Hino has announced it will make be making a large scale investment in dealer facilities as it mounts a concerted pitch to the market in coming months.
Hino Motor Sales Australia (HMSA), the local subsidiary of the Japanese truck brand is expecting increased involvement from five of Australia’s largest automotive and commercial vehicle retail groups.
The company’s general manager – brand and franchise development, Bill Gillespie says that during 2017 and 2018, Hino will open three new dealerships and upgrade four existing sites to meet increased demand.
“It is significant that we have increased investment from five of Australia’s largest automotive and commercial vehicle retail groups in key locations across the country,” Gillespie said.
These will include Automotive Holding Group (AHG) in Coffs Harbour, Sci Fleet at Brisbane’s Eagle Farm, CMV Group at Laverton, in Melbourne’s West AP Eagers at Mascot in Sydney and Suttons at Arndell Park in Sydney’s west.
“To cope with increased demand for truck sales, parts and service in western Sydney, we recently opened a brand new dealership in Arndell Park,” Gillespie says.
“Further up the eastern seaboard, there are brand new purpose-built Hino dealerships in Coffs Harbour and Brisbane.”
At more than 32,000 square metres, the recently renovated CMI Hino site in Melbourne is not only the largest standalone dealership for the Japanese manufacturer in Australia, but it is one of the largest Hino dealerships in the world, Gillespie added.
The company has also recently upgraded dealerships in Launceston in Tassie, Townsville in FNQ and at Mascot in Sydney.
“This is all a huge lift in capability for Hino – we are essentially adding three standalone Hino dealerships in the three largest capital cities in Australia,” Gillespie says.
“With more than 60 dealerships and service centres strategically placed across the country, we have increased our capacity to provide excellent service and after-sales support for our customers, and we know this is of particular interest to our fleet customers.
Hino believes the investment is already paying dividends soon after it launched the all-new medium duty 500 Series Wide Cab earlier in the year, and the firm will end 2017 with the arrival of the highly-anticipated 300 Series 4×4 light duty truck.
“Orders from our dealerships are running at levels not seen since before the Global Financial Crisis in 2007/08 and we expect this to translate to retail sales in the coming months,” Gillespie says.
