Isuzu Trucks SA acquires body-builder, chassis specialist
Isuzu Truck South Africa (ITSA) has acquired Kanu Commercial Body Construction, as well as Automotive Chassis Technologies (ACT), both from Port Elizabeth, in a 100% buyout, effective from August.
The transaction will see ITSA morph from a pure commercial original-equipment manufacturer (OEM) into an enterprise that has the capacity to build a finished truck product according to client specifications, said ITSA COO Craig Uren on Thursday, speaking at a media briefing in Johannesburg.
“We believe the acquisition of Kanu and ACT will enhance our current business structure. The move to acquire these entities will centralise the process of buying our trucks, with everything processed from one point of contact.”
Uren said the buyout would allow completed Isuzu trucks to reach the market more “efficiently and cost effectively”, with the acquisitions potentially shortening the waiting period for a truck from three months to one week.
Typically, truck OEMs will assemble a chassis, which is then sent to a body builder for fitment of a tipper, for example. This two-step process adds time and logistics costs to the process of buying a complete truck unit.
However, ITSA’s acquistions allowed the company to build its own truck bodies and modify its own truck chassis.
Kanu supplies a range of bodies suitable for various applications, such as construction, waste removal and logistics, with ACT able to do cab, bus and truck tractor conversions, among others.
Uren did not yet want to divulge the value of the transaction, but noted that Kanu and ACT had a combined turnover of around R100-million last year.
He said Kanu would still do work for customers outside ITSA, and reassured the domestic body-builder market that ITSA would still require its business.
Kanu built the bodies for 7% of the 4 050 trucks sold locally by ITSA last year. However, ITSA was responsible for 80% of Kanu’s business.
“It is not realistic for Kanu to move to 100% of our business. Hopefully they will be able to do 30%,” said Uren.
Current ITSA plant manager, Sipho Sandla, has been appointed as Kanu/ACT GM, with outgoing owner of Kanu, Tony Wright, staying on in an advisory role for a minimum of 12 months.
Sandla, an engineer by training, has 23 years’ experience in automotive manufacturing.
ITSA is owned by Isuzu Motors, based in Japan, and assembles trucks in Port Elizabeth. It looks after nine markets in sub-Saharan Africa, including Zimbabwe, Botswana and Nambia.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation