ITSA extols ‘record’ sales in 2013, looks for further growth in 2014

16th January 2014 By: Natalie Greve - Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

ITSA extols ‘record’ sales in 2013, looks for further growth in 2014

Photo by: Bloomberg

In a buoyant market driven by supply, Isuzu Trucks South Africa (ITSA) saw its strongest year to date in 2013, posting sales of over 4 000 trucks for the 12 months, as consumers looked for cost savings through the replacement of older heavy-haul vehicles with newer, more reliable models, CEO Craig Uren told a media briefing on Thursday.

This afforded the company the second-largest share of the market, and made it the largest selling cab-over-truck brand in the country.

“Everyone is under pressure in terms of margins and older trucks cost money. We’re not selling cheaper trucks, we’re selling more expensive trucks that offer cost savings,” he maintained.

He said there were no significant events in 2013 that had driven demand for trucks, inferring that restructuring within the industry may have incited higher sales.

Uren’s comments came shortly after the company completed an eight-month overhaul of its production line at General Motors South Africa’s (GMSA’s) Kempston Road plant, in Port Elizabeth.

Engineering News Online reported in November that this move had consolidated the truck assembler’s previous scattered operations under one roof, with a marked improvement in efficiency.

“We have increased our capacity and efficiency by just on 40% over the last 12 to 18 months, with the same workforce and help from a Japanese production engineer,” he said at the time.

At around the same time, the company moved from a 50:50 shareholding between Isuzu Motors and GMSA to a 70:30 split in favour of the Japanese truck maker.

The majority shareholding by Isuzu Motors allowed ITSA to have two more Isuzu executives at the company, allocated to production and finance.

Looking to 2014, the ITSA head expected a similar performance in the truck market as in 2013, with January a traditionally “slower” month.

“We’ll definitely grow this year, but we’re just not sure by how much. We need to plan for a weakened rand:dollar exchange rate, increased fuel prices and the potential implementation of additional transport legislation,” he said.