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| Mario Gasparri, readey to take build and export Iveco trucks across Africa |
Vice-president of the group, Mario Gasparri, said the investment
was the biggest in Africa, dwarfing plants in Libya and Ethopia.
He said South Africa’s truck market sells about 30 000 units a
year.
Iveco’s share of this market is currently some 2 000 units, but
Gasparri intends to ramp this number up to 5 000 extra heavy trucks and 1 000
buses by 2020.
A lot of these will be exported into Africa, starting with right-
hand drive models.
He said the Iveco Daily panelvan, which is considered the most
durable in southern Africa due to its ladderframe construction and rear-wheel
drive, will be fully imported at least in the medium term.
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| Helen Dube: ''Its not about the metal, but the people.'' |
Mozambique also stands to benefit from investments by CNHi group,
which is made up of an agricultural leg and a transport leg, distributing
harvesters, tractors and heavy as well as extra heavy trucks into the SADC
region.
Helen Dube, product manager at Iveco trucks, said the Rosslyn plant
was a game changer for the Italian company, entrenching the entire group.
She told The
Witness her focus with product development will be on the people,
not the metal, as the trucks and vans already enjoy a reputation for robust
durability from the Dakar to Hole-in-the-Wall in the Eastern Cape, where
Unitrans is currently using Iveco tractors to lug 52 tons of cement down very
steep slopes to build a new dam.
The company yesterday demonstrated its formidable Dakar truck at
the Ada driver training farm near Hartebeestpoortdam, west of
Pretoria.
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| It takes a ladder to get into a Dakar racing truck, yes. |
