Capital Equipment News March 2018

COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

officially opened a new US$10 million dealer facility in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka. The dealership now offers complete sales, parts and service for Volvo Trucks and UD Trucks customers operating in the region. “Zambia is a key African market for the Volvo Group. Because of its very central location in southern Africa, it has exciting potential as a developing market with a growing economy and emerging infrastructure,” says Christensson. “We are proud to partner with Titanium Motors in Zambia, as we aim to effectively support our local customers, and to grow our overall market share in the region.” Meanwhile, Volvo Trucks has made a R125-million investment into a new wholly- owned truck centre in Pinetown, Durban. The business case is set to be finalised by mid-year and building is scheduled to start later this year. The facility will be officially opened in November 2019. Elsewhere, at the time of writing, a brand new dealership in Port Elizabeth was scheduled to be inaugurated on March 16. Volvo Group has also invested SEK 1 million in the establishment of a new driver academy in South Africa. “The new state- of-the-art training facility will be aimed at specifically unemployed truck drivers, where they will get the opportunity to update and hone their knowledge and skills. The database of highly-qualified drivers will then be made available to our fleet owners to address the acute shortage of skilled truck drivers in the industry,” says Christensson, adding that the training is scheduled to start in March 2018. Last year, the Volvo Group Southern Africa also invested more than R25-million in training a total of 2 381 employees and dealer staff. The training included a diesel technician apprenticeship (87), learnerships (236), Star-for-Life bursaries (17) and staff bursaries (60). More growth Looking ahead, the Volvo Group aims to increase its sales by 5% in South Africa and other African countries in 2018. Christensson believes the current political situation in both South Africa and Zimbabwe bodes well for the much-needed business confidence, while rebounding commodity prices will help grow most African economies. He adds that Volvo Trucks South Africa has already recorded increased order intake in Q1 2018. “We believe that 2018 will be better than 2017. We have already had a good start to the year, recording a 19% share of the EHCV market with a total of 188 trucks sold in January alone,” concludes Christensson. b

Last year, the Volvo Group Southern Africa, in partnership with Titanium Motors Limited, officially opened a new US$10-million dealer facility in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka.

A customer-centric approach was the major success driver for Volvo Trucks in 2017

deliveries, an increase of 804 compared to the previous year, while Mack sold a total of 5 112 units, an increase of 993 unit sales. Meanwhile, the Construction Equipment division recorded a total of 64 127 unit sales in 2017, with Volvo Construction Equipment selling a total of 8 749 units, an increase of 1 180 units compared with 2016. Its Chinese subsidiary, SDLG, delivered a total of 7 060 units, an increase of 3 334 compared with the previous year. On a global scale, Volvo Penta also recoded its most profitable year in history, with a 50/50 sales split between Marine and Industrial. The company saw a 17% order increase and a delivery increase of 11% in the process. Customer focus wins the day A customer-centric approach was the major success driver for Volvo Trucks in 2017, says Christensson. Volvo Trucks’ strong customer focus was demonstrated by retaining the top position in Sales, Service and Parts in the industry-wide Scott Byers survey. This was further reinforced by winning the Volvo Group’s Best Customer Satisfaction Improvement Award for 2017 at a global Volvo Group awards ceremony held in Sweden. Meanwhile, according to the fourth quarter of the 2017 Scott Byers report, Volvo Trucks maintained its rankings in numerous areas of the report. The company moved from a combined third position with a CSI

rating of 97,87% in 2015, to the top spot in 2017 with a 98,51% CSI rating. “It is a clear depiction of our unwavering commitment to consumer centricity in all areas of our business and offerings,” says Christensson. Volvo Trucks reached the highest recorded score ever for the parts and service segments, recording 98,08% and 97,77%, respectively. “This really is a combined effort by all relevant departments and our services network. We have worked hard to get our service capacity and parts supply to this level, but we are not complacent and will continue to strive to deliver the best services to maximise our customers’ uptime and profitability,” says Theunis Eloff, Aftermarket Director at Volvo Trucks South Africa. Key initiatives Several key initiatives were implemented to achieve the growth. Due to its strong customer focus, Volvo Trucks expanded its dealer network from 12 to 19 in South Africa, of which 13 are directly owned by the OEM. With the Volvo Trucks vehicle population continuing to increase locally, the company is placing a lot of emphasis on continuous improvements and growth. “We are widening our network systematically and with a focused strategy of bringing valuable support right to our customers’ doorsteps,” says Christensson. Last year, the Volvo Group Southern Africa, in partnership with Titanium Motors Limited,

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