UD Trucks Southern Africa (UDTSA) rightfully pride themselves on excelling on the essentials, something they once again proved at the NAMPO expo this year.
This Japanese truck brand has been a household name in South Africa for 62 years, and Filip Van den Heede, Managing Director of UD Trucks South Africa, explains that the brand comes from the Nissan era and has been in business globally for 95 years.
Among others they have light, medium and heavy-duty trucks in their product range and they have started developing their vehicles to adhere to the Euro 5 emissions standards.
In the last two years they have introduced a new Euro 5 product line-up with enhanced features which took into consideration fuel-efficiency and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). They are also the first manufacturer in South Africa to produce Euro 5 as a standard offering, following the launch of the Quon in 2019.
To continue this sustainable effort, in 2022, UDTSA expanded the Quester and Croner offering with Euro 5 variants.
Furthermore, UDTSA re-entered the local commuter bus market with the all-new Croner Bus, which comes in two variants – a commuter bus (PKE 280) and (LKE 210). This was a turning point for the company from a wider African perspective, in response to the growing demand for sustainable and safe travel options; the Croner Bus was the perfect answer to connect people on the move.
Filip highlighted their commitment to improving on their service and customer satisfaction, emphasising how they have centred their efforts around their dealer network, service to customers, parts availability, delivery and up-time in the past few years.
To extend on these improvements, they have added new competitive offerings to their Service Agreements and fleet management solution (UD Connected Services).
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Filip Van den Heede, Managing Director of UD Trucks South Africa, talks about their superb Euro 5 product range.
UD Connected Services, which has always been included with your vehicle purchase for three years, has now been extended to five years on Quester, Quon and Croner models and two years on the Kuzer.
Driver training, development to make vehicles more fuel-efficient, and geo-fencing, which improves safety and logistics, preventing fuel theft, and additional features related to possible hijacking and the recovery of vehicles are only a few options in an assortment of built-in services that UD Trucks provide to their clients.
UD Trucks have been a part of NAMPO for many years, and while farmers used to be interested in only their light and medium-duty trucks, the growth of the Agri sector has seen farmers coming to UD Trucks for their heavy-duty trucks as well.
They can provide vehicles for an array of solutions including livestock, fresh produce and cold chain transport.
“Agriculture has been a big portion of the UD Trucks’ success in South Africa in the last 62 years,” says Filip.
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UD Trucks displayed their Kuzer truck at NAMPO.
With 49 dealers that provide services, repairs and extensive support across Southern Africa, a farmer won’t have to look far for support from UD Trucks.
Filip says customers can look forward to a committed UD Trucks team who will continue to expand their services to improve up-time even further and make their services more competitive.
Keep an eye out for this innovative brand at NAMPO 2025 because they have several new products in the pipeline.
However, if you can’t wait, visit their website at www.udtrucks.com and view their range of products.