FAW introduces new workhorse truck

AIMED at the small business community in South Africa, FAW yesterday introduced a new workhorse in the medium truck segment of the market.

The Tiger V is being produced at FAW Vehicle Manufacturers South Africa’s assembly plant in Coega, where the launch of the new truck took place yesterday.

FAW SA marketing manager Cheng Zhang said the Tiger V was aimed at individuals and small operators, with in-house finance on offer at the various dealerships in the country.

“The small, medium and micro businesses are our main market where most of our clients are, although we also do sell trucks for the bigger corporate fleets,” Zhang said.

Of the target of 1 200 vehicles to be produced at FAW’s plant at Coega this year, Zhang said at least 200 would be Tiger Vs. The company last year sold 600 new vehicles in South Africa, and has set an ambitious target of almost doubling it to 1 000 vehicles in the domestic market this year.

Zhang said the additional 200 vehicles produced at Coega this year were aimed at African export markets, with the company already exporting to Kenya and Tanzania.

He said of the 300 employees at the Coega plant, only about 10% were Chinese nationals.

FAW human resources manager Haiyang Yao said the number of South African employees could increase since the company was targeting higher sales volumes, which would mean higher production numbers at the factory.

“The trucks we manufacture at Coega are proudly South Africanmade . . . products produced by a Chinese company,” Yao said.

FAW’s plant manager, Shijie Liu, said the aim was to eventually produce 5 000 trucks a year at Coega, supplying both right-hand and lefthand drive vehicles to the African region. At present, only right-hand models were produced.

-Cindy Preller