For many years especially during the ADE era the South African truck market was dominated by a limited range of standard models of truck from a handful of manufacturers. In South Africa we had to make do with this limited choice in view of the fact that the rest of the world was not exactly falling over themselves to supply a nation that was regarded as persona non-grata on the world stage, and had some customs regulations that forced all OEMs to fit locally manufactured drive trains.

Thankfully times have changed and even though we still only consume around 0,5% of heavy world truck production today, there is a greater choice of vehicles today than ever before.

Since the re-emergence of South Africa on the world scene we have been flooded with product from every corner of the globe and sadly the country has fallen victim to a flood cheap product that only has its sticker price as a selling feature. Thankfully the South African Bureau of Standards has done their bit in preventing patently unsafe vehicles from plying our roads by the strict enforcement of minimum vehicles standards.

Despite the fact that there will always be undiscerning buyers who only buy on sticker price, top tier operators are becoming more and more discerning in their choice of vehicles. This focus is seen in a number of areas. Firstly, what is a vehicles fuel consumption, as this is a growing percentage of operating cost with high oil prices, as the worlds supply of fossil fuels diminishes ever more rapidly. The other major issue is what is a vehicles unladen or tare weight?

Most operators are paid a per ton rate and the less a truck weighs the more it will legitimately carry, and consequently earn. Overloading law enforcement is now at such a point that it is virtually impossible to move an overloaded vehicle on a national route without being caught and prosecuted. Thirdly everyone is also looking to minimize repair and maintenance cost, in that oil and filter changes are considered acceptable cost, but very few operators want to get into major component replacements if they can help it.