Author:focus-on-transport
Independently measured against a list of criteria under the two key factors of “Visionary Innovation and Performance” and “Customer Impact”, ZF Aftermarket beat off stiff competition to take the Frost & Sullivan European Automotive Aftermarket Company of the Year 2018 title. “Within a competitive and challenging market, ZF Aftermarket’s industry leading position and partnership skills in the field of advancing mobility make it a true and worthy winner of the title,” explains Benson Augustine, senior research analyst, Frost & Sullivan. […]
What is customer centricity? “It is so much more than just great customer service,” says Bruce Thoresson, international logistics director for Bidvest Panalpina Logistics (BPL). “It’s about creating an experience from the moment we first engage with a client until after our services have been rendered. We put the customer at the heart of our decision-making and service delivery throughout that process, providing a service uniquely customised to their needs.” Customer-centric businesses typically start with assessing a customer’s needs, rather […]
As it did in 2017, MAN Automotive is once again offering free vehicle health checks for bus and coach operators. With just over 400 vehicles checked and attended to prior to the December 2017 festive season, the MAN Automotive after-sales team is targeting more than 500 vehicle checks during October and November. Checks on safety-critical components, and checks to ensure uptime, are undertaken by trained, senior MAN technicians against a predetermined scope of mandatory checks, which are over and above […]
Build It Pinetown mixes paint, cuts glass and boards, reads business plans and, most importantly, provides home deliveries for its customers. These deliveries are currently being performed by two FAW trucks, each bought from the FAW Pinetown branch. Paul Nothnagel, sales executive at this full sales, service and parts dealership, has been the driving force behind the deals. Nothnagel proactively marketed the FAW brand by personally visiting Build It Pinetown, and leaving marketing brochures for the store’s management to mull […]
We have entered a new era of the re-imagination of commercial vehicles, and Peugeot is at the forefront of this innovation. Today’s passenger vehicles are designed to quickly, efficiently and comfortably get commuters from point A to B in sprawling urban landscapes. Similarly, gone are the days when commercial vehicles were viewed as large, unwieldy and unfriendly modes of transportation. The trend is to give the consumer the best of both worlds – vehicles that are luxurious, while being hardy […]
GAVIN MYERS drives the entry model into the new Mercedes-Benz X-Class range – the X 220 d 4×2 Progressive. Around the time you read this, FOCUS will be joining Mercedes-Benz South Africa for the local launch of the V6-powered X 350 d flagship of the X-Class range. This, it’s currently rumoured, could be South Africa’s first R1-million bakkie! That said, it’s hard to imagine that, at R646 071, the X 220 d Progressive is only the “entry level” X-Class… Granted, […]
With higher levels of electrification being installed into modern vehicles, and with the increased use of alternative powerplants, fighting a vehicle fire needs to be handled with extra care. Randolph J. Harris, a certified vehicle fire investigator with over 500 vehicle-fire investigations to his name, has found that the most common cause of truck fires is an electrical short in the engine compartment. “An electrical short occurs at over 2 760°C (hot enough to melt iron). This overheating can ignite […]
In little more than five years, a battery and vehicle manufacturer from China has gone from nowhere to top-seller in the European electric-bus market. It’s now turning its attention to the European truck market. TIM BLAKEMORE, managing editor of Commercial Vehicle Engineer, reports Battery-powered refuse-collection trucks made by Build Your Dreams (BYD), a huge and fast-growing multinational electric-vehicle manufacturer based in China, could soon be on sale in Europe for the first time. Speaking last month at the group’s global head office in […]
The increasing cost of fuel, labour and input costs in the commuter-bus sector is not being satisfied by government subsidies or inflation on ticket sales. GARETH GREATHEAD discusses the situation. In the first week of October, the price of fuel increased by 99 cents for petrol and R1,24 for wholesale diesel. According to the Automobile Association (AA), this is the largest fuel price hike in the history of the country, aside from months where taxes were linked to increases. The AA […]
Note: For the time being, Mercedes-Benz SA (MBSA) will only report aggregated sales data. The MBSA commercial vehicle market split volumes are estimates based on historical trends and forecasting techniques. Light Commercial Vehicles < 3 501 kg Total: 14 342 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles South Africa 50 Ford Motor Company 3 048 GWM 163 Hyundai Automotive SA 300 Isuzu Motors South Africa 1 193 JMC 46 Kia South Africa 98 Mahindra 296 Mazda South Africa 3 Mitsubishi 26 Mercedes-Benz SA – […]
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