McCarthy Ltd, the automotive division of the Bidvest Group Ltd, opened a new R20 million Nissan Diesel dealership in Alrode, Alberton last month.

The McCarthy Commercial Vehicles Alrode dealership is a full service centre, with facilities for sales, parts and service.

As is the case with its sister dealership, McCarthy Commercial Vehicles Boksburg, the dealership is also a franchised Nissan Forklift dealer.

"We saw an opportunity to take our services closer to our customers by establishing a dealership in the southern parts of Gauteng, an area where few other services are available to truck operators," said Peter English, dealer principal of McCarthy Commercial Vehicles.

"The dealership is easily accessible from the N3, N12 and the R26, and some of our major customers are located in the proximity."

The dealership's state-of-the-art workshop has, amongst others, the latest wireless brake-roller testing facilities.

This valuable equipment is able to test several safety critical aspects on a truck, such as brakes and air pressure.

Technicians are able to pinpoint specific problems in a short period of time, saving customers valuable time and money.

According to English, McCarthy Commercial Vehicles Boksburg will remain the main administration office for the two dealerships.

This operation was recently recognised as one of Nissan Diesel's top three dealerships in the world, evaluated by Nissan Diesel Japan according to stringent criteria, including facilities, business management, operations, service, marketing and profitability.

"We will continue to empower staff members with the necessary skills and training to deliver the same world-class service to our customers in Alberton," said English.

McCarthy CEO Brand Pretorius said that the company was proud to be associated with a leader in the trucking industry such as Nissan Diesel.

"This new world-class facility forms part of a larger R280m investment McCarthy is planning to make in various facilities and developments during 2007."

This is McCarthy's first dealership in Alberton and Pretorius expressed the company's confidence in the potential of the region.

"We believe that McCarthy Commercial Vehicles has, amongst others, one of the best after sales teams in the industry. They will definitely be an asset to customers in this area.?"

Frans Cloete, executive vice-president of operations at Nissan Diesel SA, said that since becoming a fully-fledged subsidiary of the Japanese parent company, Nissan Diesel SA has grown in leaps in bounds.

"We believe this can mainly be ascribed to the quality of products we provide, a clear business philosophy focusing on providing truck owners with the lowest lifecycle cost options, as well as the skill and expertise of our staff and dealer network," said Cloete.

Nissan Diesel and its dealer network are to spend R89m on new infrastructure developments across SA.

Nissan Diesel also topped SA's 2006 National Automobile Dealers? Association Dealer Satisfaction Index awards as the top commercial vehicle manufacturer.

"We regard our dealers as partners and investors in the company, and we will therefore support them to be as profitable as they can be, while still offering the best products and services around," said Cloete.