Scania foresees a year of muscle

Scania’s slug-line on their website featuring the successful Streamline range, “In shape to stay ahead”, is echoed by Managing Director of Scania South Africa, Steve Wager, as he responded to Trucks and Heavy Equipment’s questions.

2014 UNDER REVIEW

Did the 2014 truck market perform as you expected?

“The heavy truck market in South Africa expanded by 9% in 2014, which was ahead of our own estimation of +5%. This is very encouraging and it goes against the rather weak development in the GDP, which is of course the traditional driver of the truck market growth or contraction.”

How did Scania perform in 2014?

“Scania is very pleased with its own performance in the market, as we have achieved a 15% growth in truck market share to some 11,5%. This means that we are now in a solid third position in the extra-heavy truck segment. “We also saw positive growth in our bus sales and the interest around the Scania Touring Coach has turned out very positively.

Since the launch here in SA back in 2013, we have become the Scania foresees a year of muscle, brawn and brains SA TRUCK INDUSTRY LOOKS TO THE FUTURE Scania’s slug-line on their website featuring the successful Streamline range, “In shape to stay ahead”, is echoed by Managing Director of Scania South Africa, Steve Wager, as he responded to Trucks and Heavy Equipment’s questions.

Steve Wager, Managing Director of Scania South Africa, is pleased that his company is now in a solid third position in the extra-heavy truck segment. second biggest Touring market in the Scania world! This complete one-stop shop solution has proved to be a big advantage to our coach customers.

“Our Truck Rental Division also continued to expand and we now have more than 400 vehicles out on the roads. To me this is a clear signal that the unique flexibility a rental truck offers is sought after by the market.”

OUTLOOK FOR 2015

Your view of the transport industry in 2015?

“We believe that the transport industry will become even more competitive during 2015 and transporters’ margins will be under increasing pressure. “This makes it vital that transporters take full account of the total operating economy of their vehicles – not only the traditional cost drivers such as fuel and the like, but also uptime.

What are the biggest challenges facing the SA transport industry?

A serious challenge is the continued weak GDP and increased competition as mentioned above, and also the growing lack of well-educated and efficient drivers, which has a negative impact on the total operating cost of a vehicle and a fleet. “There is a definite need amongst all transport operators to rapidly increase efficiencies in order to offset the increasing operational costs.”

What is your market forecast for the different commercial vehicle market segments?

“It´s difficult to point out growth in each specific sector, as they are affected by so many different factors. However, in general I think the strong growth that we have seen in the last two to three years will not be repeated in the next.

“My estimation is an annual growth of between 3 and 5%, based on the premise that the current (January 2015) financial conditions affecting South Africa do not change in any negative way.

If there were any specific segment/ sector that shows a great potential, it would be vehicles driven by alternative fuels to diesel. We can really see a strong growing interest for these solutions, which is why Scania had such a strong focus on this last year.

Please give us a glimpse of Scania’s 2015 plans. “During 2015 Scania will be launching its construction range of vehicles with optimised specifications and extended warranties. This segment counts for approximately 13% of the market, and we believe that Scania can add value to the transporters in this area. Any new Scania products on the horizon?

“As I mentioned we will launch a complete range of construction solutions. We will also expand our FMS offer, with more software services and applications that will add value to the platform we launched in 2014. “Scania South Africa is also turning 20 this year, which is an anniversary that will involve a number of activities. So stay posted…”