Volvo Trucks South Africa has started assembly of Euro 5 specification trucks at its plant in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Euro 5 variants have been available in South Africa since 2012, but for the first time, they will now be assembled locally.
Euro 5 assembly at the plant does not come at the expense of the production of the company’s current range, it is complimentary. Volvo Trucks initially started with the assembly of Euro 5 level FH truck-tractors, the company’s long-haul icon, as this is the model that customers are asking for. More models and configurations will be added over time as fleet owners require them.
Certain layout changes were made to the facility to accommodate AdBlue filling in trucks, as well as for storage. Additional floor layout adjustments were also done to allow for new procedures like the assembly of AdBlue tanks and special exhaust systems.
The Volvo Trucks plant has also recently installed a new solar power system to generate renewable energy for the facility. A total of 440 solar panels and two solar inverters will generate 243kW of power – approximately 60% of the energy needed for the plant.