A fortuitous convergence — the Sun King, Mahindra’s new crossover and a birthday bash at The Palace

Synchronicity is a strange and wonderful thing. In simple speak, according to Merriam-Webster, it is “The coincidental occurrence of events that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality.”

A couple of weeks ago, I received an invitation from Mahindra to attend their “20 years in South Africa” celebration at Sun City. Look, Sun City has never been top of my list as a go-to place. I’ve been there several times and have often walked away thinking how gauche and inappropriate it seems when you’ve had to drive through the godforsaken, dusty landscape of North West to get there.

It’s located in the former apartheid “homeland” of Bophuthatswana, which was once under the rule of the National Party’s chosen president, Lucas Mangope. The area is rife with poverty — until you reach Sun City. Like a mirage in a desert, “it” emerges and you’re transported into the over-the-top fantasy world of Sol Kerzner, South Africa’s most successful and controversial hotelier.

Along with the Lost City and numerous other local creations, the pint-sized dynamo also created a legacy of lavish dream destinations across the planet, from Mauritius, Comoros, Morocco and Dubai, to Atlantis in the Bahamas.

The Palace of the Lost City. (Photo: Melinda Ferguson)

While I was sitting on the fence about whether to attend the Mahindra event, I received an email requesting a Zoom meeting with a man called Ian in the UK who had been one of Kerzner’s right-hand men. I was invited to discuss a book that had been written by Kerzner’s former operational director during the heyday of Kerzner’s wild successes.

As a publisher, my ears pricked up. I knew that despite Kerzner’s controversial legacy (which included allegations of bribery and collusion), he was undeniably a genius. I also knew, that up until now, there had never been a book successfully released about SA’s Sun King.

In 1997 the Johannesburg High Court effectively banned the book Kerzner Unauthorised, written by former journalist Allan Greenblo. A permanent interdict was issued against the publication, sale, distribution and marketing of the book and despite numerous subsequent attempts from the publisher and author to “clean” it up, it never saw the light of day.

Then there was the “nearly” Sol bio that was to be written by UK author Stephen Robinson, who’d penned the acclaimed The Remarkable Lives of Bill Deedes. After many months and hours of work, the project was abandoned by both the subject and the author.

The XUV at The Palace of the Lost City. (Photo: Melinda Ferguson)

I googled Sol Kerzner. I feel quite ashamed to admit that I hadn’t realised that the Sun King had crossed to the other side. I learnt that he died from cancer on 21 March 2020, just as the world went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Like, I suspect, many other South Africans, his death had passed me by, what with all the frenzied panic around the new masked and sanitised world we suddenly found ourselves in.

My meeting with Ian led to me being introduced to the writer of the “Sol” book, Peter Venison. I discovered that this British hotelier had written a quasi-biography/memoir on the decades he spent with Kerzner while executing their ambitious projects across the world, including the highs and lows and all the insanity that ensued along the way. Both a close friend and an adversary of Kerzner’s, the book sounded fascinating. Suddenly, synchronicity-wise, the idea of going to The Palace with Mahindra sounded like a rather good idea. I duly accepted the invitation.

Rear view of the XUV 3XO. (Photo: Mahindra SA)

Driving the 3XO

Driving through the fallow lands of North West in the all-new Mahindra crossover XUV 3XO, I paid extra special attention to my surroundings, imagining how Kerzner and his team must’ve felt when, back in the late 1970s, they began plotting Sun City. Because I was on a motoring gig, I also paid attention to the car I was driving.

Launched in SA in September, the new XUV 3XO might just be the most consummate offering right now in the highly competitive “budget crossover” segment. With rivals like the Toyota Starlet Cross, the Suzuki Fronx, the Kia Sonet, the Renault Kiger and the Nissan Magnite, this is where the majority of sales are taking place in the SA passenger car segment.

Specced to the hilt

The Mahindra is full of surprises. There’s a Harman Kardon sound system, a wireless charging pad, a sunroof and a “first-in-segment” 65W USB-C port, capable of charging a laptop.

Safety-wise, with its six airbags, an electronic parking brake with an auto-hold function, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, ESC, a 360-degree surround view system and a blind-spot monitoring system, this crossover stands head and shoulders above its rivals.

I did, however, find the lane-keeping assist a bit too invasive and at times the adaptive cruise control took a tad long to react. Hopefully, these systems will be tweaked. Engine-wise there’s a well-powered 1.2-litre turbo-petrol mill on offer, delivering 82kW and 200Nm of torque.

The Aisin six-speed auto transmission. (Photo: Mahindra SA)

Along the 220km route, I discovered the XUV 3XO offered dynamic acceleration and a spirited performance. The roads were shocking in places but the XUV’s suspension sucked it all up. Wind and road noise absorption was also impressive.

While most of its competitors offer five-speed manual and unimpressive four-speed AMT auto gearboxes, the Mahindra has a six-speed manual and an Aisin six-speed automatic transmission. At the launch I spent time in the top-of-the-range AX7L auto and found the gearbox well mated with the engine.

Once we’d checked into The Palace, which was completed by Kerzner and his team in 1992, I found myself taking off my socialist glasses and gaining new respect for the sheer architectural feat of the mammoth Lost City. By this stage I’d skimmed through Peter’s book and discovered that more than a million plants and trees were planted to create Kerzner’s oasis wonderland.

That night we celebrated two decades of Mahindra at the massive poolside, against a starry night sky with palm trees gently swaying to the beats of Tamara Dey. The memory of Sol Kerzner was alive and kicking — flaws and all.

Pricing

• 1.2T MX2 MT – R254,999


• 1.2T MX2 AT – R274,999


• 1.2T MX2 AT – R274,999


• 1.2T MX3 MT – R274,999


• 1.2T MX3 AT – R294,999


• 1.2T AX5 MT – R319,999


• 1.2T AX5 AT – R344,999


• 1.2T AX5L AT – R374,999


• 1.2T AX7L AT – R404,999

MX models include a three-year/55,000km service plan, while AX derivatives come with a five-year/100,000km service plan. The warranty throughout remains fixed at five years/150,000km. DM