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Volume 1 | Issue 2 | April 2015
Getting on with the Giga Future of
Editor Robert Barry went to Japan as a guest of Isuzu
Motors Limited to experience the new VC36 series Giga HD
which will be arriving in dealerships soon.
D
riving a heavy duty truck combination around a 42 degree
bank at 80 km/h in the Northern Japanese island of Hokkaido on
an Easter Sunday is not normally how I
spend a holiday weekend.
But this was the unique test of the
stability and engineering as well as
the power of Isuzu’s new entrant into
the New Zealand heavy truck market,
the 2015 VC 36 Giga series which will
start arriving into dealerships midway
through the second quarter.
Already the New Zealand distributor
Isuzu Trucks has taken more than 40
confirmed orders on a truck which is yet
to hit series production, but the increase
of the model range from 9 to 18 units, as
well as the availability of a 285mm chas-
sis rail model, which combined with an
air suspension package and a 18-speed
Eaton Road Ranger gearbox gives the
brand a weapon to re-take lost market
share in the stock transportation sector.
Getting up close and personal with
two versions of the all-new Isuzu Giga,
one with a box body fitted and the other
a tractor unit at the Wacom test track allowed my self and three other truck media partners to experience the new Euro
5 engines, one a 460Hp and the other
a 520Hp unit, both allied to a 16-speed
Isuzu automated manual transmission.
Climbing up the steps and into the
driver’s suspension seat gives a great
view of the road ahead, and all of the
controls are intuitively understood and
vehicle
inspections?
A
s part of his brief to investigate future strategies of the
vehicle inspection business,
VINZ chief executive officer Gordon
Shaw will head to Dubai in April to
attend the bi-annual global conference which is being hosted by the
International Motor Vehicle Inspection Committee, known as CITA.
“Our parent company Jevic is a
member of CITA as it is a committee for the harmonisation of policy
and standards, and delivery of
vehicle inspections,” says Shaw.
“The Jevic Group have always
been represented at past CITA conContinued on page 4
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2 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
The way to reach the
entire heavy vehicle
and contractors’
equipment industries
Getting on
with the Giga
Continued from page 1
easily operated.
Pulling the stubby gearstick across and down puts
the transmission into drive,
and by gently accelerating the transmission moves
swiftly through the gears
as we move off towards the
track and the first banked
corner.
Both the 460Hp and
520Hp engines are strong
and smooth performers but
what really impressed on
first acquaintance was the
quick reaction of the AMT
transmission on both trucks,
and the ride quality from the
conventional suspension as
well as the air suspension.
Admittedly we were on
a relatively smooth asphalt
surface rather than a state
highway, but both Giga models on the Wacom test track
provided a comfortable ride
in the cab for the passenger
who didn’t have the luxury of
a suspended driver’s seat.
The new Giga is so human friendly to drive, even
someone such as myself who
hadn’t been at the wheel of
a heavy truck for some time,
quickly acclimatised. My first
lap of the straight course with
banked loops at the end was
somewhat cautious, we had
been instructed not to exceed
100km/h on the straights and
no more than 80km/h through
the banked curves and to
remain in the middle lane.
It was great fun, and as I
noted to another Kiwi colleague, “even your granny
would be comfortable driving that truck.”
Isuzu Motors Japan sales
division executive Yasukyuki
“Jay” Niijima says he sees New
Zealand as the gateway to the
truck manufacturer's growth
in the global heavy duty truck
market in the next five years.
Niijima-san says the company is in a very healthy financial position and it wants
to be a better competitor to
the European brands in the
heavy duty truck sector.
Currently New Zealand
is Isuzu Motors fifth largest
export market for heavy duty
vehicles and general man-
ager Colin Muir says there
is a clear aim to regain the
number 1 spot on the sales
chart in New Zealand.
“It was disappointing to
loose volume and market
share in the heavy duty sector, but we think the new
VC36 Giga has a good specification and will have wide
appeal to the local market,”
says Muir.
