Author:charleen-clarke
This month, we go face to face with Joachim Drees, cEO of MAN Truck & Bus. CHARLEEN CLARKE reports South Africa is officially in a recession. I am assuming that this is a huge concern to you? It is always a concern to us when a country is facing issues that can affect our company. That’s certainly the case with South Africa, given the fact that we operate factories and sell our products there. The market is not performing at […]
Patrik Glas-Crommert, previously chief financial officer (CFO) of Scania South Africa, has now been appointed mD of Scania Finance SA. And, as CHARLEEN CLARKE reports, he’s raring to go! Patrik Glas-Crommert may have been born in Sweden, but – after seven years here – he’s rapidly becoming South African. “I get goosebumps when watching the Springboks play and my kids are virtually South African now!” he reveals. The South Africanisation (yes, I just invented that word) of Glas-Crommert has come as a […]
South African-born Angus Kotze has returned to this country as chief financial officer (CFO) of Scania South Africa. And, as CHARLEEN CLARKE discovers, he’s living his dream. Angus Kotze, who has worked at Scania his entire career, started working at Scania Great Britain in 1999. His first job was a far cry from his current one. “I had no experience whatsoever, but was overqualified, so my first role – that of intercompany reconciliations accountant – was quite junior. I obviously had to […]
Iveco has been crowned the overall winner of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship 2018. Team Hahn’s Jochen Hahn, driving his Iveco Stralis, was recently crowned FIA European Truck Racing Champion for an historic fifth time. Iveco dominated the 2018 season, with a total of 14 race wins. Steffi Halm sealed sixth place in her debut season in the Iveco Truck#44 as new team leader of the Schwabentruck team. She was the only woman competing in the championship. The Schwabentruck […]
We’re all talking about e-mobility. I’m certainly writing about it all the time in this column. And e-trucks are almost becoming a dime a dozen. This is all very well – but what about bodies? Well, Schmitz Cargobull has developed electrically driven refrigeration units for use in distribution transport. They operate completely emission-free – and the first units are now making their way onto trucks! Edeka, the well-known European retail chain, has just taken delivery of a fully electric eActros […]
Each month, we chat to one of the captains of industry about pressing issues. This month, CHARLEEN CLARKE goes face to face with Raimo Lehtiö, MD of Scania South Africa. Please provide our readers with some background about your career – you have worked all over the world … Finland, Russia, the Far East, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to name but a few. What roles have you held and what were your greatest achievements during these times? I started working […]
Much is always expected of the IAA and, once again, this year’s event did not fail to deliver. CHARLEEN CLARKE dashed from hall to hall during this feast of commercial vehicles and related technology. These are just some of the exhibits that caught her eye. The numbers at the IAA – which takes place in Hannover, Germany, at the end of September every second year – are always simply staggering. Two years ago, for instance, a whopping 332 world premieres […]
I’ve been writing about electric trucks a lot this year. In fact, I hardly ever pen a Global Focus column that does not contain coverage of electric trucks – for good reason. Many of the major European truck makers — Daimler, Volvo, MAN and DAF — have blown their electric truck trumpets this year. However, the path to electric propulsion has not been smooth. And, to be perfectly honest, operators haven’t exactly rushed forwards to place their orders. However, I […]
By now you will have heard the news: the F-Max from Ford Trucks is the 2019 International Truck of the Year (IToY)! This announcement caused huge waves at the IAA last month … IToY has traditionally been dominated by the so-called Seven Sisters (the seven big European companies, namely Mercedes-Benz, MAN, Volvo, Scania, Renault, Iveco and DAF). The last time that the award was won by an “outsider” so to speak was back in 1982 – when the Ford Cargo […]
The 2018 IAA was all about e-mobility and saving the planet. However, not all the solutions presented at the fair are ideal for Africa. Does this mean that transporters on this continent can forget about going green? Most definitely not, says Pierre Lahutte, Iveco brand president, in an exclusive interview with CHARLEEN CLARKE Imagine Coca-Cola exhibiting at a trade fair, but there isn’t a drop of Coke to be found on the stand – just water. That’s more or less […]
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