The WesBank Fuel Economy Tour in partnership with FNB, takes place from November 16-20 and has been lauded as an excellent example of companies and brands working together in a collective effort for the benefit of South African consumers. The event will start in Johannesburg and finish five days later, in Cape Town, after a route of 2 500 km over main roads between major centres to establish real-life fuel consumption figures.
Both Ghana Msibi, Executive Head of WesBank’s Motor Division, and Raj Makanjee, CEO of Retail and Private Banking at FNB, stressed the importance of working together in these tough economic times when they addressed the audience at the well-attended launch event for the Fuel Economy Tour, held at the WesBank head office in Johannesburg.
“This is particularly true when the involvement of the event sponsors is complementary, as is the case with the Economy Tour where it fits in very well with the objectives of both WesBank and FNB while benefitting both their customers and consumers at large,” said Msibi in his address.
The benefits of this collective approach to the Economy Tour is fully supported by Mike Mabasa, the CEO of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA), who was at the launch event. NAAMSA has given its support to the event.
“The cost of motoring continues to rise in South Africa,” said Msibi. “The monthly mobility basket, which comprises vehicle instalments, fuel, insurance and maintenance costs has risen to R7 851.39 this year, which is 3% higher than last year and 28% higher than five years ago, according to the WesBank Mobility Calculator.
“Fuel spend this year accounts for 35% of the total, with vehicle instalments making up 45% to give a total of 80%. These costs are for an average entry-level vehicle that travels about 2 500 km a month,” explained Msibi.
“This means that those involved with any aspect of transport must work smarter, creatively and collectively to optimise available resources. This Fuel Economy Tour initiative is one of the ways we can do just that. For instance, we are looking at more ways in which we can work together with FNB and the products it offers to improve the vehicle ownership experience for our customers. We are finding common ground, such as encouraging WesBank customers to use the e-Bucks programme for buying fuel, which results in worthwhile savings,” added Msibi.
Raj Makanjee said that there were more than three million cars in the FNB customer data bank, with many of these motorists benefitting from paying for fuel with their credit cards and thereby generating e-Bucks, with larger bonuses if their vehicle has been financed by WesBank.
“We already have 300 000 cars on the Nav Car platform, where customers can use the system to pay their car licences and generally manage their mobility expenditure so FNB is certainly operating in the mobility space,” added Makanjee.
“FNB is South Africa’s leading retail bank and its customers engage in more than 100 million interactions a month, so we have enormous reach in the local market. The banking environment is growing increasingly more competitive, so we have to make sure we continue to build trust with our clients, while finding ways to differentiate our offerings and add value. Partnerships such as our latest venture with WesBank to be joint sponsors of the Fuel Economy Tour make a lot of sense as it ticks several of these boxes,” concluded the FNB Chief Executive Officer.