OUT OF HIDING

THE NEW ECX ... to be known as the Performer ... a winner in the making it is hoped.	FleetWatch got its first sighting of ERF's new ECX now launched in South Africa by ERF Trucks SA on the MAN stand at last year's Frankfurt show in Germany. ERF UK is wholly owned by MAN in Germany but MAN adopts a hands-off approach to the local distributor which reports directly to ERF UK.

At last! ERF Trucks SA is coming out of what has been a relatively silent period and is doing so in grand style with the launch of the dynamic ECX and ECS trucks onto the South African market writes Patrick O'Leary.

FleetWatch has to be honest by saying that the silence of the new local distributor was a little disheartening following the Cape Transport Holdings debacle which saw ERF pop in for a short visit to this company as its local distributor before CTC went under.

Prior to that, the ERF label had been handled by the Dorbyl Group - an exercise which proved the wisdom of sticking to core competencies. Dorbyl is great on buses but not on trucks. The short lived Dorbyl/Tata marriage also proved this.

Given this background, and the fact that the marque was now in the hands of yet another local distributor - with head-office in Zimbabwe nogal - you will understand the reason for the little prickle of doubt that started to creep in.

Sure we were told the new crowd were not making much noise until they had all their ducks in a row in terms of outlets and facilities to back the product. However, while we admire the adoption of such a stance, the bumpy road the marque had travelled up to then served to feed the doubt.

Well, the good news is that it was all true. The new management of ERF Trucks SA was getting things in place before coming out onto the stage in front of the spotlight - and apart from new trucks, it seems there's also some innovative new customer service offerings on the way.

For a start, ERF Trucks SA is establishing a countrywide network and maintains that operators will not be more than 200kms from the nearest service point. "Our aim is to have readily available, competitively-priced parts to back up our operation and will introduce smart cards that enable the history of a vehicle to be sourced at the point of service. This will enable both the operator to keep track of vehicle costs as well as our service outlets providing the most cost-effective service," says national sales and marketing director of ERF Trucks SA, Chris Pinto.

A totally new innovation is the introduction of a customer care and reward system that will be the first in the truck industry in Southern Africa. "We have adopted the slogan 'The ERF Extra Mile' and all these components are part of going that 'extra' mile for our customers," says Pinto. 

ERF has also launched a help line number 0800 ERF ERF (or for the traditionalists 0800 373 373) which will connect operators in need with the service centre nearest them. FleetWatch will bring you more details of this new service in a future edition.

As for the new trucks, Pinto reckons that, coupled with a revitalised approach by the company, they will provide a base for an aggressive marketing campaign to restore and increase market share as well as set new standards in after sales service and parts supply says 

"Inquiries about the ECX - which will be known as the Performer - and ECS have poured in since the launch of these models in Europe late last year. On the basis of this, I believe we will surprise the market in the next few months with our figures.

"The ERF's penchant for producing winners is evident in these trucks. Their all-new state-of-art European-styled cabs in the tried and tested combination with Cummings engines matched to Eaton transmissions have added another dimension to the business of transport," he says.

The ERF trucks come to the party with the reputation of having won the Fuel Duel trials in Europe with a 11,4% advantage over competing brands in over 700 tests that took place.

The curtain is up. The players have taken their positions. Let the show go on.