“Moving from 9 models
to 18, thanks to the factory adopting a New Zealand
orientated specification by
doubling the amount of 8x4
models available and adding
four more 6x4 models, can
only strengthen our offer,” he
says.
The New Zealand distributor lost a few variants in 2010
due to changes in emissions
regulations but now it has,
once again, a full suite of
models in its sales arsenal.
Muir commented to
DIESELtalk in Japan that the
sales team can now confidently visit a prospective
truck buyer by putting the
specifications on the table
and asking the question:
“How does that compare?”
He goes on to say that Isuzu will target any application
and product that it can with,
Giga locally, that the truck is a
quantum leap forward with in
his opinion, a 100% improvement in spec and durability
which will be backed up by
the provision of cost effective
parts and service.
“There is a school of
thought in New Zealand that
www.DIESELtalk.co.nz
EDITOR
Robert Barry
022 0180 998
[email protected]
BUSINESS MANAGER
Ian Ferguson
027 530 5194
[email protected]
OPERATIONS
MANAGER
Deborah Baxter
027 530 5016
[email protected]
MANAGING EDITOR
Richard Edwards
021 556 655
[email protected]
PUBLISHER
Vern Whitehead
021 831 153
[email protected]
DIESELtalk and dieseltalk.co.nz
are published by:
Auto Media Group Limited
PO Box 105010, Auckland
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Auto Media Group Limited makes every endeavour
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issues resulting from this use.
toto which says if you want
to make money in the transport industry then you’ve got
to buy a Japanese truck.”
GIGA HD: FACTS AND FIGURES
I
suzu Truck general manger Colin
Muir says the new VC36 series
Giga HD will give the New Zealand
distributor a heavy commercial vehicle
that will target competitors such as
DAF, Scania, and Volvo in market specific applications.
Muir says gross vehicle weight
(GVM) will be the legal standard al-
lowed on the 6x4 and 8x4 applications, and gross combined weight
(GCM) will be up to 62,000kg based
on the type of truck.
He says that Isuzu Trucks will be
aiming to win HPMV and 50MAX
business as well as non-permitted
GCM units.
The Euro 5 400 Hp engine retains
the Diesel Particulate Diffuser (DPD)
emission system which is familiar
to Isuzu Truck buyers but the new
460Hp and 520Hp six-cylinder turbo
diesel units are now equipped with
SCR systems using diesel emission
fluid (DEF) to meet the required regulatory standards for emission controls.
Continued on page 15
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 3
NEWSTALK
FUTURE OF VEHICLE INSPECTIONS?
Continued from page 1
ference but this is the first opportunity
for VINZ to attend.”
Shaw says the main focus of the
conference will be centred around enhancing the value of vehicle inspection,
and the sub themes around achieving inspection integrity, and where the
future of vehicle inspection lies.
The continuation of the business
model of having multiple 'tin sheds'
located around New Zealand is under
threat, according to Shaw, because
commercial customers are preferring to
have an inspection service go to their
premises. The ever changing face of
vehicle technology is also bound
to have an impact on the way
inspections are carried out.
“What could the vehicle's on
board computer systems tell us
that we don’t need to physically
check? Will there be the opportunity, as an example to learn from
plugging into a vehicle about
the number of heavy braking
incidents, as well as overspeed
incidents, which would tell an inspector to look at tyres and brake
pads,” he asks.
Shaw says the CITA conference will
allow VINZ as an inspectorate to interact
with other companies and to be able to
share knowledge and brain storm ideas.
As part of the conference, delegates
will be able to visit vehicle inspection
organisations in Dubai to see the top
of the line technology currently being
used in the Middle Eastern city.
While in Dubai, Shaw says he will
have the opportunity to meet current
suppliers such as MAHA and BM to
investigate new equipment to make inspections more efficient and thorough.
“We are interested in looking at the
top of the raised bed load brake roller
line machine which could potentially improve our heavy vehicle brake facilities.”
“We use the same standard of
equipment and calibration across the
network which gives us the best possible outcome for our customers, and
we are always looking to improve it.”
says Shaw.
