MERCEDES BENZ
Car in Springs

Cargo Motors was formed in 1955 when Jack Mincer bought the Saker-Bartle group. This group of companies included D H Saker, the franchise holder for Studebaker cars and trucks as well as Vanguard cars and Mercedes-Benz trucks. Cargo's main source of income in 1955 was derived from truck sales but in the same year the first car, a Mercedes-Benz 180 was imported and sold. Cargo's initial premises consisted of a showroom and offices in 92 Marshall Street and acorrugated iron workshop in Harrison Street. The original franchise area comprised of 37 magisterial districts stretching from the Northern Cape and Bechuanaland to Swaziland including the Transvaal, except Pretoria and Northern Transvaal. The area was covered by traveling salesmen and later a steadily growing network of Cargo branches and dealers. In 1956, Cargo's workshop in Harrison Street was moved to Bitcon Road where we occupied only a small section of the building mainly used by D H Saker. Also in the late fifties, D H Saker was renamed Lindsay Saker. This meant a total reorganization of the dealer network. In 1963, Cargo Johannesburg and Lindsay Saker went public and a holding company called Saficon Investments Limited was formed to incorporate both, providing them with finance and guidance. Still in the sixties, the rising Mercedes-Benz population in Johannesburg necessitated the expansion of our services and in line with Cargo's strategy to bring our services to our customers' doorsteps; we acquired several service stations, namely Illovo, Braamfontein, Cargorama and Northcliff. Based in Selby, Cargocity was one of the largest Mercedes-Benz service centers outside of Germany. Due to the ongoing expansion, our main parts depot then situated at Cargocity started bursting at its seams and in 1975, it was moved to a larger warehouse under the banner of Cargo Parts Center in Selby. Early in 1982 UCDD acquired the Honda passenger car franchise and Mercedes-Benz dealers had the opportunity to introduce this range to the South African market. South African Railway Services Road Transport section standardized on Mercedes Benz Trucks and Busses and decided not to tender for this work. In July of the following year, the Benrose outlet closed down and used car stands were established at Auckland Park, Northcliff and Rosebank. The acquisition of property in Northcliff opposite the Cresta Center resulted in the building of an exciting new outlet that became operational in February In 1994 assembly of the Colt pick up was started at the Mercedes Benz plant in East London. Porsche and Jaguar (known as LSM Distributors) were sold separately as was the building material part of the business known as Boumat. Cargo Motors carried on with its Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Colt dealerships. In 2001, Chrysler/Jeep dealerships were established under the Cargo banner and in the same year Honda SA was created and they decided to set up their own dealerships in SA. In 2004, Cargo Motors was appointed as a dealership for Freightliner (American based product). As a result, Freightliner/Fuso (part of Mitsubishi a Japanese based product) and Western Star (maintenance only) form part of the commercial vehicle arm of Cargo Motors. The business operates territorially on the East Rand and has Market Centers in Polokwane/Tzaneen and Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp, which are multi branded. Cargo/Mercurius Motors is a progressive, stable company ranking with the best in the industry.