Hosting the media at an event day in Johannesburg, Isuzu had some good, bad and ugly news to share but for the most part, the automaker which proudly produces trucks and bakkies in South Africa, is forging forward.
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Despite the difficulties automakers suffer in South Africa, particularly manufacturers and producers, resilience is the key to being able to live and fight another day. Isuzu has reported that its total volume is slightly up on from the prior year despite international and local constraints. Still plagued by supply chain issues with microchip shortages at the beginning of 2023, South African port delays due to ill-maintained machinery further exacerbated the issue to the point that receiving new stock was hindered.
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In all of this chaos, Craig Uren, Senior Vice President Revenue Generations at Isuzu Motors South Africa has stated that the brand has returned to pre-Covid numbers but has its reservations with 2024 based on both global and local factors. In terms of numbers for a market overview, passenger vehicle sales in 2023 were 5% down totalling 347 202 units, while D Segment pick-up was up by 12% with 105 152 units and commercial vehicles were up 9% with a total of 32 893 units. All of this accounts for a total of 0.4% growth. With looming elections and global conflict, reliable insight into growth projections is difficult and uncertain but a bleak picture for this year awaits. Isuzu expects a 3% decline in the passenger segment, 1% decline in D Segment pick-up and a 2% growth for its commercial vehicle segment projecting a 5% decline throughout the year. This however has not detracted from the fact that Isuzu is celebrating its 11th consecutive year as South Africa’s top selling cab-over-chassis brand.
Suffering massive supply chain disruptions and production delays due to load shedding, Isuzu also plans to install 7 000 solar panels in its parking areas at its consolidated truck and bakkie manufacturing plant in Gqeberha to alleviate unforeseen outages and keep costs down. Although no other details were divulged, Isuzu states there is a substantial cap for renewable energy in the next two to three years which will aid the manufacturer in achieving a greener net CO2 output. Additionally, Isuzu is proud to state that 100% of its waste material is being recycled which means none of it ends up in a landfill.
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When questioned about the possibility of utilising the rail network as opposed to roads for transport which would further yield a greener solution to their future endeavours, the automaker stated that they are in talks with Transnet, although there is no viable solution at the moment. Further, the rail network would need to be as competitive as trucking, which it simply isn’t at this point. An example was provided that on-road logistics between the facility in Gqeberha and Johannesburg take around 24 hours, while this same cargo using rail infrastructure would take closer to a week to arrive. Should the rail alternative ever be viable, Isuzu also states an improved customer relationship would need to be fostered with operational inefficiencies mitigated but the fact that Transnet is open to discussion is a promising sign.
