Al Naboodah – Swaidan Trading

Al Naboodah Group’s Swaidan Trading

The Al Naboodah Group is one of the UAE’s oldest and most respected family conglomerates, employing around 10,000 people of almost 50 different nationalities. The Group is headquartered in the UAE, with international operations in Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.

A trusted brand renowned for the delivery of world-class projects and services, Al Naboodah’s core business focus covers civil engineering, building and MEP, in addition to representing a diverse portfolio of global brands in the automotive, transportation, travel, electrical, logistics, agriculture, smart cities, real estate and renewable energy sectors.

Swaidan Trading was established as the Group’s commercial business in 1979, and today represents a broad range of reputed global brands supplying buses, trucks, pickups, vans, cranes, power solutions and other equipment.

Swaidan Trading’s major markets cover all types of mobility solutions transporting people and cargo, including public transportation, school and staff transport fleets, heavy construction equipment, special projects, and more. The division employs 400 people in total, and is one of the UAE’s most successful businesses in terms of the supply and maintenance of commercial vehicles, particularly trucks, buses and coaches.

The company has several firsts to its name, including the testing and validation of Euro 6 buses, introducing the first electric school bus to the UAE, as well as supplying the first low-floor midi buses for public transportation with the RTA Optare Solo.

Swaidan Trading represents its brands across all of the UAE’s seven emirates, offering full end-to-end customer service including sales, support and aftersales service. “Your Profitability – Our Aim!” is a slogan that drives the business. This is supported by a strong aftersales support network of service centres and workshops throughout the UAE offering improved reliability and less downtime. The most recent addition to this network was the completion of a state-of-the-art full service SSS facility in Mafreq, Abu Dhabi, in 2020.

Commercial vehicles

According to Ajit Kumar, Chief Operating Officer of Al Naboodah Commercial Group, “Swaidan Trading’s strength lies in its robust relationships with its principal partners. A prime example is our highly successful partnership with the Ashok Leyland brand, which we have represented exclusively in the UAE for over 35 years now.”

The flagship company of the Hinduja Group, Ashok Leyland is the 3rd largest manufacturer of buses and the 10th largest truck-maker in the world. Swaidan Trading’s longstanding relationship with Ashok Leyland has seen the brand increase its profile in the UAE significantly, and in 2017 Swaidan Trading established a state-of-the-art 15,000m2 sales, spare parts and service facility in Al Quoz, Dubai, to support Ashok Leyland’s distribution network.

Ashok Leyland’s range includes the highly popular Falcon and Oyster worker, school and staff transportation buses, the highly practical and versatile Partner

Securing SAIC Motor Corporation’s Maxus means Swaidan Trading now offers the full spectrum of LCVs and SUVs.

light pickup truck, as well as their specially designed Oryx 4x4 buses which were developed in partnership with Swaidan Trading.

Relaunched in 2020 with a new design and the latest powertrain technology, the Ashok Leyland Oryx bus caters to a niche demand for rugged, reliable and off-road capable transportation that can reach remote and inaccessible areas on unpaved surfaces, such as desert rigs and work sites, and currently commands more than a 60% market share.

Swaidan Trading expanded its light commercial vehicles offering in 2014 with the addition of the SAIC Motor Corporation’s Maxus brand to its portfolio. Based on the superior European light-vehicle technology platform, Maxus has successfully developed a range of high-quality products covering the full spectrum of light commercial vehicles and

KEY BENCHMARKS

2008 – Signed a contract with the RTA for the supply and maintenance of 518 VDL buses over a period of 10 years. 2016 & 2017 – Supplied 70 VDL buses to Mwasalat, also providing aftersales service. 2016 & 2017 – Supplied 2000 Ashok Leyland & Sunwin school buses to Emirates Transport. Supplied 110 Ashok Leyland school buses to Dubai Taxi Corporation. Supplied more than 1000 Ashok Leyland & Sunwin school buses to School Transport Services and private schools. 2017 – Successful launch of the Ashok Leyland SSS (sales, service & spare parts) facility – the first of its kind in the region. Facility was launched in tandem with the Ashok Leyland Oyster bus, which is manufactured in the UAE in Ras Al Khaimah. 2017 – Successful launch of DAF Trucks in the UAE. Already several key account customers have purchased the truck since then and we are currently enjoying repeat orders from them due to the remarkable performance of the trucks. passenger SUVs. Maxus UAE recently launched its 2021 model range, which includes the stylish D60 SUV, the G50 MPV and automatic V80 van.

