Aftermarket support and servicing and an increase in sales landed Volvo in the top spot of the Scott Byers report.

The vehicle manufacturer saw an increase in its sales in the first quarter of 2017, which ranked first place in the report, while its aftermarket support and servicing, which forms a critical part of its business, ranked second.

Torbjorn Christensson, president of Volvo Group Southern Africa said the company prides itself on being an “Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) with a truly innovative approach to the industry within which we operate”. He said proof of this was their seriousness about safety. “This is not just talk, as a manufacturer we are aware that when a heavy vehicle or truck is involved in a collision, the consequences are usually great and have an impact far beyond the driver,” he said.

“We hope to maintain the top spot in sales and are certainly going to do all we can to ensure that we can take the number one spot for parts and service too,” he added.

Volvo said it was not only committed to producing innovative products, but also strives to provide a complete service offering to owners of its vehicles. “To this end, after-market support and servicing are imperative to our business and we are proud that in the report we have made great strides to improving our ranking in this area,” said Theunis Eloff, commercial aftermarket director of Volvo Trucks Southern Africa.

Christensson said that to purchase a truck was possibly one of the easiest steps of the purchasing process. However, he added that “continued support and parts availability are imperative to ensuring that business owners are least impacted.” He said these will remain core focus areas of the business to ensure all Volvo Trucks owners maintain optimal uptime of their vehicles and fleets.

The Scott Byers report showed that while Volvo Trucks made great in roads to improve its overall customer experience, there was still scope to continue improving their overall services and offerings to customers.

“Growth in the various areas are not  a short term goal that is timed for the survey – we always aim to ensure that the levels of service and support experienced by our customers remains at a constant level of satisfaction in all touch points throughout the Volvo value chain,” Christensson said.