HEAVY COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
UD Trucks is engineering reliability for Southern Africa
Juanita Pienaar spoke with Filip Van den Heede, Managing Director of UD Trucks Southern Africa; Esaia Taunyane, Sales Director; and Sanjay Naipal, Aftermarket Director, to unpack how the brand is approaching uptime, safety, and long-term value in a challenging operating environment. I n Southern Africa’s commercial transport sector, the true cost of ownership is rarely confined to a price tag on a purchase order.
We often rely on cost – the cost of the truck, the cost of fuel, the cost of insurance, what is the maintenance going to cost me?
Vehicle downtime, security risks, fuel theft, long border delays, and uneven service coverage all exert a far greater influence on a fleet’s prof- itability than many operators initially anticipate. For UD Trucks Southern Africa, these realities have shaped a strategy that places uptime, reliabili- ty, and network strength at the centre of its value proposition. As Managing Director Filip Van den Heede explains, the company’s
Sanjay Naipal, Aftermarket Director.
CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS MARCH 2026 20
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