US auto giant, Penske Automotive Group, has entered the New Zealand truck market after signing an agreement to acquire two of New Zealand’s best performing truck brands, MAN and Western Star.
Penske’s has signalled its Australasian expansion with the acquisition of the Commercial Vehicles Group (CVG) from Transpacific Industries Group Limited, in a NZ$250 million deal. Completion is subject to standard closing conditions, and expected to conclude by the end of September, 2013.
CVG is the importer/distributor for Western Star, MAN and Dennis Eagle trucks for both Australia and New Zealand, and has a 65-strong dealer network across Australia and 16 in New Zealand.
The change of ownership is expected to have little immediate impact for MAN Automotive Imports (NZ) Limited (owners of the MAN and Western Star brands in New Zealand), but will bring both brands under the ownership of an international and experienced automotive industry player, rather than a trading division of Transpacific Industries Group, whose core businesses revolve around waste and recycling.
Man Automotive Imports NZ (MAINZ) general manager Jason Cann says this augers exceptionally well for MAN and Western Star in New Zealand.
“Transpacific operate six divisions – five are waste and recycle-based, and the sixth is trucks – so while there is synergy in that trucks move waste, trucks were not core to Transpacific’s business but are absolutely central to what Penske do.”
Paul Glavac, managing director of Transpacific Commercial Vehicle Group states: “We are eager to move forward as part of Penske Automotive Group – we now have a total company focus on commercial vehicles, and access to additional professional business practices and automotive experience to provide our Australian and New Zealand customers an enhanced service and a broader platform for growth for us, and our dealers.”
Glavic adds that CVG will retain strong links to Transpacific: “While we are very excited about our prospects and are looking forward to continuing to work with existing dealers and customers, we have a strong relationship with Transpacific and will continue to provide them with quality products and service to this industry leading company.”
Penske Automotive Group chairman, Roger S. Penske, says: “Western Star Trucks provides us with an attractive gateway to enhance our global business profile. We believe that our existing relationships with heavy and medium-duty truck manufacturers and experience in operating dealerships provides us with a unique opportunity to expand our business and provide a steppingstone to Southeast Asian markets for other parts of our business.”
Western Star is an affiliate of Daimler Trucks North America, while MAN Truck and Bus is majority-owned by Volkswagen AG.
Dennis Eagle is a specialist brand operating in the refuse collection segement, and is not part of Man Automotive Imports NZ’s brand portfolio.
The Penske Automotive Group Inc. is headquartered in Michigan and operates 332 retail auto franchises across 39 brands. The group’s core business is supplying new and used vehicles, F&I, parts and service on all represented brands.
Penske operates 172 US franchises and 160 outside the ‘States, mainly in the UK, where it retails a number of leading brands, including Audi, Jaguar and Mercedes franchises.
The group employs 16,700 people.
Both Western Star and MAN are enjoying success in 2013 says Cann: “Western Star is the market leader in the North American segment for conventional trucks. Our forecast for both MAN and Western Star is for a very good 2013 and already 2014 is looking promising for us, too.”
