FleetWatch Online - 33-10 years on

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FREIGHTLINER!
A magnificent fireworks display lit up vehicles like the Freightliner Argosy 090 on display at the 10th anniversary celebrations. Although not quite matching the Namib Desert launch 10 years ago, everyone left with a warm feeling. On display were an array of great looking Freightliners such as these models, from left, the Freightliner FLD 48"RR Conventional, the Freightliner FLB 75 COE and the Freightliner FLB 90 COE. Eeeish but they good!

It's been 10 years since Freightliner entered this market with a spectacular launch in the Namib Desert which served to convincingly paint a picture of huge success ahead. While success certainly has accrued, what is not widely known is that there was a time when DCSA had to take a serious look at pulling Freightliner out of South Africa. Thanks goodness they didn't writes Patrick O'Leary

I remember that launch well. It started with a camel ride across the dunes to a place where smartly laid-out dinner tables were set in the middle of the desert from where guests were to witness a mind-boggling show. Riding out of the desert came Harley-Davidsons, cowboys on horses, Harvards flying overhead and a host of other lead-ups to the grand finale when some classy looking bonneted and cab-over Freightliners came roaring out of the dark of the desert night.

That's a short description. It was so much bigger than that. Certainly the most mind-boggling truck launch I have ever seen in this country. An early indication of the success that lay ahead for Freightliner came on the very night of the launch when Willie du Toit, that grand man of the Namibian trucking industry and MD of F.P. Du Toit Transport, handed Adolf Moosbauer - who then headed up Freightliner - a gravy stained cloth serviette with a hand written note scrawled on it. It was an order for three Freightliners, one with a Cummins engine, the second with a Detroit Diesel and the third with a Cat engine fitted.

Those were heady days for Freightliner with post-launch orders - mainly from entrepreneurial type characters such as Yellow Jacket's Alf Aveling - coming in fast. In fact, Aveling was the first customer to take delivery of a Freightliner in South Africa - and he's still a happy Freightliner customer to this day.

All was going well but then came those dark days when the Rand/Dollar exchange rate went wonky - terribly wonky. For American marques like Freightliner and International, times got extremely tough as they started pricing themselves - through no fault of their own - out of the running.

"We can boast having the first one million truck in the country. In fact it was R1,3-million. Not that we sold any but we can claim having the first in South Africa," joked Cloete at the celebration dinner.

I recall during this time paying a late afternoon visit to someone at DCSA's headquarters in Swartkops and I stumbled onto a farewell shindig for one of the management team who was leaving for overseas. I was invited to join the party for a drink and it was there that Cloete told me they were going into a meeting the next day which would be crucial to the future of Freightliner in South Africa.

"You're not going to be pulling out," I asked.

"It could well lead to that because with the volatility of the Rand being as it is, we just can't sell trucks at the prices we have to," he replied.

It was serious stuff but thankfully, they all came out of the meeting the next day with a new resolve to ride the storm. Cloete recalls the meeting well. "Christoph Köpke, then Chairman of DCSA, stated very definitely that he would not make a long-term decision based on a short-term crisis revolving around the volatility of the Rand. He stated very definitely that we were in for the long haul."

Below: left: Yellow Jacket’s Alf Aveling - seen here with Johan Cloete - was the first customer in South Africa to take delivery of a Freightliner.	Below right: A happy group, from left: Theo Swanepoel, Mark Clarkson and Theo Jooste from Caterpillar; Van der Vyver Transport’s Cornel and Emile van der Vyver and Charl Kruger; Johan Cloete from DCSA Freightliner/Fuso; Linda and Hein Schaefer from HFR Transport with Heinrich Cloete from Sandpiper Hauliers .

From the USA to join the celebration was John Merrifield, Freightliner LLC, Senior Vice President International Sales.	He who is not moved by this magnificent Freightliner FLD 48"RR Conventional beauty has no heart. Man, this is a truck!

It was a decision that was to pay off handsomely - especially over the past two years when sales of Freightliners have soared to the point where total sales since the introduction have now reached 3 000.

All this was shared and reminisced on at the 10th anniversary celebration dinner held in Swartkops. It was a warm evening shared by operators who, although competitors on the road, are friends round the dinner table. As Cloete said on the night: "The beauty of this brand is that our customers soon become our friends."

After 10 years, Freightliner has a lot of friends out there. Happy birthday Freightliner!