Jurgens Truck Bodies were officially launched at this year’s Johannesburg International Motor Show.
When the Jurgens family came to South Africa from the Netherlands in 1950, the patriarch, Geert (Oubaas) Jurgens, brought with him a finely honed art of body building that he used to set-up business with his two sons, building bread trucks and mobile libraries. Two years later they entered the field of caravan manufacture. Now, 60 years later, the business returns to its roots with Jurgens Steelworx, expanding its operations to building truck bodies in addition to its trailers. The move was sparked by a request from a major motor manufacturer to design and produce a drop-side truck body. This challenge led to an enormous amount of in-depth research to design a product that is both light and strong. The end result is a modular system thatallows many components to be interchangeable between different truck sizes and makes. This enables Jurgens Steelworx to manufacture to stock and reduces lead times.Jurgens has partnered with Magnis Trucks to take this innovative new body concept to the market – a logical alliance as both companies are members of the ImperialGroup.
The modular system has four unique features:- Weight reduction – Two options are available: a steel body with aluminium floor or a complete steel body and floor. The average weight saving per metre is 25% for the aluminium floor body and 10% for the steel floor body.
- Financial benefits – Increased payload, reduced vehicle registration fees and lower fuel consumption.
- Flexibility –Truck bodies can be assembled at the truck dealership, which reduces the risk of theft, lowers on-the-road costs and takes a four-hour build process per truck on average. The modular system also reduces repair costs on vehicles because it is a simple bolt-off, bolt-on replacement of damaged parts, which reduces vehicle downtime.
- Corrosion resistance – All the components are e-coated and epoxy-powder-coated, which provides exceptional corrosion resistance in line with motor vehicle standards. It is also possible to hot-dip galvanise a complete body, which is a great benefit in coastal regions.
