From humble beginnings in 2008 when we (at that stage KZN Iveco) bought the Iveco dealership from Imperial, Truck Centre Durban has really grown in leaps and bounds – thanks to our staff, our customers and to our ability to adapt and evolve with the times.
During 2016 we became acutely aware that the South African market, and the African market in general for that matter, demanded products and brands that carried a value for money proposition – the European brands started to become unaffordable for your normal transport operator.
After studying the market performance of a few Chinese brands, we engaged with Powerstar (EverStar SA) to request a franchise opportunity.
We were successfully appointed as a Powerstar dealer at the beginning of 2017 – this was to complement our existing Iveco business seeing that the two brands did not compete at all in their relevant segments that they compete in – Iveco typically a medium and extra heavy competitor with their Daily and Stralis/Trakker/S-Way/T-Way line up and Powerstar in their construction rigid range of VX trucks.
This demanded a name change in the business as we obviously could not operate as KZN Iveco while selling the Powerstar range of trucks, which brought about the birth of the Truck Centre Durban name and brand.
In 2018, after only a year or so of having the Powerstar truck range, Foton approached EverStar SA to represent them with their medium/heavy range of Foton trucks – otherwise known as the FT range and now the Aumark range.
It was a natural transition for the dealers, us included, to take on the range that EverStar SA took on from Foton – needless to say it was a fantastic addition to our business seeing that European brands (Iveco included) do not play a prominent role in that market segment mostly due to pricing.
In 2024, due to EverStar SA’s success with the Foton medium and heavy trucks, Foton decided to setup as a truck OEM in the country.
Unbeknown to many, BAIC (Beijing Automotive Industry Holding) is the parent company of Foton, and with BAIC already having a presence in the country with their plant in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) and their Beijing/BAIC model line up in the passenger car space, it made sense for Foton to piggy back on the Gqeberha plant and BAIC SA to kickoff their standalone presence in the country.
Naturally Foton engaged with the dealers already representing their medium/heavy “FT” trucks for the proposition of attaining the franchise and the full Foton range which now includes the first of their 6×4 truck tractor range.
After months of engagement Truck Centre Durban acquired the Foton truck franchise at the end of May 2025 – just a few weeks ago – this really rounds off our business in that we are now able to compete in every commercial vehicle segment:-
Medium – offering our Iveco Daily range and our Foton Aumark (FT) range.
Heavy – offering our Iveco Eurocargo range and our Foton Aumark (FT) range.
Extra heavy – offering our Iveco S-Way and T-Way range, our Powerstar VX range and now our Foton Auman 6×4 truck tractor 460hp unit – this Foton range will soon grow to include a 560hp unit, a 660hp unit and even a rigid range of trucks.
We have been truly blessed with all of these opportunities that have been made available to us – to represent these 3 brands stands us in a really strong position – to be sustainable in this ever changing market.
We thank our respective OEM’s for this, and more importantly our staff and customers who have empowered us to get to this position of strength.
Onwards and upwards they say, let’s GO!
To view our latest hand overs Click Here and it will link through to Facebook.
