Official launch of $30 million facility described as a ‘statement’ move by the Australian firm
Automotive Holdings Group’s (AHG) link with Daimler Trucks appears destined only to strengthen following the official opening of the pair’s massive new Perth dealership.
That was the message from senior staff from both firms at a customer’s function a number of weeks after dealers, office staff and mechanics moved in.
Daimler Trucks Perth dealer principal Simon Ramsay describes it as one of the biggest such facility in the country.
With a footprint of more than 42,000 square metres, the facility has two workshops covering 7,000 sqm boasting 54 bays that effectively doubles the previous site’s capacity
It also has 315 truck parking bays and 30 customer bays.
Its parts department extends across 1,200 sqm over two levels and the workshops feature overhead gantry cranes, plus brake testing and roller shaker equipment.
Innovations include oil plumbed through the workshop floors and measured using electronic pumps.
At customers’ behest, the site features pits and wash-bays that can handle B-triple combinations.
Ramsay praised the commitment of staff during the move, noting that the business closed at noon on a Friday and opened again at 7.30am the following Monday and that in in the intervening 67 hours “we moved more than 300 trucks and 85,000 individual parts”.
AHG chairman David Griffiths disclosed that, when all costs were totalled, the facility represents a $30 million initiative by his company.
“This is a major commitment by AHG, it is a major demonstration of the faith we have in the Daimler brand, it’s a major demonstration of the faith we have in the people that run the trucking business,” Griffiths says.
AHG managing director Bronte Howson says the impetus for the style of dealership was predicated on lifting the customer experience to that of AHG’s car salesrooms.
Howson reassured attendees that recent soft conditions in heavy trucks had no bearing on the industry’s “required business” stature in his firm.
Daimler Trucks North America international sales and service director Claus P Roth, presently based in South Carolina, was on hand for the event and gave the place high praise.
“This is a facility that in comparison to other facilities around the world, even Daimler-owned branches and so on, is absolutely world class,” Roth says.
He describes it as a “statement” to the market and Daimler and therefore an “obligation” for the truck maker both locally and in North America.
His thoughts were echoed by Daimler Truck and Bus Australia managing director Daniel Whitehead, whose company was involved closely in the facility’s planning and who averred that it did not bear comparison with others locally.
“We are extremely proud of the relationship we have with AHG and we plan on making it bigger and better as time progresses,” Whitehead says.