A leading South African home delivery group has expressed confidence in Mahindra by purchasing its 60 three-wheeler load carrier vehicles in a pilot operation.
The vehicles, fitted with specially designed, lockable canopies, have been purchased specifically to service a new contract with the online home delivery purchase system of leading South African retailer Pick 'n Pay.
"We have always been aware of the cost effectiveness of these three-wheelers which are a popular and efficient means of delivering goods in many cities around the world and we believe they are ideal for the Pick n Pay contract," director of home delivery group Mr Delivery David Chait said.
"We have selected Mahindra SA as the vehicle supplier due to the fact that it is a reputable company with a growing dealer network. It has a good footprint in the urban areas to provide the necessary service and parts supply.
"The vehicles themselves are robust and return very good fuel economy, while being keenly priced," he said.
Deliveries are made by Pick 'n Pay to the Mr Delivery hubs in major cities by trucks and then packed into the three-wheelers for localised deliveries, using the hub and spoke transport model.
Mr Delivery delivers between 85,000 and 100,000 items a month, raising prospects of the Mahindra fleet being increased in future.
Mahindra South Africa CEO Ashok Thakur hopes the project will be taken up by other South African companies as well.
"We are delighted that Mr Delivery has chosen our Mahindra three-wheelers for this new project and we are confident that they will provide the solution for this localised transport operation.
"These vehicles have low running costs, are easy to drive, and they have been tested extensively in a similar environment in many locations in the world. We are sure this pilot operation by Mr Delivery will result in many other companies in South Africa seeing our three-wheelers as the ideal transport solution for many urban deliveries," Thakur said.
Mahindra SA is a fully-owned subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra of India, with over 55 dealerships, in cities and in towns across South Africa.
Since its establishment in October 2004, the company has sold a total of approximately 18,000 vehicles.
