Real Trailer is the company that imports and distributes KRONE brand vehicles exclusively in Italy. Founded in 1999, the company from the beginning has set itself the goal of making the prestigious brand known, until then unknown on the Italian territory. Since then, the company has sold thousands of vehicles in Italy. In the past few days, the CEO of the company, Stefano Savazzi, came to visit us at the company.
Dr. Stefano Savazzi, you are the administrator of Real Trailer, exclusive importer in Italy of the prestigious brand KRONE, European leader in the production of semi-trailers. How do you assess this 2020 that we have just left behind and what forecast do you have for this year regarding the towed sector in Italy?
«The year 2020 ended, as in many other sectors, with a drop in the number of registered vehicles. It was quite in the order of things given what happened in terms of pandemic, lockdown in March, April and May. But in the last months of 2020 there was already some sign of recovery, not so much on the year 2019, but on the previous months. Signs of recovery that have been confirmed even in this beginning of 2021, in which the same vehicles were registered in January that were registered in January 2020, before the pandemic. This bodes well for what this year’s performance in the towed sector may be in terms of registrations. I think there is definitely a recovery from the year 2020».
As a connoisseur of the Italian vehicle fleet, how do you judge it in general and compared to other European countries such as Poland, Germany and France?
«Our vehicle fleet definitely has a high number of towed vehicles. Between trailers and semi-trailers, we have over one hundred thousand vehicles. So it’s a really high number. Italy’s handicap, especially when compared to Germany and France, but also Poland since it’s a younger transport market, is linked to vehicle safety, which on average is older than in other European countries. I don’t want to be wrong, but it should be around a 60% the average age superiore to ten of the vehicles we have in Italy. So it would be necessary to be able to modernize it: there are many companies that invest, but there are also companies that still use very dated vehicles, with serious risks for road safety and for the safety of everyone».
What trends are you seeing in the market and what products do you consider to be the best performing at the moment for the brand?
«Currently, as a market trend, there are definitely demands for refrigerated semi-trailers and van semi-trailers, so for courier transport. So these are also our two products that are having a higher demand from our customers. It goes without saying that we are also very strong in traditional curtain-sided vehicles, where KRONE is the leader in Europe».
At a time of widespread uncertainty due to the ongoing pandemic, there are certainties you can still count on. In fact, the SMET Group has continued to invest to increase its loading capacities and to better serve its intermodal networks and the Motorways of the Sea. And it is precisely with Real Trailer and KRONE, that an agreement has been recently signed for three hundred new intermodal units, whose deliveries will start already in March and will then continue. What is your relationship with SMET Group? And what value do you give to this kind of industrial relationship? What does it represent for you?
«We have a relationship with the SMET Group, and with Dr. De Rosa who represents it up front, of great esteem both professionally and personally. For us, having succeeded after years of acquaintance – because we have known the SMET Group for years, also because it is I think the first Italian transport group and one of the major players at European level – it was a great satisfaction to be able to follow and conclude this contract and to be able to start supplying the SMET Group continuously and with a certain intensity, in terms of numbers. So we are definitely satisfied and happy with this opportunity».
What is your wish for this year in the sector and in general for our country?
«As far as our industry is concerned, that we return to normality and also to a steady trend. Because, in the end, the pandemic has negatively affected, but an excess of euphoria is never virtuous either. So the possibility of having a steady trend of growth in the sector and a development of what is sustainable intermodality. Which is what the SMET Group is doing: growing on the Motorways of the Sea, growing on rail intermodality and also having an advantage in terms of environmental sustainability of our sector. As far as our country is concerned, first of all we want this pandemic to end, we want to be able to vaccinate as many people as possible and, here too, we want to be able to return to a normal life».