He says as well as looking at local
inspectorates in Dubai there will also be
a visit to Muscat for a tour of an Omani
Police inspection facility which is being
hosted by MAHA.
Unlike it's local competitors, Shaw
says that VINZ will remain focussed on
its core vertical market of providing
entry certification – as well as COF A
and COF B – and and it hopes to grow
a higher market share through providing excellent customer service.
“We will not take our eye off the ball
by diversifying into other services,” he
says. “And we will continue to manage
our volume of work by tightly managing
the labour pool that we have.”
Shaw says the lack of qualified
and experienced people means VINZ
is constantly trying to find the right
people at the right time, but the
shortage is such,
that he makes the
suggestion that
the inspectorate
industry might
want to consider
banding together
to recruit offshore, possibly
even hold job
expos in Europe.
Gordon Shaw
“Its a concern
that we simply
don’t have enough young New Zealanders coming through the system to
drive trucks, fix trucks, and work for the
regulator - why aren’t we marketing the
opportunity to our younger people? Why
aren’t there components in
the apprenticeship scheme for
our part of the industry? There
really ought to be, I think an
opportunity has been missed
here", says Shaw
VTNZ sales and marketing manager Melissa Cheals
echoes Shaw’s sentiments
about the scarcity of qualified people in the industry.
“We are finding it difficult
to recruit staff in some areas,
particularly Christchurch. There is a
shortage of heavy vehicle technicians
across the country, so VTNZ is retraining WoF inspectors to become CoF inspectors and recruiting from off shore.
“VTNZ is using the DEKRA network to
identify qualified staff who might like to
move to New Zealand,” says Cheals.
Shaw says the new COF A and COF
B regime has seen VINZ focus even
more strongly on customer-focussed
outcomes.
4 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
“We are only as good as our last
contact with the customer and under
the new rules the face of training has
changed,” he says.
“We are the first key service delivery
partner for the NZTA putting a batch of
inspectors through the new COF B internal process for training; our trainers are
now accredited assessors and there’s a lot
of preparation work on tablets for people
to do before they hit the classroom.
“Then once in the class room they
spend time with a trainer going through
specific parts of the process and then
we carry out the practical application
and assessment.
“We could be accused of overtraining our staff - but our reputation
is based on the inspections we undertake,” he says.
The increase in new and used heavy
commercial vehicles on the road has
meant an increase in CoF volumes by
2.5% in the last 12 months.
According to Cheals, VTNZ is partnering up with heavy vehicle repairers to
provide COF inspections on their sites.
“Many repairers like the flexibility of
having VTNZ vehicle inspectors provide
inspection services on vehicles at their
workshops at times that suit them.
“This means that repairers do not
have to recruit or train technicians to
become vehicle inspectors, provide
ongoing training, or
arrange cover when
staff are on leave.
“They save costs
on the site application process and the
costs of setting up to
become an inspecting organisation. They
also save on costs of
travelling to and from
the testing stations,”
Melissa Cheals
she says.
“Many fleet operators still like to
have an independent inspection on
their vehicles to ensure that the process is transparent, is easily audited
from a health and safety perspective,
and it means that they will not be paying for repairs that are not necessary
to get a COF.
“VTNZ is providing inspection
services to meet their needs, including 'Vehicle Condition Assessments'
between COFs,” she says.
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Auckland
PEOPLETALK
Industry has to do more
about the driver shortage
O
ne of the bigDavid Aitken is the chief executive officer of the National
gest issues facRoad Carriers Association Inc (NRC). Founded in 1936
ing the industry
as the Auckland Owner Drivers Association by 29 town
right now is the driver
carriers, today the NRC continues its founding principles
shortage, particularly
by providing advocacy and commercial services to
skilled and experienced
its members, from sole traders to large transport
Class 5 drivers.
companies. Email: [email protected]
There are many
aspects to solving the
problem, but what is
very clear from discussions
agencies assistance.
