So says Bevan Nel (main photo), CEO of the Chinese brand LDV in South Africa. “Competition is fierce and will become even fiercer with more and more brands, mainly from China, entering the South African vehicle market,” he tells Dealerfloor.

“The Chinese brands that entered the local market a few years ago, had a head start, while a number of new brands arrived recently. All the brands compete for the same resources in terms of getting the attention of motor groups for floor space and also customers.

With the current automotive market not firing on all cylinders so to speak, Bevan says motor groups are also careful who to bring onboard. “LDV, like the rest, finds this challenging, but is opening up dealerships on a regular basis, which bodes well for the brand. We aim for bigger listed and smaller private motor groups across the country to give us a good representation.”

Speaking of representation, Bevan says the strategy in opening up dealerships is to follow consumer spend, meaning a focus on where there are large concentrations of potential customers and provinces like Gauteng and the Western Cape.

“Notwithstanding this approach, we also have a good representation in KZN, North West and Limpopo and making inroads in the remaining provinces. We strive to have a good spread right across the country in all of the provinces to render first class service on a national level and inspire customer confidence,” he says.

Bevan says he is also optimistic about the arrival of the D90 SUV in Q1 next year and a strong commercial line-up in 2025 consisting of panel vans and delivery vehicles of various sizes. “We are in the process of homologating products and will look at the viability of adding a single cab workhorse to our T60 range. The price of such a single cab will have to be spot-on to succeed, and we will see what the future holds in this regard.

“Currently our T60 bakkie range, especially the range topper with its 2-litre, 160 kW turbodiesel engine and high spec level, is proving to be very popular. It undercuts the brands with similar power outputs substantially with price while offering a high spec level,” he tells Dealerfloor.

Bevan says although LDV and MG, with a presence in South Africa, have the same parent company, the Chinese automotive giant, SAIC, will operate completely separately locally as the LDV range is based on the Australian model line-up. What also counts in our favour is that LDV has a 10-year proven track record in Australia, a country with similar bakkie needs and aspirations as South Africa.

“The large volumes of LDV products we have sold are testimony to the quality and popularity of the brand with history that not many of the competitors have,” he says.

“We are optimistic about the future in South Africa as we were prepared for the competition we face on different levels. We have increased our marketing and sales teams, intensified the training of our dealership sales teams and offered an exceptionally good product at a very competitive price. Add to that a growing dealer network and we’re set to make good inroads,” Bevan concludes.