One of the first Chinese heavy commercial vehicle brands to enter the South African market, Powerstar, under the stewardship of ESI, has over the years recorded major success in southern Africa. Having celebrated its 5 000th truck milestone back in May 2019, the company marked yet another major landmark in August 2025 – the 10 000th truck rolling off the local Pietermaritzburg production line.
The first Powerstar trucks arrived in South Africa in 2006 under the distributorship of Super Group. In the early days, the brand did not enjoy the best of successes, primarily due to a flawed strategy by the initial distributor, which was based on pushing volumes of a cheaper Chinese product without proper support structures. The early market failures stemmed from a combination of inadequate products for the South African market and operational challenges in establishing robust aftersales support.
By 2010, the distressed Super Group Industrial Products division was acquired by a consortium of four shareholders, which included Beiben, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of Powerstar, and Norinco Vehicle, the major shareholder. The deal culminated in the formation of ESI in August 2010, and the company moved its status from a dealership under the Super Group banner, to an OEM of the Powerstar brand in South Africa.
Turning the fortunes
At the time of the acquisition, confirms Alan Parry, General Manager at ESI, only a couple of hundred Powerstar units had been assembled and sold locally. Armed with a clear strategy, underpinned by a rugged and simple product that comes at a cost-effective price point, complemented by a strong aftermarket regime, ESI would quickly turn the fortunes of the Powerstar brand, establishing it as a major force in the competitive South African commercial vehicle market.
Some nine years into the venture, ESI celebrated a significant milestone in its journey – the 5 000th truck rolled off its Pietermaritzburg assembly line on May 28, 2019. Some six years later, ESI has doubled the figure, with the 10 000th Powerstar truck rolling off the production line, marking a major landmark in the history of the company.
“The achievement of 10 000 trucks in South Africa is not only a proud moment for ESI, but an exhibition of resilience and effort, especially in such a cutthroat market environment,” says Danny Li, CEO of ESI. “Over the years, we have had to navigate several hurdles to local production, such as electricity constraints, skills shortage and regulatory uncertainty, amongst others, to put the business on a growth trajectory. New challenges lie ahead, but we are geared to face and overcome them.”
Rodney Selesnick, Senior Head of Sales at ESI, says the assembly of the 10 000th truck heralds the continued success of the Powerstar truck in South Africa. “The achievement confirms Powerstar’s pioneering position in the value market. When the brand first arrived on the scene, there were only two Chinese truck brands that local customers were willing to look at, and Powerstar was one of them. The product has been well accepted in the market and this milestone is a reminder of the strong recognition,” says Selesnick.
Success factors
The 10 000th truck milestone, says Parry, coincides with record-breaking sales volumes of Powerstar trucks in the local market. To provide context, ESI expects a record 1 000 truck sales in 2025, with a projection to grow the volumes even further to between 1 300 and 1 500 units in 2026.
The assembly facility, which currently has the capacity to produce 1 000 trucks a year, will also be upscaled to accommodate the growing sales volumes. Available market figures also show that Powerstar is the market leader in construction vehicle sales, with a 30-35% share of the market segment in South Africa.
Central to this success are a number of factors. “One of the major growth pillars of the brand has always been the rugged nature of the product, giving customers a good three to four cycles, even in challenging applications such as construction and mining,” says Selesnick, adding that this is complemented by a competitive price point and the inherent lower total cost of ownership of the truck.
However, every good product, stresses Parry, is only as good as the support behind it. “Besides the quality of the product and its favourable price point, one of the major success factors is our aftermarket support. Over the years, we have continuously reinforced our support footprint, which to date boasts some 30 dealers in South Africa and SADC at large. At any given time, our parts stockholding, housed in three big warehouses, is greater than R120-million, ensuring greater uptime for our customers in the region,” says Parry.
Cross-border growth
While South Africa remains the major market for Powerstar, the company is encouraged by the continued sales growth in the SADC region. Selesnick tells Quarrying Africa that cross-border sales of Powerstar trucks have grown about 20% in the past two years, with Zimbabwe one of the leading markets to date. This is despite the challenges related to the influx of used truck imports and the lack of access to finance. Namibia, adds Selesnick, has traditionally been one of the strong cross-border markets for Powerstar sales, but has gone flat in recent times.
Just like in South Africa, the cross-border growth has been largely fuelled by a strong dealer network. Ever Star Industries has partnered with capable dealer partners in all the major markets, including Zimbabwe, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique.
“In recent years we have seen some of our existing South African customers branching out into SADC markets such as Botswana, Namibia and even Mozambique, to explore new opportunities, and this has been another contributing factor to our growth in the region,” says Selesnick. “In Mozambique alone, we have put in some 30 new trucks this year alone, which is a big deal for us, given that it is from a zero base.”
As part of its strategy to further grow outside South Africa, Ever Star Industries has just appointed a dealer in Mauritius, a market deemed to offer strong growth prospects for the Powerstar brand. “As we seek to grow our business in cross-border markets, we will continue investing in our dealer partners to ensure a strong foothold on the ground and reliable aftermarket support to our customers,” concludes Selesnick.
