Delivering the goods

There’s no denying it – the agricultural industry is absolutely paramount to the social and economical well-being of any country … But a farmer’s life would be a lot more difficult without the right equipment for the job. At this year’s Nampo Harvest Day, MAN Truck & Bus South Africa once again showed how it supports this vital sector

According to Bruce Dickson, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus South Africa, the company has been exhibiting at Grain SA’s Nampo Harvest Day since the early 1990s. Its aim has been to showcase the latest road transport technologies and their supporting services – that would feel right at home on a farm or moving produce from silos to seaports …

This year, from May 13 to 16, MAN exhibited at the Agricultural Trade Show in Bothaville. “It is really important for us to be able to service the agricultural industry,” emphasises Dickson. He adds that MAN really does offer the ideal vehicles for this very important sector in our country.

A stellar example of this, as Neels Holtzhausen, sales manager at MAN Truck & Bus Centre, Bloemfontein, points out, is the Volkswagen 17.250 equipped with the cattle-body that was showcased. “This vehicle is very popular within the farming sector,” he adds.

The CLA 15.220, a smaller eight-tonner, the highway operation TGS 26.440 and the multipurpose on/off-road TGS 27.440 – which are also very popular within the agricultural industry as they offer greater diversity in operations – also joined this year’s show.

“In addition we showcased our financial products, which offer various financing options to our customers, as well as other offerings suited to truck owners – such as our maintenance and service plans – which can be tailored to the customer’s needs,” says Dickson.

MAN TopUsed, the international label for used vehicles from MAN Truck & Bus, got its fair share of attention at Nampo as well. “Many farmers transport their own products such as sheep, cattle and grain,” Holtzhausen explains. “So, it isn’t necessarily essential for them to buy new vehicles as they are only using the units seasonally,” he adds.

“New vehicles may also not be financially viable for farmers; either way, it is really important for us to offer this service to the farming community.”

However second-hand vehicles, especially if they’re bought through TopUsed, needn’t be a runner-up choice. Junior Jack Transport – a Potchefstroom-based transport company that provided some of its vehicles to MAN for the Nampo exhibition – proves this point.

Jack de Jager, owner and founder of Junior Jack Transport recounts, “In 1999, I started my transport company with a second-hand MAN. After that, I bought Mercedes-Benz trucks.” He continues: “Four years ago, MAN TopUsed in Bloemfontein, bought all the Mercedes-Benz models in my fleet – effectively trading them for MAN trucks.” De Jager is now running a 56-unit strong MAN fleet and loving it.

“The MAN TGS 26.440 currently delivers the best fuel consumption on the market, and the company’s service is outstanding,” he emphasises. “All my trucks are covered under maintenance contracts. MAN is looking after them, from bumper to bumper, up to 600 000 km tradeback. I also have a 600 000 km/three-year tradeback in plan and buyback warranties from TopUsed on my second-hand vehicles.”

With the guarantees MAN offers on its pre-owned vehicles and De Jager’s testimonial on these second-hand products, it’s easy to see why MAN’s TopUsed service attracted it’s fair share of attention … As De Jager points out, MAN’s whole exhibition was very, very striking.

“As our products, services and technology continue to improve, we will carry on exhibiting at Nampo, as the agricultural industry really is very important to us,” says Dickson. “This sector is all about efficiency and we really aim to assist its players in every way we can.”