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Africa wises up to electronics
Page 71
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SPLASH OUT and take your holidays in Kenya next year and you may be rewarded with the sight of far more used Mercedes-Benz Actros tractor units sourced from the UK than you expected. African buyers are fast overcoming their wariness of electronics, says Mike Finney sales manager at Warrington Mercedes dealership Erma Tnickworld, and Actros is benefiting.
With many years of experience in exporting second-hand trucks, Finney reports that East Africa is now takingActros in big numbers."It's happened over the past 12 months," he says.
"We're talking 1997 to 1999 vintage vehicles, mainly 6x2s. but customers are quite willing to purchase 4x2s.The days of buyers only wanting double-drive tractor units have gone."
So have the days when only steel suspension was acceptable. "They're happy to take trucks with air suspension because the roads are better than they were," says Finney.
Renault Premiums are also proving popular --quite a few have been sold there over the past few months," says Finney — but, perhaps surprisingly, there seems little interest in Volvos or Dafs."People liked the old Daf 2300s and 2600s, but they don't seem to have taken to the 85 or 95." MANs are well received, however,while Scanias do well in Tanzania, he says.
"Buyers certainly like the 3-Series, but they remain cautious when it comes to the 4-Series.They recognise that it's a more sophisticated vehicle, and fear that this will result in maintenance and repair problems in what remains a very arduous working environment."
However. Finney is sure this attitude will change. Customers in the different African countries have marked differences in their approach to purchasing trucks, he says.
"In Kenya it's the front-end price that matters," he observes. "Tanzanians are more interested in running costs, while in Uganda it's a mixture of both."
One thing is certain, however;African customers will no longer accept junk."Even if they were prepared to do so,their governments wouldn't allow it in," he says. "Everything that's sent there has to be in good condition and accompanied by a current MoT."