The first two days of the 2013 Johannesburg International Motor Show (JIMS) were rather lucrative for Scania which sold a quantity of trucks, as well as one of the first examples of it sophisticated new bus, known as the Scania Touring.

Gideon de Swardt, PRO for Scania in South Africa, says, “We were launching this bus on the show, an important example for our model line-up,  but the first 10 we imported  actually ended up being sold prior to the show.  Obviously, with a deal of that magnitude we could not delay the sales, but we managed  to hire one of the buses from a customer for the show duration.

“On the very first day of the show we sold this example straight off the stand! I’ve been in the truck business for many years and this is the first time this has happened.

“Then on that same day, the Thursday VIP preview day, a cross-border customer placed a double-digit order for some very specialised truck-tractors, to be used mainly in the mining industry. I cannot quote figures, but the order was substantial.”

“On the second day we sold a further eight vehicles, comprising various models. One of the customers flew in a private aircraft from Louis Trichardt, landed at Rand Airport, arrived at the show and straight away purchased the Scania Streamline, our latest edition to the range, launched in Europe only a few months ago. This is one of our flagship truck models.”