Hardware Africa 2014 2014 | Page 44

BUILDING MATERIALS ADVERTORIAL UD Trucks 2014 and Beyond: Modern and Smart Transport Solutions for the African Continent UD Trucks Southern Africa is set for a ground-breaking era during the next five years. As one of the country’s leading truck manufacturers for the past 50 years, the company is currently planning the introduction of game-changing new products and services to customers. “The future plans of UD Trucks is all about enhancing our customers’ transport and service experience with us,” said Jacques Carelse, managing director of UD Trucks. “We are committed to supporting our customers in a smart and modern way, and going the extra mile in everything we do.” As has always been the case, UD Trucks will provide customers with transport solutions that offer the right balance between features, cost and efficiency. UD Trucks assemble its range of medium, heavy and extra heavy commercial vehicles according to worldclass quality standards at its plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria. The company’s team of engineers are continuously researching, developing and testing the UD Trucks product range to ensure they are suited to southern African road and operating conditions. Although UD Trucks are made for Africa - tough, hard-working and dependable - they are also equipped with modern equipment and technology to ensure the best possible lifecycle costs for customers. 44 HARDWARE AFRICA 2014 The future plans of the company also include the introduction of new ranges that are set to change the way southern African fleet owners think about trucks. By combining the power of the company’s Japanese heritage of quality engineering and manufacturing, and the global strength, modernity and resources of one of the world’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturers, with their local expertise, skills and support, UD Trucks is in a very unique position to offer customers transport solutions for the here and now. “As part of this process, UD Trucks Southern Africa is currently evaluating the new Quester range, which had its international debut in September 2013, for local start of production in late 2014,” said Carelse. “Quester will not replace any of our current line-up but will simply enhance our offering to our customer base.” UD Trucks has a proud heritage of developing high quality trucks for the Japanese market but this is the first time that the company has specifically developed a truck range with African fleet owners in mind. With all of the company’s future product launches, UD Trucks’ strategy will be all about fuel efficiency, productivity, uptime and quality aftermarket support. “Most importantly, we believe our local customers are set to profit from our upcoming product ranges’ positioning in the market, including its level of technology and quality through to the new scope of support offered by our regional dealer network,” said Carelse. UD Trucks is also constantly developing, strengthening and training its already comprehensive regional dealer network. The 64 UD Trucks dealers across southern and eastern Africa are always ready to support customers with manufacturerendorsed sales, service, parts, as well as financial and fleet solutions. Represented all along the major routes and trade corridors across the region, UD Trucks Southern Africa is able to provide a speedy response, knowledgeable technical advice and service, as well as ultimately dependable trucks that get the job done. UD Trucks Southern Africa has also invested more than R4.8 million over the past two years in the training of its staff and members of the community in various developmental and training programmes. “We passionately believe in the vital importance of training and investing in the future of our employees and surrounding community,” said Carelse. “The objective of the programme is to provide on-going developmental opportunities that not only allow us as a company to achieve our business objectives, but also to empower and contribute to the overall development of the participating learners.” For more information, visit www.udtrucks.co.za