Heavy trucks

In 2017, Swaidan Trading further diversified its business by entering the truck industry through its partnership with DAF, a leading European truck manufacturer well known for quality, reliability and fuel efficiency. DAF trucks offer very low total cost of ownership as they are manufactured to the highest quality standards and adhere to best-inclass specifications. This makes them more reliable and durable even when deployed for the most demanding applications in the UAE.

As the exclusive representative of DAF Trucks in the UAE, Swaidan Trading has a dedicated DAF Service Centre in Rashidiya, Dubai, boasting a team of highly-trained technicians who are on hand to keep the vehicles running efficiently at all times to ensure the highest returns per kilometre. The

2019 – After months of trials, testing and development in partnership with the RTA, the Optare brand of low-floor city buses for public transportation was officially launched in Dubai with the handover of 94 Optare RTA spec buses by Swaidan Trading. 2019 – Launch of the Ashok Leyland Partner LCV truck in the UAE. 2019 – Sales of Ashok Leyland Oyster buses pass 1000 units in the UAE. 2019 – All-new Maxus D90 introduced to the UAE market.

Swaidan Trading’s long-standing relationship with Ashok Leyland has seen the brand increase its profile in the UAE significantly.

most recent addition to the Group’s transportation portfolio is TATRA, a Czech brand of rugged heavy trucks which ranks among the oldest in the world with more than 120 years of continuous activity. TATRA’s heavy trucks are famous for their go-anywhere ability in the most difficult terrain under extreme conditions, from frosty weather to high desert temperatures.

Vehicle body modification

Over the course of 2020, Swaidan Trading rapidly adapted to the shift in market demands created by the global health crisis, with a strong focus on specialised projects. Its fully equipped, state-of-the-art workshops have in-house fabrication facilities for customising vehicles to meet the specific requirements of the end user, from mobile clinics to wheelchair access vehicles and more.

Ajit says the company’s resilience during the pandemic was due to its ability to respond to unique demands created by the health crisis. “Our high levels of technical expertise and our versatile and agile scope of operations allowed us to offer specialised services to our customers without any major changes to our infrastructure. We were able to capitalise on our existing resources and skillsets to deliver unique projects that set us apart in a competitive industry.”

In 2020, Swaidan Trading modified 110 Peugeot Expert vans into Mobile Service Centres for the Tawseel initiative delivering door-to-door government services by the Ministry of Human Resources & Emiratisation.

It also supported the Dubai Taxi Co. and Union Coop during the COVID-19 pandemic by converting Ashok Leyland Falcon buses into mobile grocery outlets as part of community initiatives to bring supplies to families during the lockdown periods.

Ajit Kumar, Chief Operating Officer of Al Naboodah Commercial Group.

This year, it converted a further two Ashok Leyland Falcon buses into mobile grocery stores for the Al-Ain Co-op society, including shelving, chiller and freezer units, generators, air curtains and cashier counters, enabling the business to reach out to remote areas or small communities where shops aren’t located nearby.

This highly specialised modification contract was the first of its kind in Abu Dhabi, and required a special ‘Supermarket Bus’ code to be created in the Abu Dhabi Department of Transport’s vehicle registration system.

CONTACT

Swaidan Trading PO Box 80657, Al Awir 800 Dubai - Hatta Road, E44, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 294 8888

E-mail: heq@alnaboodah.com Website: alnaboodahvehicles.ae

SOCIAL MEDIA

Saeed & Mohammed

Al Naboodah Group alnaboodah_group Saeed & Mohammed