Dealerfloor spoke to the Managing Director (MD) and a shareholder of the Fuzion Group, John Trollip, about their successes and future plans.

The other two directors are Charles Collins and Leon Boshoff, who are not directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the Group’s dealerships. John as MD and Christelle Vorster, the Financial Director, look after the smooth operation of the business.

The Fuzion group consists, amongst others, of various UD Truck dealerships, Fuzion Coachworks and a number of Isuzu, Chery, Haval, Suzuki, Nissan and Fuzion Pre-Owned dealerships for trucks as well as passenger vehicles. These dealerships are all spread throughout the greater Western Cape, including Cape Town, Malmesbury, Swellendam, Citrusdal, Worcester and Vredenburg.

“We are excited about a number of brands and what promise they hold for the future. We are also constantly keeping our eyes open for opportunities with many new manufacturers, especially from China entering the South African automotive scene. Our latest acquisition is Nissan West Coast joining the Fuzion ranks this year,” John says.

“Our priority is to see that all our existing dealerships perform well by rendering top-class service levels by well-trained and motivated staff. We are also working on integrating all our digital operations for consumers to relate better to what we have on offer and to make life easier for them. Innovation is crucial to the way forward in running dealerships effectively and benefits not only us but our staff, our customers and even the OEMs.

“Running our various dealerships is done by our dealer principals and general managers working in tandem at a multi-franchise level but also a line reporting system for each individual brand we represent,” he tells us.

John says in the smaller and rural towns, the pool of skilled and well-trained people for specific needs at dealership level, remains scarce, and they put in a huge effort into training and retaining their staff.

“We have one Suzuki dealer, the one in Swellendam, and it is performing beyond expectations. The dealership in the town is also part of a multi-franchise set-up with Isuzu, a brand he believes can do even better in that area,” he tells Dealerfloor.

When it comes to Nissan, the demise of the hugely popular NP200 bakkie brings challenges, but he believes sooner rather than later, the brand will reset itself with more products.

No complaints about the Chinese brands that keep making inroads with exceptional value-for-money propositions and then Isuzu, which is such a well-established brand commercially as well as in the leisure segment of the bakkie world.

John is very proud of their UD Trucks division, especially their head office at the new state-of-the-art premises, which opened last year in Kraaifontein, Cape Town. “Between our six UD Trucks dealerships and the Isuzu Trucks that form part of most of our Isuzu dealerships, the commercial space has become very important to us.

“Although certain segments of the truck business have not quite come to life after the general election and the positive sentiment the results brought to the economy, it takes time to filter down to all sectors. We remain positive, and I firmly believe a drop in the interest rate is the push we need to move the economy into a higher gear,” John concludes.