Volvo Trucks South Africa celebrates 20 years in Durban

The event reflected on 20 years of local assembly, which started with 4 truck units per day in 2006 and today manufactures 12 units reliably every day or around 240 units per month. The plant will reach full capacity at 16 units per day.

Speaking at the event, Vuyo Sebata, the Plant Director, highlighted the fact that the Volvo Trucks plant in Durban has reached Silver Certification from Volvo Trucks in Sweden, which endorsed its high production quality and reliable production outputs.

“South Africa ranks highly among the 13 global assembly plants for Volvo Trucks, which means our production processes and quality standards match those of the main plants in Sweden,” says Vuyo.

Volvo Trucks South Africa also received the nod from Per-Erik Lindström, the Senior Vice President of Volvo Trucks International, who joined the proceedings in South Africa.

“With its recent introduction of the Euro 6 engine technology and the FH Aero range, one of our most advanced and fuel-efficient trucks ever designed by Volvo Trucks, South Africa can truly hold its own among our global assembly plants.”

Beyond its advances in internal combustion engines with Euro 6 compliant vehicles, Volvo Trucks also offers a range of fully electric trucks in South Africa.

“When we first announced the introduction of fully electric trucks, the world questioned our business sense. Now electric Volvo Trucks have travelled over 300 million kilometres across the globe, and we have used the insights from these first-generation trucks to develop new models capable of travelling over 450 km on a charge with a full load,” Per-Erik says.

In South Africa, the electric heavy-duty trucks from Volvo Trucks have found favour with short-haul operators, often those who serve global customers where they have to account for their carbon footprint. Volvo Trucks also use these trucks for their parts haul operations between its Pinetown plant and the Durban harbour. Other customers include nearby sugarcane growers, who have found the electric trucks perfect for on-site hauling, and large logistics providers such as DSV.

Back to its large milestone, Volvo Trucks made an effort to congratulate many of its staff for celebrating their 20th year of service in step with the plant's birthday. These include some women who have worked at the plant, both in the administration office and on the assembly line, since the plant first opened.

“Many companies preach inclusion, but we have always practised it. At our assembly plant, over 40% of our staff are women. A full 23% of our female staff complement work on the production line,” says Vuyo.

Volvo Trucks recently welcomed its new Managing Director, Stuart Potter.

Says Stuart: “We have shown the world that we are a world-class plant with the manufacturing of advanced trucks such as our Euro 6 range and the FH Aero heavy-duty range. It is only a matter of time before we add a range of electric trucks to our local assembly portfolio.”