The trucking and transport industry has farewelled Keith Andrews, the founder of one of New Zealand’s leading truck dealerships and distributor of Fuso.
He died on November 13 after a year-long battle with cancer.
He is survived by wife Vicki, children Kurtis, Camden and Holly, and five grandchildren.
A service was held at Marsden Cove Marina in Whangarei on November 23, where he was remembered by friends and family.
His casket was loaded into a Fuso truck after the funeral and taken to the dealership where staff formed a line to pay their respects.
Keith was born in Auckland and moved to Whangarei in 1965, when he was 11.
He called it home for the rest of his life and maintained a “small-town” humility, while dreaming – and achieving – on a bigger
scale.
With a practical grounding from a mechanic’s apprenticeship after leaving school, Keith demonstrated incredible drive and vision to not only build his own business, but to build one that changed the face of the industry and became the most successful of its kind in the country.
It all started at Haywood Motors, where he did his apprenticeship and was later given the opportunity to sell boats (a lifelong passion) and then trucks.
Responsible for setting up and expanding the light commercial division, he quickly cut his teeth in sales, marketing and management.
In 1991, he saw the potential to set up a specialised Mitsubishi Fuso truck sales, service and parts company, taking over the business from Haywood Motors withits blessing.
Roger White, then sales manager of Fuso trucks for Mitsubishi Motors, says Keith had many special qualities.
“As with many people he met, we quickly established a good rapport – his mechanical background and mine as a truck engineer finding common ground.
“I saw he was just the sort of young man who could do well in this business … and I might learn something about marketing from him,” Roger says.
Keith Andrews Trucks (KAT) was created, operating from a small workshop on Rewa Rewa Road with three service bays, a parts store, and five staff, including Colleen Hayes, who remained a loyal and trusted friend.
Colleen retired in 2017 after 25 years of service.
Keith had originally intended it to remain a small business – but growth happened organically.
His plans for the current Whangarei dealership, across the road from his original workshop, blew Roger away.
“It was stunning, unlike anything seen before in this country,” Roger says.
“It soon became a talking point for the industry.
Truck dealerships didn’t have floor-to-ceiling windows and tiled floors.
“Everyone had service pits, except Keith – he had hoists and he displayed new trucks in the showroom, as if they were new cars; something special.
“He was a man with a unique vision for the truck industry, truck marketing and the opportunities it presented,” Roger says.
The Whangarei branch opened in 1996, quickly building on a reputation for exceptional service, an innate understanding of customers’ businesses and an ongoing talent for innovation.
The business added Mercedes-Benz vans sales, service and parts, followed by buses and trucks.
It has also been a parts and service outlet for Freightliner since 2004.
Alongside Fuso, these three brands sit within the Daimler Trucks family, under whose banner the Keith Andrews franchise marches on.
The franchise grew significantly in 2011 with the takeover of Roadlife Trucks in Manukau – and its offices in Bay of Plenty and Hamilton – a business that was turned around by applying the same principles that Keith held dear, headed by his son Kurtis.
Keith’s ultimate vision was more ambitious yet – an ambition that was realised in 2016, when he won New Zealand distribution rights for Fuso trucks through his newly formed company Fuso NZ Ltd.
Keith Andrews Trucks’ state-of-the-art Hamilton branch followed in 2018.
In November this year, the network was announced as a full Freightliner sales, parts and service dealership for the North Island.
Staff remember Keith as a boss who led from the front – always beating them to work in the morning and the last to leave.
He had an amazing work ethic and a genuine passion for his people and his customers.
In a 2015 interview with DieselTalk (now TransportTalk), Keith spoke about the importance of creating good company culture.
“To attract the top diesel technicians in Auckland we had to make the job more user friendly … It’s about family, we’re committed to ensuring a work/life balance for all of our staff.”
Keith said his business philosophy wasalways about providing the best possible support to the customer and to make the workshop and reception areas exceptionally clean, well-presented, well-equipped, wellstaffed and fully stocked with all the parts.
“Once the truck has left the workshop bay, the floor and surrounding workspace is cleaned before the next one rolls in.
“I challenge you to find another workshop as clean, fully stocked, and as well presented as this one,” Keith told DieselTalk.
“Support levels can be quite poor in this industry, which is why we have focused on providing the best possible support to keep customers happy,” he said.
Outside of his business, Keith remained competitive in a number of activities which included yacht racing in his younger years.
And when he wasn’t sweating it out on the squash court, training with marathon runners or cycling 45 minutes to work he was either fishing with rod and spear, diving, sailing or just enjoying thefreedom of being at sea.
Keith’s absence from the business over the past 12 months has meant the KAT and Fuso New Zealand teams have operated under the leadership of son Kurtis Andrews.
