UD TRUCKS: Building Better, Going Further

UD Trucks SA has carved out a reputation for itself by going the extra mile for customers. Drivers know they can trust their vehicle, companies know their fleet is reliable, and mechanics know upkeep will be efficient. The company has been driving a culture of excellence since the UD Trucks branding was reintroduced in 2011.

“Our manufacturing base, which has been here a long time, is very strong,” says MD, Filip Van den Heede.

The company’s 300 people helped sell more than 3000 vehicles last year – a triumph for Van den Heede who heads up the largest operation for UD Trucks outside of Japan.

“We have been advancing through the Japanese ideal of Kaizen – gradually improving – and we have seen big advances across service and sales,” he says.

UD Trucks opened in South Africa in 1962 and is today part of the global Isuzu Group. Previously, the company was part of Nissan and Volvo, but the UD legacy has always been stamped on engines keeping the brand in the minds both internally and externally.

Today, the company is enjoying much success in a local and global economy rife with challenges, and in a regional industry packed with competition.

UD Trucks South Africa manufacturers and sells medium- and heavy-duty vehicles for the local market. As a market leader, you can see UD Trucks traversing sub-Saharan Africa, with the silver UD logo sparkling under the African sun. Heavy industry is the catalyst of economic growth in this part of the world, with mining, construction, infrastructure development, energy, and agriculture dominant sectors. To serve these industries effectively, UD Trucks offers a carefully crafted range that is intentionally reliable, robust, and ready to go.

EXTREMELY STRONG

Since the reopening of the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic, Van den Heede and team have focused on delivering a full package for customers, not just a solid vehicle, but an entire ecosystem of services that is backed up by a notable footprint across the region. This ensures customers receive what they value most – vehicle uptime.

“We provide excellent heavy-duty and medium-duty trucks that perform for our clients, and we are extremely strong on the aftermarket business in SA and the neighbouring countries,” Van den Heede explains. “We are also looking into innovative transport solutions. We are advanced with connected services – we have many advanced telematics options for our customers, and we give them insight into how the vehicles are performing. We are also well positioned with service agreements, and we have made good progress in the last few years developing those service agreements which give customers uptime. Obviously, we have the more traditional services such as driver training and 24-hour breakdown cover, but what really sets us apart is the comprehensive service offering.”

This combination of product and service is a statement from a global business that is aiming for pole position within the markets that it is active. Among the top three in Japan, where it is the leader in the tractor market, UD is an industry-leader in sub-Saharan Africa. The company calls on a dedicated dealer network, which is made up of many longstanding partnerships, across 11 countries including Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, and Mauritius.

“We have been working hard on what we call our ‘extra mile promise’. That is our brand guarantee, and it sees us doing more across the whole value chain for customers. This is evident in our service offering where we secure good uptime for customers and we have good connected services within the fleet. What differentiates us is that we are backed by Japanese quality, reliability, and durability. Also, our vehicles are highly fuel efficient and they are fit for purpose. They are not about bells and whistles, they are durable and provide the features that our customers really value,” says Van den Heede.

Aftermarket is an area where UD Trucks is particularly strong. The company is partnered with a number of brands across the supply chain, delivering genuine and like-for-like replacement parts into South Africa, where UD engineers across the network keep a comprehensive stock. Even though carrying stock in this way comes at a price, the company is committed to its promise of increased uptime and efficiency.

“Availability of parts at our dealerships is exceptional,” says Van den Heede, adding that cheaper brands cannot match UD’s aftermarket support or uptime.

The concentration on a premier aftermarket service comes as the company looks to highlight potential increases in Total Profit Over Lifetime (TPOL) over Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). For Van den Heede, UD Trucks goes much further than low TCO.

“The vehicle, the service, the uptime is all included, and we aim to maintain a high level across our entire network. We take extra costs to have good parts availability and to have skilled dealerships. This helps to optimise TPOL,” he says.

LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY

Working closely with customers, UD Trucks has heard the call from around the world, and is looking to modernise to deliver lower emissions vehicles. In South Africa, this is a choice of the company, not a legislative directive, demonstrating the strength of internal commitment to environmental care while not compromising on performance.

“It is very close to our vision and strategy,” explains Van den Heede. “We were the first manufacturer in the country to introduce Euro 5 emission standard vehicles, produced in South Africa. Our competitors may have introduced these vehicles, but always on an import basis. We have scaled up the skills in our factory to have a range of heavy-duty offered completely as Euro 5. South African legislation is at Euro 2 and so we are far behind when it comes to international standards.”

