After nearly four years at the helm, Iveco Trucks New Zealand general manager Kevin Smith is moving on to a new role overseas.
A former chief executive of Fruehauf trailers, Smith was previously the general manager of Plumbing World before moving to his current role at Iveco Trucks NZ in 2011. His next role will be based in Dubai from January 2015 and he says it was an opportunity that he knew he would regret not taking.
Smith says he leaves the business with a solid leadership team in place, a strong and industry-respected sales team of four people, three of them with sales management experience, and a future for the Iveco Trucks NZ organisation that is solid and exciting.
It is a much different scenario to the one Smith inherited nearly four years ago, when Iveco Trucks Australia bought back the NZ agency for the truck brand from New Zealand Trucks Limited, a subsidiary of the Stevenson Engineering Group.
“When I arrived at the building nearly four years ago, and walked in through the front door, we had one single truck being built for a customer,” says Smith. “The business was in serious doldrums and we had to act quickly to rectify it.”
Smith says Iveco Trucks New Zealand now has a solid leadership team who work superbly together, an improved selection of products for it’s customers, and the company’s growth has been greater than the market growth.
“I’m satisfied that the team has delivered the objectives which we set out nearly four years ago, its hard enough as it is to leave the team, but I’m leaving on a positive note, as the company has a strong and viable future.” he says.
The company is actively recruiting for his replacement because as Smith points out, the NZ team has demonstrated to its parent company both the value of a local management model and the success of the structure in place.
