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Chloride Zimbabwe sales and marketing manager Mr Panganai Kufakunesu

Bianca Mlilo Business Reporter
RE-BRANDED Exide Express (formerly Battery Express) has diversified to include solar solutions in its product range as part of its expansion drive. Exide Express is wholly owned by Chloride Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of Amalgamated Regional Trading Corporation.

Sales and marketing manager Mr Panganai Kufakunesu told Business Chronicle in Bulawayo last Friday that the rebranding of the city’s outlet was the first in its 13 branches countrywide.

Chloride specialises in manufacturing and distributing lead acid batteries under the brands Exide for the automotive market.

“We’ve had to change our name because we’ve extended our product range.

Battery Express restricted us to batteries only but we now offer solar products, charge controllers, invertors and solar solutions, solar panels, and commercial uninterruptible power supply (UPS)” said Mr Kufakunesu.

“These can be used for back up in towns and rural areas as well as an alternative power solution and carry a 12 month warranty.”

He said the logic behind rebranding and expanding to Bulawayo first was because there was a lot of activity in the region, adding that Zimbabwe’s second largest city had a high density of miners from the southern region.

Mr Kufakunesu said they have relocated from 12th Avenue and Fife Street to a bigger and more spacious workshop at Corner 13th Avenue and Robert Mugabe Way, which has the capacity to accommodate 15 cars.

The previous shop could only hold four cars at a time.

He said they were also planning on going on a nationwide expansion of workspaces and products and by the end of the year they would have increased their range by coming up with a maintenance-free battery.

Exide Express also backs up power in hospitals and supplies traction batteries used for locomotives and forklifts.

It provides both automotive and industrial batteries. The company recently started servicing Binga and Plumtree towns.