vettel at the steering wheel.
On local soil, Red Bull has been a sponsor of motorsport champions such as Giniel de Villiers, a Dakar champion.
Last October Mateschitz’s net worth was valued at around $25 billion.
Red Bull currently employs 13 000 people in 172 countries and sells and estimated 10 billion cans of the energy drink annually.
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition has renewed calls for stronger localisation, expanded job creation and deeper transformation in South Africa’s automotive industry after reviewing progress on the South African Automotive Industry Master Plan 2035.
As economic pressures and market volatility continue to shape the local transport industry, UD Trucks Southern Africa says it has demonstrated confident and stable growth, supported by strong retail partnerships and a relentless focus on customer uptime.
Keyloop, a global automotive technology company, has signed an agreement to acquire Motortech.ai, a United Kingdom-based (UK) developer of state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for the automotive industry.