TOYOTA DENIES LINK TO TAXI REBELS

TOYOTA South Africa denied that it is linked to the taxi rebels threatening to disrupt the government’s plans to reshape the beleaguered industry. “I want to state categorically that Toyota South Africa is fully supportive of the government’s concept of taxi industry recapitalisation which has as its prime focus affordability for commuters and the overall viability of the industry,” Toyota’s executive chairman Bert Wessels said in a statement on Friday. Wessels said Toyota declined to tender for the recapitalisation process as it did not have any product conforming with the requirements and specifications for the proposed vehicles. “We would thus not be able to provide such a vehicle within the required time frame.”