If you are worried
with industry is that industry
Industry needs to start
about the shortage
needs to do more! Industry
training more drivers to
but are not doing
has to take ownership, stop
class 5. The main reason
anything to train
replying on others or blamthey don’t is few have the
ing everyone else. If industry ability that allows a strucand give experience
doesn’t do its bit, we will not
tured career path starting in
to new entrants
start to solve the issue.
the yard or labouring before
wanting to get into
The main shortage is
working their way through
experienced Class 5 drivthe industry then
the ranks and obtaining
ers. In order to become an
skills and experience. This
you are part of the
experienced Class 5 driver,
would include a Class 2
problem, not the
you need to go through the
‘’runabout’’ vehicle that
solution.
licence system and gain the
allowed drivers to develop
necessary skills and experiskills as they worked their
to train, buddy up, and give
ence needed. This can’t be
way to a Class 5 license.
new entrants the experience
taught in a classroom, rather
The good news is we are
everyone is looking for. It
on the job, i,e. industry needs starting to see operators
needs to be incorporated
to take drivers on and allow
change their model to acinto their business model.
them to gain the necessary
commodate the runabout
skills and experience.
for this very purpose. They
We hear two main excuses
Studies such as the April
have stopped relying on
why businesses don’t.
2003 report commissioned
others and started to do
• My business is not set up
by the Road Transport
something about it.
for Class 1, 2-4 drivers.
Forum identified a number
We know there are youth
We can only take expeof reasons contributing to
and others wanting to get
rienced Class 5 drivers.
the driver shortage and by
into the industry, having
This means more fleets
all accounts these haven’t
only a Class 1, 2 or 4 licence
need to incorporate a
changed, i.e. pay, working
or even a Class 5 with little
runabout into their fleet
conditions, compliance pres- experience. Many give up
and be prepared to train
sures, the licensing system,
and change career paths
drivers. It’s a hard ask,
training and driver retention.
after being told they do not
but there are fleets that
One thing the report failed have the necessary licence
can do this and aren’t.
to pick up on and we believe
or the required experience.
• Once trained they go
is at the essences of the
If no one is willing or able
and work for someone
problem is that industry has
to take them on, give the
else! So if you aren’t
to take greater ownership of
required training and experitraining, where are you
the problem and do more. ence, they move on.
getting the experienced
Industry can no longer rely
Training providers can
drivers from? Someone
on government, ITO’s or
train, but only the industry
who has. If more comother agencies to solve
can give them the experipanies trained drivers up,
shortages, rather we need
ence. Therefore more comthen it wouldn’t matter.
to take ownership with the
panies need to be prepared
6 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
The next reason is
pay rates and conditions. We hear pay
rates are too low to
attract or retain drivers.
Pay is only one element
within job satisfaction. Interesting work,
the value of work-life
balance, employment
relationships, other benefits
all factor in overall job satisfaction. Companies offering
additional benefits usually
don’t have a driver shortages.
Companies then say they
can’t pay more as margins
are low. We constantly hear
that if we increase rates, a
competitor will undercut.
But whose fault is this? Rates
need to increase and customers need to pay more.
What is clear, is that
the association and other
bodies can keep looking at
initiatives to assist, however
without industry support
these are wasted. If you are
worried about the shortage
but are not doing anything
to train and give experience
to new entrants wanting to
get into the industry then
you are part of the problem,
not the solution.
In summary, there are
many factors identified in
various reports as to why
there is a shortage, however
it is clear industry has to
stop relying on others and
do more. The industry has
to take control and be prepared to take on, train and
give the required skill and
experience. A start would
be for more operators to
add Class 2 vehicles to
the fleet – and even driver
trainers – as part of their
operation, if we are to solve
the driver shortage issue.
