It’s official, South Africa has some of the best bakkie technicians in the world. The Isuzu South Africa team came third out of 24 participating countries in the Light Commercial Vehicle Division of the 2018 Isuzu World Technical Competition, known as the I-1 Grand Prix, which was held in Thailand recently.
This year marked the 13th edition of the competition. Representing South African were Izak Stefanus (Stefan) de Wet, from Technical Support and Field Services at Isuzu Motors South Africa, Petrus Venter from Williams Hunt Roodepoort in Gauteng and Johannes van Heerden from Westvaal Mashishing in Mpumalanga. The technicians were given several mechanical tasks to test technical competency and problem-solving skills on Isuzu bakkies. Technicians from the host country, Thailand, came first in the competition while Russia came second.
According Dominic Rimmer, Isuzu Motors South Africa Executive Technical Services, the participants were selected based on their superior performance in technical competitions held locally. “We can comfortably say that our Isuzu technicians are amongst the best in the world. They competed against the world’s best in a rather tough competition that comprises both a practical and a written exam,” said Rimmer.
Isuzu has a comprehensive aftersales support system which includes regular skills development and training to ensure technicians keep up to date with the technological trends of new vehicles Rimmer added.
Participant, Stefan de Wet, who served as the team’s coach said that the competition was extremely challenging, but exciting. He believes that the team’s success could be attributed to the excellent teamwork and camaraderie among team members. “We relied on each other’s strengths and allowed each team member to tackle the aspect of the competition in which he was more competent,” said De Wet.
The I-1 Isuzu World Technical competition takes place every year in Thailand and the South African technicians from within Isuzu’s dealer network are looking forward to taking on the challenge again in future.
Third place winners are from left, Petrus Venter, Stefan de Wet and Johannes van Heerden. With them is Isuzu Motors Limited Senior Executive, Haruyasu Thanishige.
