UD Trucks Announces Sales Growth across the Middle East in 2018

The UAE market has been challenging over the past twelve months; however, UD Trucks again performed well and saw its market share increase.

Qatar and Bahrain remain essential markets for UD Trucks as the brand enjoys a significant market share, which strengthened further in 2018. In Qatar, UD trucks dominate the Japanese segment and, more specifically, the construction business. In Bahrain, the brand continues to hold the number one position in the market.

 Saudi Arabia has experienced another challenging year, with the total market continuing to drop. However, UD Trucks managed to keep a good level of sales while improving its market share in some key segments, such as waste management and construction. Saudi Arabia remains a crucial focus for the brand, which has aggressive plans to further grow and support its customers in the Kingdom.

Lebanon and Jordan were reactivated in 2018 as the brand transitioned from legacy trucks to new models in both the heavy and medium-duty sectors. UD Trucks has high ambitions in these two markets as it leverages the solid brand reputation built over recent years.

It also enjoyed an increased market share in two critical East African markets – Ethiopia and Sudan. In Ethiopia, the challenge remains related to hard currency availability, yet despite these challenging conditions, the band performed very well, especially in the last quarter of 2018. The brand has also registered good sales in Sudan since it officially launched its new models in February 2018, both in logistics for medium duty and mining and construction for heavy duty.

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In Pakistan, UD Trucks was officially relaunched in June 2018, with fantastic initial feedback from customers regarding the brand’s heavy-duty truck, ‘Quester’, which was said to become the truck to pave the way towards modern and efficient vehicles in the country. The brand has enjoyed excellent sales traction since the official relaunch in Pakistan.

2019 is an important year for the brand as it investigates entering new regional markets with significant potentials, such as Tunisia, Kenya, and many others in West and North Africa.

2018 saw the Middle East launch of two new Quester models designed for the heavy construction industry – the Quester 6x4R-40 Tons and 8x4R- 46 T with hub reduction, which puts the brand as the unique Japanese manufacturer offering a complete heavy-duty range as UD Trucks is benefitting from being part of the Volvo Group and having access to its technologies.

UD Trucks’ regional offices in Dubai support its customers, including a parts distribution centre, which delivers over 12,000 spare parts to UD Trucks partners across the MEENA region. Thanks to its strategic location in the UAE, UD Trucks importers enjoy short lead times and lower transport and inventory costs to serve customers in the region better.

UD Trucks’ objective is to maximise customer satisfaction by providing the required tools to ‎succeed, not only in the products but also in delivering the highest customer service standards, reducing vehicle downtime and minimising long-term running costs. In this respect, customers have benefited from UD Genuine Service and UD Genuine Parts, as well as hi-tech features such as a real-time Fuel Coach system and the latest telematics hardware designed to optimise the ownership experience.

Mourad Hedna, President of UD Trucks MEENA, said; “This region is very strategic for UD Trucks and we are reinforcing our team and creating a customer-centric organisation to serve the best interests of our customers and partners. Given our modern full product range, our strong partners in the region, and our commitment and dedication to serve our customers, added to our long Japanese heritage, we have all the tools to succeed and we can only see a bright future for UD Trucks and its customers in the region. “