European emissions standards define the acceptable limit for exhaust emissions in the EU. The first iteration came in 1993 with Euro 1, and the latest governance was released in 2014 with the Euro 6 standard. Euro 7 will come into play in 2025. Euro 5 standards centred around lower CO₂ emissions in exhaust output, whereas Euro 6 has focused on nitrogen oxide (NOx). For Van den Heede, and for UD Trucks President Kouji Maruyama, realising a more sustainable logistics industry is paramount.

“We feel from an emission point of view, linked to our vision of Better Life, we only bring in Euro 3, but we really prefer to have Euro 5 on our agenda. That is our short-term sustainability focus and I think that will help South Africa with its emissions challenge.

“We are also looking at alternative fuels alongside some of our customers. We want to bring in gas solutions with Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). We are also looking at our Fujin and Raijin solutions which is automation and electrification of our vehicles. Many prototype vehicles are being tested with customers currently in Japan. We don’t feel the affordability is there yet to bring those vehicles to South Africa on a grand scale.”

ADAPTING TO THE MARKET

Since the Covid-19 pandemic subsided in South Africa, many companies have seen a quick bounce back with customers returning in droves, and spend flowing through various industries to bring capacity back online. However, new challenges and hurdles have rapidly relaced those of 2020, giving industry leaders more to consider.

“We thought the worst was behind us,” suggests can den Heede. “War in the Middle East and Ukraine has strained supply chains significantly, and we are a global company which is exposed to the unpredictability that comes with that. Compared to the pre-Covid period, this level of uncertainty and volatility was unheard of. Logistics from Asia to South Africa, and the unpredictability of the lead times, has created massive pressure in supply chains for both our own factories and our aftermarket promise.”

Combine this supply chain atmosphere with the general uncertainty at global level around the future of the industry, as transport emissions come under increasing pressure, and the automotive sector sits within an unpredictable environment.

“We are now adapting to the market with all of the supply chain challenges, logistics challenges, customer needs that are changing, and the delay of purchasing new vehicles so keeping the aftermarket offering solid,” says Van den Heede of the company’s longer-term plan.

He adds that UD Trucks is also, deliberately, very involved with a local supply chain, regional upliftment, CSR campaigns, and ongoing people improvement initiatives to ensure that the company can drive industry leadership locally.

“We are now a Level Three BBBEE company. We were awarded by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) as the first heavy-duty manufacturer to come up to Level Three last year, and we have maintained that this year. We also achieved awards for youth and female empowerment, and overall excellence. I have been driving this hard over the past couple of years and it all comes back to giving our customers more sustainable transport solutions.”

He highlights the company’s Ultimate Women Program, expanded in June 2024, which helps to empower and upskill women in the industry through the provision of opportunities that would not otherwise be available. A joint effort between the Commercial Transport Academy (CTA), Southern African Bus Operators Association (SABOA), and Clarendon Transport Underwriting Managers (CTU), this program is bringing fresh ideas to the sector.

“We have donated vehicles to give opportunities for the attainment of new roles. It’s an interesting initiative from the CTA and we support that very much. It’s a nice eco-system that has grown from a CSR campaign, and with high level of unemployment in the country these initiatives are vital,” says Van den Heede.

Similarly, across the supply chain – which Van den Heede views as a singular value adding operation – there is robust partnership and shared ambition. Local and international partners support with spare parts and equipment. Infrastructure partners are typically international organisation but maintenance of the manufacturing facility is a local operation. Technology providers on the service side are both local and global, and everything from telematics to digital transformation is vital for the ongoing sustainability of the company. “We also have a lot of partners here in South Africa that are helping us with our sustainability drive, including solar energy companies that will help us reduce our emissions at our factory. Downstream, we have suppliers that help us with competency training across our dealers and importers across Africa,” he explains.

Ultimately, these collaborations form part of the wider UD Trucks foundation for sustainable growth which is centred around people, planet, and better logistics under the banner of Better Life. “Again, we work on this following a kaizen approach,” Van den Heede states.

He joined UD Trucks in 2008 after working in the automotive industry for most of his early career. He has headed up various divisions of UD Trucks globally, and was responsible for launching the company’s Croner and Kuzer product ranges in 2017. In 2020, just at the worst time, he moved to South Africa. “There was lockdown and months of very little sales. Keeping the company sustainable through that, without dramatically impacting people, is something I am proud of. It has created loyalty in our teams.”

Utilising the fantastic product range at UD Trucks’ disposal, and harnessing the loyalty of the fantastic team, Van den Heede is looking forward with a growth appetite. He remains confident that locally manufactured trucks for the local market, created alongside a world-class local value chain, and backed by industry leading service provision will allow UD Trucks to continue going the extra mile.