There has been some notable movement in the upper offices of the South African commercial vehicle industry with two well known international companies announcing new leadership appointments within weeks of each other.

IVECO South Africa has a new Managing Director in Roberto Nobili while ZF Aftermarket has appointed Maic Dressen as Managing Director of ZF Services South Africa and Sub regional Head for Sub Saharan Africa and the DomTom regions.

Different companies. Different sectors of the industry. But both appointments matter because the people sitting in these chairs help shape the direction, customer relationships and growth of businesses which form an important part of the commercial vehicle structure in South Africa and across the continent. Let’s start with IVECO.

Roberto Nobili officially took over as Managing Director of IVECO South Africa on September 28, succeeding Martin Liebenberg who resigned after many years with the company to pursue a new professional opportunity.

Nobili is certainly not arriving in the industry with learner plates on. He is an engineer by qualification and brings a strong manufacturing background together with 28 years of automotive experience. His career has included work within IVECO group companies in South America and South Africa across the truck, bus, new vehicle and pre owned vehicle divisions.

That breadth of experience should stand him in good stead. Anyone who has spent time in this industry knows that selling a truck is only one part of the story. The real relationship with an operator stretches through the life of that vehicle and touches sales, service, parts, uptime, used vehicles and, most importantly, people.

IVECO says Nobili has the industry experience, leadership capability and vision to build on the company’s successes and take the South African business into its next phase.

At the same time, the company paid tribute to outgoing Managing Director Martin Liebenberg, noting the role he played in steering IVECO South Africa through periods of transformation and changing market conditions while strengthening relationships with customers, dealers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders.

So that is one change at the top. Now let’s move across to the aftermarket where there is another.

New MD at ZF Aftermarket
ZF Aftermarket has appointed Maic Dressen as Managing Director of ZF Services South Africa and given him an additional regional brief as Sub regional Head for Sub Saharan Africa and the DomTom regions. His task is not only to lead the South African operation but also to support ZF Aftermarket’s continued development across Africa.

Dressen brings more than 20 years of experience in the international automotive aftermarket and, interestingly, his relationship with South Africa goes right back to the start of his career. In 2002 he arrived here as a student intern with BMW. That experience, according to ZF, sparked an affinity with the African continent which has stayed with him throughout his career.

He later joined ZF Trading where he spent the first four years of his professional career as Key Account

Manager for the Middle East and Africa. From there he moved into the original equipment sector before returning to the aftermarket and taking on a number of international leadership positions. Before rejoining ZF, he served as Vice President Sales for the Middle East, Africa and India at a German automotive parts manufacturer.

What caught the FleetWatch eye in Dressen’s comments was his emphasis on people and local understanding. He describes the aftermarket as a people driven business built on trust, personal engagement and long-term relationships. Yep. That rings true. You can have the best product in the world but if the relationship, support and availability are not there when a truck is standing, the operator is not going to be impressed.

There is also a strong Africa focus to the appointment. ZF points out that South Africa is one of its longest established locations globally and provides an experienced team, technical capability and infrastructure from which customers and partners in other African markets can be supported.

Andre Scholle, Vice President and Head of Region India, Turkey, MEA and CIS at ZF Aftermarket, says the growth of the company’s offering through a string of mergers and acquisitions has created the need for dedicated regional leadership. He also makes the point that ZF deliberately brought someone into the role from outside the organisation to inject new thinking and help transfer skills developed in South Africa into other African markets.

Dressen himself is equally clear that Africa cannot be treated as one market. Each country has its own economic environment, vehicle parc, distribution structures and customer requirements. That may sound obvious but it is an important point. Africa is often spoken about as though one business model can simply be rolled out from Cape Town to Cairo. It cannot.

For Dressen, the stated ambition is sustainable growth built by listening to individual markets, finding new business opportunities and strengthening partnerships across the continent.

So there we have it. Two new men in two influential chairs. Nobili takes the wheel at IVECO South Africa with almost three decades of automotive experience behind him, while Dressen returns to ZF and to a continent which has played a major role throughout his career.

FleetWatch wishes both gentlemen well in their new positions. These are interesting times in the trucking industry and there is certainly no shortage of challenges. But there are opportunities too. As always, the proof will come in what happens on the ground with customers, dealers, workshops, fleets and the people who keep the wheels turning. Go for it guys!

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