COVER STORY
COMPANY NEWS
I
n line with Toyota Motor Corporation’s
global policy of staff rotation among its
senior management, there has been a
major restructure of the senior management
of Hino South Africa.
“Casper Kruger, who has been Hino SA
Vice-President for the past five years and
was instrumental in rolling out the change
in name from Toyota SA Trucks to Hino SA,
has relinquished his position and returned
to Toyota SA,” explains Toyota SA Senior
Vice President - Sales and Marketing,
Calvyn Hamman.
“Concurrent with the name change was the
establishment by Casper and his team of
a dedicated Hino dealer network. Casper
has returned to Toyota SA Motors as Vice
President - Vehicle Sales and Dealer
Development for passenger vehicles and
MAJOR RESTRUCTURING
at Hino South Africa
Dr Casper Kruger (left) has handed over the reins of
Hino Trucks to Ernest Trautmann, (centre) who now
holds the position of Vice President of Hino South
Africa. Pieter Klerck (right) is now General Manager -
Sales and Dealer Network at Hino SA.
light commercials,” adds Hamman. Ernest
Trautmann took over the position of Vice
President of Hino SA from April 1. He was
previously General Manager - Sales and
Dealer Network at Toyota SA.
Trautmann, who joined Toyota SA in 1988
as a marketing and management consultant
in the Training Department, has built up an
impressive and extensive track record in
many aspects of the motor industry including
eight years with the Toyota and Lexus
distributor in the United Arab Emirates. In
all, he has spent 26 years working with
Toyota product, of which 18 years have
been with Toyota SA. Although Trautmann
will have overall responsibility for the Hino
operation in South Africa his focus will be
on strategic and future planning.
Pieter Klerck, formerly Senior Manager for
Advertising at Toyota SA, is now General
Manager - Sales and Dealer Network at Hino
SA. His new position will include parts, service
and customer relations thus making him, in
effect, the operational head for Hino SA.
Klerck’s links with Toyota stretch back many
years. Before joining Toyota SA in 2006 he
worked at two advertising agencies where
he was actively involved on the Toyota
account.
“We believe that splitting responsibilities at
Hino in this manner will be beneficial as it
will ensure there are two people to share the
load, which will result in even better service
for the dealers and their customers,” adds
Hamman.
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