
Despite tough trading conditions in a commercial vehicle market which was down 18.9% in 2020, Isuzu Motors South Africa (IMSAf) increased its share of the truck market by 0.4% with total truck sales of 2 570 units. This represented 13.4% of the overall market. With these figures, Isuzu claimed the number one Japanese Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in the Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicle segments for eight and seven consecutive years respectively.
“2020 was a tough year for everyone and we found ourselves facing unprecedented challenges at every level of the business. I must commend team IMSAf for a job well done under very difficult circumstances. We are also proud to have such strong and competitive products in the key segments of the commercial vehicle market,” says Craig Uren, Senior Vice President: Sales, Service, and Marketing.

“Engineering and technology is a key factor in the success of our products in this space. The Automatic Manual Transmission (AMT) is, for example, an outstanding feature which brings real world benefits to fleet operators as it offers significantly more economical operation of the trucks due to less wear on transmission components,” adds Uren.
Isuzu also performed better than expected in the Light Commercial Vehicle segment with its D-MAX bakkie. The D-MAX managed to maintain strong sales throughout the year with a total of 12 724 units sold in 2020 compared to 16 156 units sold in 2019.
Despite the drop-in sales volume, the D-MAX sales outperformed the overall LCV market which saw a decrease of 24.8% with total sales of 77 449 in 2020 compared to 103 019 units sold in 2019. Isuzu gained 0.7% market share to 16.4% compared to 15.7% in 2019.
Editor’s Footnote: Hey there Craig Uren ya good man. Good to hear your voice again. Welcome back. Hee Heeeeeeee.