In what is a continuing shake up in the bus market in Australia, the once dominant Mercedes-Benz bus brand, which in the past had a lion’s share of the public transport route bus business, has announced it is expanding its customer support staff, with two two new key staff joining the bus team.
Iain Dorward and Jon Tozer have joined the Three Pointed Star and the company says they bring a wealth of knowledge to the Mercedes-Benz Bus operation.
Jon Tozer has joined Mercedes as a key account manager with national responsibility and is an industry veteran with 33 years of experience at bus body builder Volgren and before that at the once associated Grenda Group.
Tozer is well-known throughout the Australian bus industry thanks to his work in a vast range of roles at the company and says it was difficult to leave Volgren, but he is excited to join the Mercedes-Benz bus team.
“One of the main reasons I came across was the new direction and focus by Mercedes-Benz on the bus division and product support, along with the quality of the Mercedes-Benz product, especially the fuel economy of its advanced euro 6 engines as well as the exciting technology that is on the way,” Mr Tozer said.
Iain Dorward joins the bus team in dual roles that include responsibility as a field service manager across New South Wales as well as in a sales role.
Dorward brings his experience with Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle technology, having joined Mercedes-Benz as a 17-year-old apprentice in 2000 in the UK. After moving to Australia he joined Daimler Trucks Adelaide as a truck technician and finished second in the 2016 Mercedes-Benz Trucks Technician of the Year competition, before becoming a technical trainer for buses and then trucks at Daimler Truck and Bus.
Dorward has already clocked up 6000km in the first month in his new role, based at Daimler Trucks Huntingwood, in Sydney.
“It is a great to combine my technical knowledge with the sales role,” says Mr Dorward.
“Support is part of the sales conversation from the start to the finish and customers know that I will be there to support them.”
Mercedes-Benz Buses senior manager, Mehmet Karal, welcomed the two new staff members.
“We are thrilled to welcome Iain and Jon to the Mercedes-Benz Bus team,” says Mr Karal.
“Mercedes-Benz bus is committed to continue building our customer support across Australia and Iain and Jon are a key part of that,” he adds.
