Interviews
23 Jun 21

Case Study: Adecoagro South America, Right sizing your pickup fleet

While having mid-sized pickups for your fleet in Latin America may provide the kind of agility you need in rural and hard to access areas, having smaller pickups in urban districts may be more ideal for a variety of reasons. 

Besides the lower sticker price and fuel efficiency being more TCO (total cost of ownership) friendly, the comfort and convenience found in many of the new models does make for a practical choice, depending on your fleet profile. 

According to Juan Manuel Barros (pictured) who heads fleet procurement in Argentina for agro-industrial company Adecoagro, the Buenos Aires based firm mainly has Toyota Hilix and Ford Ranger pickups (~70% of their fleet). The company, however, has been testing out some of the smaller models available and this is what they have found. 

Company 

Adecoagro 

Name 

Juan Manuel Barros 

Job Position 

Fleet Procurement Head, Argentina 

Number of Countries 

3 total (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay)

Number of Employees

2,200 Argentina (8,500 total) 

Number of Vehicles 

282 Argentina


Although models to consider in South America include the Ford Maverick, Volkswagen Tarok, Hyundai Santa Cruz, Renault Oroch and Fiat Toro (Ram 1000 in some countries), we will be focusing on the Toro and the Oroch of which Mr. Barros recently tested for Adecoagro's fleet in Argentina. 

After testing the Fiat Toro (manual 4x2 and 4x4 versions) and the Renault Oroch (2.0 Dynamique version), the company found that they were both very good products.  
 
"Besides offering a mix of comfort and practicality that the larger Toyota Hilux did not have, we especially appreciated the safety and fuel economy that the Toro offered," Mr. Barros told Fleet LatAm (Latin America arm of Global Fleet). 

As for the Oroch, it has pretty good ground clearance when compared to other vehicles. "Sure, it does not sit as high as a Toyota Hilux or Ford Ranger, but it sits higher than a Volkswagen Saveiro and certainly beats out a car, said Mr. Barros who also highlighted that Renault's aftersales service has never given the company problems. 

As for drawbacks, the Fiat Toro did give the company particle filter and fuel injection system problems and the after-sales service offered by the dealerships could have been better, said the executive, adding that the latter was probably due to the attention he is used to receiving from Toyota and Ford. 

As for the Oroch, its comfort, safety, and fuel consumption is not up to par with the Toro and its range is also shorter owing to its smaller fuel tank, Mr. Barros said. 

As the price of the Toro has increased over the years, the company is trying out other models, among them being the smaller Fiat Strada which was just acquired in the second quarter of this year so not enough information is available to give a well-educated comment. 

The executive also pointed out that the older Chevrolet Montana model was not so good in terms of aftersales service and remarketing (new model to launch soon). As for the Ford Maverick, Volkswagen Tarok and Hyundai Santa Cruz, they are not sold in Argentina.  

 

Considered a leading agroindustrial company in South America, Adecoagro is currently involved in a broad range of businesses, including farming crops and other agricultural products, cattle and dairy operations, sugar, ethanol and energy production and land transformation.

Authored by: Daniel Bland
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