UD Trucks makes comeback to East African market

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s one of the world’s leading commercial vehicle brands, UD Trucks has long been a major player in the Eastern African market.

Yet 2020 is set to be a landmark year for the Japanese brand that is fully owned by the Volvo Group, as it rolls out ambitious new plans for its operations in Kenya.

CMC Motors Ltd, a motor dealer with a rich legacy spanning over 70 years in Kenya and the regional market is the dealer of choice appointed by UD Trucks to continue with the dedicated development, advancement and expansion of the brand both locally and regionally.

Patrick Amenya, the group sales Director said “The UD Truck brand has a rich heritage in the region and specifically in Kenya where it is being relaunched. CMC is a household name and brand in Kenya whereby we have been in existence for over 70 years, UD brand has had a home at the company for over three decades.

The UD Truck brand has been assembled locally at the KVM plant in Thika in which CMC is a joint shareholder with 35 % and the Kenyan Government with 32.5 % alongside other shareholders. The assembly process creates direct jobs to Kenyans with auxiliary one emanating from parts supply chain”.

CMC is proud to offer to UD Truck customers the new range of models that are anchored in the brand DNA of “Ultimate Dependability.” The Quester and Croner range are designed to go the extra mile for the customer in terms of delivering unique solutions for every application.

In line with the Big 4 Agenda of the Kenyan government on local manufacturing, the UD Trucks are assembled in the state-of-the-art assembly plant – Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers -KVM in Thika. The plant was the first assembly line in Kenya having started in the year 1976.  It has an installed capacity of 6600 vehicles annually.

The facility has created jobs to Kenyan youths with greater expansions and more opportunities expected in the coming years.  Presently, there are over 290 staff working in the facility.

Jeferson Machado, Sales Director for UD Trucks East Africa commented: “Kenya is one of the major strategic markets for UD Trucks. We have been spending a lot of quality time with CMC visualizing, planning and implementing the project to re-launch UD Trucks in the market. We are now going through a really exciting time, in January we held the banking day with the major asset financing institutions, February we started the KD ( Knocked down) operations at KVM with the first units delivered by the end of February 2020, and now we are about to relaunch the full range through a major customer event in Mombasa. It has been a great journey so far and I`m confident that UD Trucks is back for good to serve our Kenyan customers.”

It is a delight to see the vehicles roll out of the assembly line, adds Patrick Amenya. The imports come in as CKD (Completely Knocked down units). It is estimated that over 500 trucks will be assembled annually. The trucks assembled at KVM include the medium duty and Heavy-duty quester.

The heavy-duty New Quester, available in both tractor head and chassis variations, introduces a range of enhancements to help customers boost their business. Features such as ESCOT (Easy safe controlled transmission)

automated manual transmission, engines with higher horsepower and comfortable cabs all promote greater fuel efficiency, productivity, driver efficiency, safety and uptime. New Quester is available in a wide range of specifications, including, making it ideal for construction industry use, with tipper, mixer and truck-with-crane applications.

Designed to excel in the medium duty segment, Croner offers options for three gross vehicle weight models and their wheelbase variants, offering a range of configurations to suit specific demands of various industries. It is also the only truck in its specific segment that offers a fully automatic gearbox (Allison), which provides ease of drive and reduces fatigue for drivers

Added peace of mind is provided by the high levels of customer and aftersales service that are offered by UD Trucks and CMC Motors.

Customers can benefit from preventive maintenance packages, two years fitted parts warranty, and dedicated sales and service teams that will go the extra mile to understand customers’ business needs. Durability, dependability, and resilience are the qualities that have made the UD Trucks brand stand out as the preferred brand.

These qualities have also enabled it to retain its resale value making it superior amongst its peers. At UD Trucks we are going the extra mile for our customers, every single day. Ultimate Dependability is our core value, our DNA. We are smart and modern in everything we do. We continuously improve performance to excel on the essentials.