Capital Equipment News January-February 2024

Hino SA aims for further growth in 2024

Hino South Africa has set an ambitious target to grow its sales volume by 15% to 3 800 units in 2024, compared to the 3 300 units it retailed in 2023. This is in pursuit of a market share of 10% in the overall South African truck market forecast of 34 800 units in 2024. Anton Falck, Vice President of Hino South Africa, announced this at a media briefing at the Toyota Africa Parts Centre, Ekurhuleni, on 24 January. “The overall truck market in South Africa grew by 9% in 2023 over 2022, going from sales of 30 149 units in 2022 to 32 907 last year. Medium and heavy truck volume remained almost the same, while the big growth was in the extra-heavy segment, which rose by 21,5 % from 15 191 units sold in 2022 to 18 458 units retailed in 2023. This meant that 56% of total truck sales in South Africa in 2023 were in this premium category,” said Falck. “We were not a serious competitor in that market for much of 2023, but now we are pinning our sales increase on the new 700 range to boost our overall market share. The new model has been well received in the market, and what is interesting is that many of the buyers are purchasing a Hino for the first time. We are forecasting to more than double our extra-heavy truck sales from the 377 Mercedes-Benz attains market leader position in 2023 with its Actros and Arocs range The Automotive Business Council, NAAMSA, recently released the 2023 new vehicle statistics, and for the fourth consecutive year, Mercedes-Benz Trucks claimed the market leader position for heavy commercial vehicles, reaffirming why the Mercedes-Benz Actros won the NAAMSA Extra-Heavy Commercial Vehicle of the Year award in 2023. The Arocs range for construction and distribution significantly grew its unit sales in 2023 compared to the previous year. This again indicates that the construction industry is regaining momentum and that the Arocs, focusing on reduced mainte nance costs for customers, is a force to be reckoned with.

The Hino SA team at the 2024 media briefing last month.

units sold this year to 750 in 2024,” he added. Hino sales in South Africa, including the Hino 200 trucks, which are reported as sales in the light commercial vehicle

segment, totalled 3,329 units in 2023. This placed Hino South Africa in eighth place among Hino distributors worldwide, with Hino selling 135,203 trucks and buses globally last year. b

ber, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Daimler Truck Southern Africa. In addition, Daimler Truck Southern Af rica (DTSA) and its brands Mercedes-Benz Trucks, FUSO Trucks and Mercedes-Benz Buses remains the largest Commercial Ve hicle seller in South Africa, ranking number 1 in the Top 15, according to NAAMSA’s Industry New Vehicle Sales Report, De cember 2023. b

Mercedes-Benz Trucks to support their business. We thank you for your business. In addition, I would like to commend our dealers and general distributors for their ongoing efforts to support our customers across our entire value chain. We are op timistic that the heavy commercial vehicle market will remain strong. “ We look forward to continuing to serve our customers in 2024,” says Maretha Ger

“In a market where customers are spoiled with choice, we are beyond grateful for our customers who trust

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