Partnership to connect even more loved ones

On October 30 the company took delivery of eight VW Crafter passenger carriers from Palm Motors in White River.

“These vehicles will enable us to yet again, open up and explore a new direction within our business model,” said owner and wellknown Mbombela businessman, Jacques Esterhuizen.

And just by the way, the VW Crafter won the World Van of the Year title in 2017, so it is absolutely the latest and the greatest from the VW stable at this time.

“We have used similar buses – different brands and older generation Crafters – before,” said Jacques. “But the service and commitment from every single person at Palm Motors – well, it’s just unmatched in the local industry.

It’s a people’s company with authentic values and integrity, transparency and committed to service beyond the norm. This is why we are doing business with them.

“And you know in our business, downtime is a no-no, so Palm Motors has committed themselves to even servicing our buses after hours so as to not disrupt our schedules and commitment to our customers.”

“We have seven routes which we service daily – five of these being 22-seater routes, and this is where we are experiencing serious growth.

Also with a fuel consumption index of between 8,9 and 10,3km/litre, our vehicles and our drivers, have proved to be exceptionally efficient.

“One has to add though that our drivers are carefully selected and some of them have been with Citybug for 18 years or longer. To sustain the demand for the Citybug service, we are considering establishing more offices in other provinces soon and re-opening routes that has now become more viable.”

“We are connecting loved ones. We carry people, and we do it with great care and respect because we subscribe to God’s principles and ethics.

And, we apply the five Ps: proper planning prevents poor performance. This is why our business is so blessed,” concluded Jacques Dirk van der Merwe, dealer principal at Palm Motors: “This is an important fleet deal and, also the biggest to date for us at Palm Motors.

These Crafters are VW’s newest offering. Citybug is a longtime customer, as they do have some previous generation Crafters in their fleet. “So these eight Crafters are a tremendous extension to Citybug’s fleet.

It will also increase our footprint in the Lowveld and of course, with Citybug traveling all over South Africa, this added exposure is extremely valuable for VW.

Palm Motors is one of 15 van centres across South Africa and with so many Crafters (government fleets) in our area, it puts us in a unique position in terms of parts availability and service.

The Crafters come with a five-year, 120 000km service plan and a two-year unlimited kilometre warranty. And well yes, we really had to pull out all the stops (and we just loved it) to get eight of these Crafters together for Citybug, so we are thus looking forward to adding value to its fleet, the service they render and our relationship.”

Well folks, success is seldom an individual effort and when one connects enthusiastic commitment and authenticity with the intention to make a difference and add value, the results almost always set new benchmarks and standards.

Methinks that this partnership, Citybug, Palm Motors, LVM and others, is connecting the dots on all levels.