INTERVIEW
Business Fleet Africa (BFA) spoke to Craig
Uren, Senior Vice President of Revenue
Generation, Southern African Customs
Union at Isuzu Motors South Africa,
about the changing nature of trucking in
South Africa.
BFA: How is the truck industry doing in
general and what is Isuzu’s forecast for
the rest of the year?
Uren: The truck industry is very different
to what we’ve experienced in the past.
COVID-19 uprooted everything and
created a lot of upheaval. During 2019,
we started to see recessionary issues in
the economy.
Going into 2020, we were in trouble
economically. COVID-19 came and kind
of reset a lot of things. Later, everyone
spoke about how well we recovered and
how quickly, and this attracted people.
Through 2021 and 2022, we recovered
to the pre-COVID-19 level. It’s a very
positive thing to say, but pre-COVID-19
wasn’t trending in the right direction.
Trucks make people money; cars cost
people money. This business keeps the
Isuzu’s push to be
a societal brand
‘We are a societal
brand. For us it’s
about business, we
help people make
money and thereby
contribute to society.
Consumers are under
huge pressure, and we
know that pressure
comes straight back
to truck operators.’
BUSINESS FLEET AFRICA | September 2023
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wheels of the economy turning. If you
look at distribution prior to COVID-19,
it has largely been reinvented with in-
creased demand for online shopping and
last mile delivery. The dynamics are very
different and line haul has changed to
support that. We’ve done incredibly well
on bakkies. What used to be done with
large trucks has progressed to smaller
trucks and bakkies. The truck market
overall is probably going to be equal to
or slightly better than last year.
The extra-heavy segment has gone
from around 50% of the total truck
market to around 67%. If you take that
bubble out, we’re below pre-COVID
levels. That’s not a good sign. We see
Transnet’s impact on the truck market.
Failing rail infrastructure has put massive
amounts of trucks on the road. So the
dynamics are driven by the extra heav-
ies, and at the same time, the smaller
guys are hurting.
BFA: Why did Isuzu take the decision to
introduce an extended warranty?
Uren: We are a societal brand. For us
it’s about business, we help people
make money and thereby contribute
to society. Consumers are under huge