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.