East London is set to benefit from a major push by Mercedes-Benz SA parent company, Daimler AG into the African new and used truck and bus market.
An expected increase in the assembly of new-model trucks at the local plant will bring jobs, training opportunities and investment.
However, Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG management board member in charge of the corporation’s truck and bus manufacturing globally, refused to be drawn on the size of the investment being contemplated by the corporation, but was upbeat.
“Yes, we will be building new products in East London. No, it’s too early to say how much we will be investing, but we know it will pay off.”
Asked about job-creation in the Eastern Cape, he told the Daily Dispatch: “If the numbers are picking up, the jobs will pick up.”
He spoke at the launch of the Regional Centre Southern Africa outside Johannesburg yesterday, an event attended by journalists, suppliers and dealers from southern Africa.
Daimler was the world leader in truck and bus sales, and although global sales of trucks had improved marginally, sales had collapsed in Latin America, and the general economic outlook was not good.
But in Africa, especially southern Africa, Bernhard and Kobus van Zyl, the executive director of trucks and buses for Daimler AG in southern Africa, said GDP outlooks were promising and even soaring.
The corporation saw a big opportunity to grow the used heavy vehicle market through the company’s TruckStore used-vehicle operation in central and southern Africa.
Clinton Savage, head of Mercedes-Benz SA’s truck division, said there could be a positive impact on the East London plant, which assembles four brands of new trucks.
He said as used trucks were sold in the countries to the north, a gap would open in the South African new truck market, which East London-assembled trucks would fill.
Trucks assembled in East London were built for rugged African conditions. “Every used truck sold in Africa will create an opportunity for a new truck to be bought.”
Bernhard said he had returned from launching the central African regional centre in Nairobi, saying the area to be serviced stretched from Nigeria to Kenya. “Our new products will be assembled in East London. That is the goal. East London is a great operation.”
The main thrust of the new operation would be investing in “human capital”, especially in creating more technicians, and the new academy in East London would play a key role.
His corporation would be providing servicing and parts in most southern and central African countries to add value to their second-hand vehicles.
He said 90% of the market was in used trucks.
African drive to boost EL factory
An expected increase in the assembly of new-model trucks at the local plant will bring jobs, training opportunities and investment.
However, Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG management board member in charge of the corporation’s truck and bus manufacturing globally, refused to be drawn on the size of the investment being contemplated by the corporation, but was upbeat.
“Yes, we will be building new products in East London. No, it’s too early to say how much we will be investing, but we know it will pay off.”
Asked about job-creation in the Eastern Cape, he told the Daily Dispatch: “If the numbers are picking up, the jobs will pick up.”
He spoke at the launch of the Regional Centre Southern Africa outside Johannesburg yesterday, an event attended by journalists, suppliers and dealers from southern Africa.
Daimler was the world leader in truck and bus sales, and although global sales of trucks had improved marginally, sales had collapsed in Latin America, and the general economic outlook was not good.
But in Africa, especially southern Africa, Bernhard and Kobus van Zyl, the executive director of trucks and buses for Daimler AG in southern Africa, said GDP outlooks were promising and even soaring.
The corporation saw a big opportunity to grow the used heavy vehicle market through the company’s TruckStore used-vehicle operation in central and southern Africa.
Clinton Savage, head of Mercedes-Benz SA’s truck division, said there could be a positive impact on the East London plant, which assembles four brands of new trucks.
He said as used trucks were sold in the countries to the north, a gap would open in the South African new truck market, which East London-assembled trucks would fill.
Trucks assembled in East London were built for rugged African conditions. “Every used truck sold in Africa will create an opportunity for a new truck to be bought.”
Bernhard said he had returned from launching the central African regional centre in Nairobi, saying the area to be serviced stretched from Nigeria to Kenya. “Our new products will be assembled in East London. That is the goal. East London is a great operation.”
The main thrust of the new operation would be investing in “human capital”, especially in creating more technicians, and the new academy in East London would play a key role.
His corporation would be providing servicing and parts in most southern and central African countries to add value to their second-hand vehicles.
He said 90% of the market was in used trucks.
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