Daweoo Novus proves itself with trips and tips

It’s been a year of fast trips and faster tips for ten Daewoo Novus K5DEF tippers that were added to the SedBuild fleet last year – and operations director Jamil Saley has been very impressed so far.

“The Novus has proved to be exceptionally well-suited to our needs. We bought the vehicles new last January – and since then they’ve proved reliable and economical, while delivering top-rate service and helping us to increase our productivity.”

Based in Vereeniging and involved in road construction and other civil engineering work across South Africa, SedBuild had certain requirements that the Daewoo tippers had to fulfil. Chief among these was efficiency.

“We have a selection of brands in our fleet,” Saley says. “Where the majority of rival makes complete an average of six trips during a shift, the Novus manages eight – that’s an extra 20 m³ of material per truck transported over the same time period, which translates into much higher productivity and less cost.”

He notes that the scissor-styled mechanism that the Novus employs to raise and lower the tipper helps to cut off-load times by a substantial margin. “It’s a fast, reliable system,” he says. “In addition, the Novus’s 340 hp (253 kW) helps the vehicle to maintain steady momentum up long gradients, which means that time is saved.”

Saley says that, in his experience, the Daewoo is easy to maintain. “It’s a profitable truck,” he continues. “We’re very happy with the after-sales service we’ve received.”

He points out that a modification suggested by SedBuild to Daewoo to relocate the Novus’s rear lights on the units purchased was made without question. “We felt the original positioning made the lights too vulnerable to damage and asked if they could be recessed – Daewoo complied,” he says.

Saley adds that drivers find the truck’s cabin to be comfortable. “They are full of praise for its features and levels of safety. In all, the Korean craftsmanship is very good.”

He also praises Daewoo’s personalised service. “We have a very good relationship with the brand’s representatives,” he says. “They have been very helpful in all our dealings. Since we operate in all areas of South Africa – often in places that are well off the beaten track – we have to rely on suppliers to keep their promises. In this respect, we have had no problems with Daewoo,” he concludes.