June 01, 2017 Centurion: VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV), the joint venture of Volvo Group & Eicher Motors Ltd announced its plans to introduce Eicher trucks (pronounced ‘eye-sher’) in South Africa by this quarter. The joint venture has already set up its base in the South Africa in form of a 100% wholly owned subsidiary known as VECV South Africa (PTY) Ltd.

VECV brings together, the Volvo Group’s global expertise and world-class technology along with the innovative engineering and proven DNA of fuel efficiency from Eicher. This approach has resulted in the development of Eicher Pro series, a range of next generation trucks, which is designed to deliver High uptime, best-in-class fuel efficiency, higher loading capacity and enhanced driver efficiency and safety.

In the first phase of its introduction, Eicher is eyeing for an entry into the medium duty truck segment with its 8.5T GVM (4 to 5 ton Payload) Pro Series truck. The Eicher Pro series trucks has been tested for more than 500,000 kilometres across Africa and Asia, and specifically subjected to rigorous endurance & performance testing for over 200,000 kilometres in South Africa. This truck has been put into actual applications of few well renowned fleet operators in all applications and operations. Testing results turned out extremely positive especially in terms of fuel efficiency, comfort and the durability of the trucks.

Eicher trucks will be available across the country at 12 strategic locations in South Africa ensuring a high level of Sales and aftersales support for best uptime of the vehicle. VECV has joined hands with the country’s well-established dealership groups such as Imperial Group, BB Motor group, CMH Group, AAD group, Billson Trucks, Fleet Dynamics Group & Premier truck and Bus.

Mr. Surender Singh Rajpurohit, Vice President and Country Head, VECV South Africa said “South Africa is a strategic market, and it will play a critical role in the future growth of VECV’s international business. The company plans to continuously invest in the introduction of country specific products and aftermarket supporting infrastructure.”

Further commenting on the aftersales he said “The local team has been proactively busy ensuring parts availability & technical training to technicians before the start of sales as its primary focus area. Parts availability & after sales support is the key investment area. To further enhance a high level of professionalism & quality of support for Eicher trucks, VECV SA have joined hands with Bidvest Panalpina Logistics (BPL) as its 3PL partner. Investment of Multimillion Rands has already been made to take care of the parts availability. Currently the warehouse has a parts availability of over 2600 line items.”

Eicher branded trucks have an established presence in more than 30 countries across the globe. With on road population of over half a million trucks, Eicher trucks are known as one of the most fuel efficient and advanced trucks in its category.

About VE Commercial Vehicles Limited (VECV)

VE Commercial Vehicles Limited (VECV) is a joint venture between Eicher Motors Limited and the Volvo Group. In operation since July 2008, the company includes the complete range of Eicher branded trucks and buses, VE Powertrain, Eicher’s components and the sales and distribution business of Volvo Trucks as well as aftermarket support to Volvo Buses in India. VECV vision is to be recognized as the industry leader driving modernization in commercial transportation in India and the developing world

About Eicher Trucks & Buses

Eicher Trucks and Buses has the lineage of three decades of operations in India. Eicher Trucks and Buses (ETB) is present in the L/MD segment with a strong presence in the 4.9T-15T truck segment and an ever increasing market share in 16T-49T heavy duty trucks segment. Eicher has unveiled its entire new range of future generation trucks and buses, named the “Eicher Pro’’ series. Adopting the most professional and holistic approach to modernize the Indian trucking industry, the new brand philosophy is to “Go Pro”. Eicher’s new Pro series trucks and buses promise to deliver best-in-class fuel efficiency, higher loading capacity, superior uptime and overall vehicle life time profitability