en.Wedoany.com Reported - Transportes Gabardo, headquartered in Porto Alegre (RS), Brazil, operates a fleet of over 1,000 trucks, of which approximately 70% are Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus vehicles equipped with Cummins engines. Among these, around 15% have already exceeded 1 million kilometers of travel. The million-kilometer mark remains one of the key performance indicators in road transport operations.
The company has operated across Brazil and the Mercosur region for nearly four decades, transporting automobiles, electrified vehicles, parts, and chemicals. The fleet operates daily under varying road, climate, and terrain conditions, placing extremely high demands on vehicle reliability.
In the view of Antonio Almeida, Sales Director at Cummins Brazil, durability is the result of engineering design. Before entering the road, every engine undergoes thousands of hours of testing under different operating conditions to ensure that design performance is confirmed in the field. The Gabardo case demonstrates that a strategy based on engineering, continuous validation, and close collaboration with OEMs and customers can translate into operational availability and greater profitability for transporters.
Proper vehicle specification is equally critical. Antonio Cammarosano, Director of Network Services, After-Sales, and Planning at Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus, explains that powertrain specifications primarily consider operating costs, performance, and lifespan; when the engine, transmission, load capacity, and application are considered together, transporters can fully unlock the vehicle's potential throughout its operating cycle. Continuous post-delivery tracking, including the dealer network, vehicle connectivity, operational monitoring, and timely preventive maintenance, also helps extend truck life and improve customer satisfaction.
Operations, in turn, rely on discipline. Sérgio Gabardo, Founder and CEO of Transportes Gabardo, states that the company performs overhauls in advance and carries out preventive maintenance before the recommended intervals when necessary, to avoid unplanned downtime. He says: "We don't wait for the truck to break down. We want the vehicle to reach its destination, not to stop on the road."
Fleet management is people-centered. The company operates an in-house driver training school, ongoing training programs, and initiatives for team integration, recognition, and continuous development, combined with metrics such as fuel consumption, vehicle maintenance, adherence to operational procedures, and delivery quality. Gabardo believes that drivers are the company's calling card; when they feel valued, respected, and understand their responsibilities, they care for the truck as if it were their own. He concludes that operational efficiency is the result of discipline, planning, and continuous operational tracking—"Those who know how to count survive; those who don't pay the price."
The experience of Transportes Gabardo shows that remarkable durability performance is not the result of a single factor, but rather the combined effect of Cummins engineering, proper specification by Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus, and Gabardo's nearly four decades of operational culture. This integration turns technology into productivity, enabling trucks to run over 1 million kilometers and create value throughout their service life.
Cummins Brasil has been present in Brazil for over fifty years, designing, manufacturing, and distributing engines, services, and related technologies. Its product portfolio covers fuel systems, turbochargers, emission solutions, axles, driveshafts, components, and power generation systems, applied to trucks, pickups, buses, stationary applications, construction machinery, agricultural equipment, mining machinery, and marine applications. The company operates a plant in Guarulhos (SP) producing engines, generators, turbochargers, and emission solutions, while Cummins Drivetrain and Braking Systems (CDBS) in Osasco (SP) manufactures axles, driveshafts, and components for commercial and off-highway vehicles.
