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C A R G O M O T O R S

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South Africa Magazine profiles Cargo Motors, a division of Imperial Holdings.

By Robert Michaels

A P R O U D

C argo Motors is a division of Imperial Holdings and proudly represents one

of the leading names in the SA motor industry – Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes-Benz’s history in South Africa dates back to the 1960s.

“Cargo Motors conducts business in three territories: Eastern Gauteng, Northwest and in Limpopo where it trades as Mercurius Motors,” a motor industry expert told South Africa Magazine.

Cargo Motors, was formed in 1955 when Jack Mincer bought the Saker-Bartle group.

The Cargo Motors website takes up the story: “This group of companies included D H Saker, the franchise holder for Studebaker cars and trucks as well as Vanguard cars and Mercedes-Benz trucks. The potential of Mercedes-Benz having its own identity was soon recognized and “Cargo” was formed purely for this franchise (Mercedes-Benz trucks), while D H Saker retained Studebaker and Vanguard.

“The name “Cargo” is a combination of the first letters of the first names of the founders of Daimler-Benz, CAR(L) Benz and GO(TTLIEP) Daimler.”

In 1956, Cargo sold a total of 93 cars, including a Mercedes-Benz 180.

“Cargo’s initial premises consisted of a showroom

and offices in 92 Marshall Street and a corrugated iron workshop in Harrison

Street. The total personnel complement was about 20,” the website says.

Cargo Motors FEATURE

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That was quick to change, as Mercedes-Benz grew in popularity. “The rising Mercedes-Benz population in Johannesburg

necessitated the expansion of our services and in line with Cargo’s strategy to bring our services to our customers’ doorsteps; we acquired several service stations, namely Illovo, Braamfontein, Cargorama and Northcliff,” Cargo Motors’ website says.

The 1980s marked the beginning of a new era for the fi rm. The Sandton, Morningside and Wynberg branches were taken over by another Mercedes-Benz dealer.

In 1984 Mercedes-Benz SA was formed.“In our continued effort to grow we opened the Auckland

Park, Kew, Norwood, Rosebank, Benrose and Ridgeway branches and this made Johannesburg the city with the biggest number of Mercedes-Benz outlets worldwide,” Cargo’s website says.

In 1995, Safi con and its subsidiaries were sold mainly to Imperial Holdings. In 1998, Mercedes-Benz SA became DaimlerChrysler SA after the amalgamation between Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler in USA/Germany.

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Cargo Motors FEATURE

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In 2000, Imperial purchased Edenvale Motors and this became known as Cargo Edenvale. The new Cargo Edenvale and Cargo M2 City premises were built and known as Cargo Edenvale and Cargo M2 City.

In 2001, Chrysler/Jeep dealerships were established under the Cargo banner and in the same year Honda SA was created and they decided to set up their own dealerships in SA. This meant that they were excluded from the DCSA franchise.

In 2002, DaimlerChrysler SA took over the full franchise of Mitsubishi for SA. In 2004, Cargo Motors was appointed as a dealership for Freightliner. As a result, Freightliner/Fuso and

Western Star form part of the commercial vehicle arm of Cargo Motors.

In that same year, Cargo took over the Mercurius dealerships: Airport, East Rand Mall and Kempton Park and later acquired Polokwane in February 2005.

“Cargo and Mercurius both owned by the Imperial Group were consolidated under the Cargo Management structure as agreed by DaimlerChrysler South Africa,” Cargo’s website says, bringing the story of the company’s epic history to a near-close. “Although Cargo/Mercurius operate under separate names they are effectively run as one business.”

In October 2005 Magic Merkel Motors in Tzaneen was purchased. Today, the dealership trades under the name of Mercurius Motors Tzaneen and forms part of the Polokwane Market Center.

That brings us to the modern day.“Cargo/Mercurius Motors is a progressive,

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Cargo Motors FEATURE

stable company ranking with the best in the industry. We have a complement of approximately 1,100 employees,” the company says. “We proudly live up to the following values: Honesty, Respect, Passion and Care.”

Talking about the fi rm’s future, Rob Truscott, Cargo’s MD, adds: “Cargo Motors continues to grow. Cargo Motors is in the process of a major upgrade of its facility at M2 City, which services the Johannesburg CBD. It has also just acquired the franchise for Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge in the Bedfordview area. Cargo plans to establish a brand new commercial vehicle dealership in Polokwane.”

Cargo Motors is committed to excellent customer service. This commitment has led Cargo to achieve a number of dealer awards during the past four years, having won Mercedes Benz Passenger Car brand

centre dealer of the year twice, Mercedes Benz Commercial Vehicles brand centre dealer of the year twice and metro dealer Dealer of the year for Chrysler Jeep and Dodge once during that short period.

“We are committed to developing people and have a very active apprenticeship programme,” Truscott continues. “We currently have around 150 apprentices in our business. Apprentices are trained through an Imperial owned state of the art technical training centre located in Germiston. Cargo Motors has an apprentice to technician ratio of 1.5:1, which is benchmark in the industry.

“In the future we will need to get even closer to our customers. On the commercial vehicle side we need to understand more about our customers business to make sure that we provide them with a competitive edge.”

To learn more visit www.cargomotors.co.za / www.imperial.co.za. END

Mercedes-Benz East Rand MallCnr Rietfontein & Northrand RdBardeneBoksburg1459

Tel: +27 11 255 6000Fax: +27 11 823 3304

www.cargomotors.co.za

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