Johannesburg Truck & Bus, owned by Imperial Group’s Motor Retail Division, has officially opened its new R50-million dealership in City Deep, Johannesburg. The new Service Facility forms part of MAN Truck & Bus South Africa’s nationwide network of 31 proprietary and independent dealerships dedicated to supporting the full spectrum of MAN truck and bus products.
General manager Greg Mervitz says the new dealership was designed not only to function as a ‘drive-through’ service centre but also to rate as a Four-Star eco-friendly building.
“The new building includes renovated office space, a new workshop with eleven 30-metre drive-through service bays, an integrated parts warehouse and ordering department with roadside receiving and dispatch areas, as well as under-roof parking for 28 vehicles.
“The strategically configured workflow of the building allows for improved vehicle servicing turnaround times while bringing greater levels of security to our parts warehouse,” he says, adding that from a ‘green’ perspective, the new facility was also designed for efficiency.
“The fitment of solar panels to our roof enables us to run approximately 80% off-grid during peak hours in summer, while a water harvesting system and recycling plant allows us to use rain water for our wash bays and gardens. A waste-disposal company has been contracted to remove all redundant product from our premises, a process which generates more revenue for the dealership.”
Having purchased the dealership from Eskom six years ago while it was located in Rosherville, Gauteng, the Imperial Group appointed Mervitz as general manager to transform the business from a parastatal organisation into a fully-fledged entrepreneurial operation. He has certainly succeeded in this given that a turover climb of 600% has been recorded since the buyout in 2008.
Situated on 22 000 square-metres of prime real estate in the epicentre of South Africa’s logistics hub (City Deep Container Terminal), Johannesburg Truck & Bus’s new dealership is ideally positioned to capitalise on the growth in the road freight industry, both domestically and intra-Africa.
“The new dealership, apart from being close to major highways, will also benefit from its close proximity to the new MAN Parts Distribution Centre in Germiston, which, like Mervitz‘s operation, is geared to keeping vehicle uptime at optimum levels,” says Bruce Dickson, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus South Africa.
Equally thrilled at this new dvelopment is Geoff du Plessis, executive chairman of MAN Truck & Bus South Africa who says the success of MAN’s relationship with Imperial over the years has been forged on a mutual understanding that customer satisfaction is the number-one focus of the respective operations.
“For MAN, that means supplying and supporting its independent dealers with purpose-built products, market-friendly financing solutions, skills transfer and capacity building, rapid parts supply and swift warranty settlement,” he says.
Via its Dealer Development Programme, MAN offers ongoing support to its dealer network through an array of initiatives designed to boost both human and technical capacity in its dealerships, including enterprise-wide skills development, specialised tool provision, marketing support and various additional tools to help improve operational efficiency.
“The time has never been better for MAN to significantly increase its market share in this country as well as north of our borders. With this new facility as its platform, Johannesburg Truck & Bus will be a primary partner in helping us achieve this.“
