RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Vamos Group, JSL’s rental company and dealer of used trucks and buses, has just purchased 1,350 trucks from Volkswagen Trucks and Buses (VWCO), the largest order placed by a single client in VWCO’s history.
The contract covers 20 different vehicle models that will be delivered monthly until December. The scheduled delivery allows Volkswagen Trucks and Buses to reactivate its plant’s second shift in Resende, Rio de Janeiro, shutdown by the novel coronavirus pandemic and, consequently, by the sector’s downturn.
“Vamos, together with JSL, is a decades-old partner and we are happy to close this deal. We are present in 30 countries and it is an exception to see a large purchase like this one, which encourages the sector and encourages the rental of heavy vehicles,” says Roberto Cortes, president of Volkswagen Trucks and Buses. Currently, approximately 60 percent of Vamos’ fleet with 14,000 vehicles consists of VWCO trucks.
In the pandemic, vehicle rental becomes another option for those who need to work and see the advantages in the business. According to Gustavo Couto, president of Vamos, average savings range from 20 to 30 percent. “By increasing the fleet we create even more alternatives for clients who want to expand their business while reducing costs. The pandemic forces companies to manage their resources more intelligently,” he says. In the second quarter of the year, Vamos reported record net revenues of R$329.9 million, an increase of 9.6 percent over the same period in 2019.
For Volkswagen Trucks and Buses, which holds over 50 percent of the market share, the purchase helps its business enormously, but does not solve the whole problem. Despite reopening one of the shifts, plant production is still lower than at the start of the year. In May, the production of trucks in Brazil fell by 64 percent, with the manufacture of only 4,100 units, according to the National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (ANFAVEA).
The ambition of the Vamos Group is to prove to the market the advantages of having a new fleet with rented trucks. In Brazil, the approximately two million trucks in operation have an average useful life of 20 years, while Vamos’ trucks have an average of 2.5 years. “New trucks enable better management, maintenance, less downtime and are more sustainable. If the whole Brazilian fleet were replaced, the reduction of particulate emissions by these vehicles would be 95 percent”, says Couto. In 85 percent of Vamos’ contracts, clients rent trucks for a period of five years.
Currently, the industry projects sales of 65,000 heavy vehicles this year, compared to 110,000 units projected at the start of the year.
Source: Exame