PEOPLETALK
Awards to recognise
transport industry
W
e think it’s
time that the
A former MP and minister of the crown, Ken Shirley became
innovation
the chief executive officer of the Road Transport Forum
and professionalism
New Zealand (RTFNZ) in 2012. The forum was set up as a
that has made the
national body in 1997 to responsibly promote and advance
road freight industry
the interests of the road transport industry, and its member
the preferred transport
road transport operators. Email: [email protected]
choice in New Zealand
is honoured. So we
have set up a series of awards
Regional heats will be
to activities which help raise
which will recognise the skill
held at Auckland, Tauranga,
the public standing of the
and achievements of industry
Palmerston North, Christchindustry.
members.
urch and Dunedin with
The outstanding award
The announcement and
the winners travelling to
for health and safety and
presentation of these new
Christchurch for the chamfor training target two areas
awards at the Road Transport
pionship being held at the
which have always been
Forum annual conference
Airforce Museum on August
important but which have
dinner will undoubtedly be
27. The finalists will have
become even more signifione of the most memorable
their travel and acmoments of the conference
commodation costs
being held at the Airforce
and conference
Museum of New Zealand, Wi- registration paid for.
gram Christchurch between
Details of the reAugust 27 and 29.
gional competitions
The first award is a nawill be available on
tional New Zealand Truck
the Forum’s and its
Driving Championship.
association websites
There’s a common misconshortly.
ception that anyone can
The second set of
drive a truck. Not so. Safely
awards is for the inloading a truck so that it is
dustry. Ingenuity, fresh think- cant over the past few years.
compliant with the numering and professionalism have
There’s an increasing focus
ous rules and regulations
built the road freight industry
on health and safety measand weight distribution rewhich now carries most of
ures across all industries.
quirements then piloting an the country’s goods. It is
The new health and safety
investment worth as much
time for the forward thinking
act is one demonstration
as half a million dollars up
by individuals, organisations
that expectations are being
the road is in fact a deor companies which has
raised. The sometimes six
manding occupation. That
always typified the industry
figure penalties for health
needs to be recognised.
to be celebrated.
and safety breaches are
Entrants will compete
The supreme contribuanother.
in four categories: Class 2
tion to New Zealand road
So it’s really fitting to have
Rigid, Class 3 and 4 Rigid,
transport will be awarded to
an award which acknowlClass 5 truck and trailer
the person, organisation or
edges the good work already
combination and Class 5
company deemed to have
being done within the indussemi-trailer. The winners of
made the most memorable
try in this area.
the four categories will be
contribution to the industry
Similarly the training
eligible for the New Zealand
over the past year. We’ve
award addresses a long
young truck driver of the
deliberately drawn up wide
standing issue for the road
year award, if 25 or under,
ranging criteria which cover
freight industry: the driver
and the overall New Zeaevery aspect of the industry
shortage. It’s a problem
land truck driver of the year
from new vehicle designs
which has been compoundaward.
and mechanical innovation
ed by successive govern-
ments’ tertiary training
policy where for too
long there’s been an
excessive focus on academic qualifications
rather than the training
needs of skill-based
vocations like the road
freight industry.
With the chronic driver
shortage and an ageing
workforce, it is clear that
the industry needs to invest
more in recruiting and
training younger drivers. So
that’s why we think it is vital
that we reward those who
are putting the effort into
driver training or have
developed new driver
training schemes on
their own or in partnership with other
parties.
The last of the new
awards is the New
Zealand road transport
hero which, as the
name suggests, will
honour a professional
heavy vehicle driver who
saves or attempts to save
another person or persons
from harm while performing
his or her duties as a driver.
We’ve definitely struck a
chord with this award. We’ve
had a number of messages
congratulating the Forum on
setting it up and saying it’s
about time the often heroic
actions of truck drivers were
recognised again. Others
have noted the actions of
the driver whose vehicle
caught fire while travelling
through Paremata, north of
Wellington. At obvious risk to
himself he continued driving
some distance until he could
safely pull over because he
was concerned about the
threat to nearby houses.
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 7
PEOPLETALK
The heavier Dragons are
coming to Gods-own
Y
ou might wonder about the title,
see more of these on the roads here
but I am referring to more heavy
especially in the line-haul application.
commercial vehicles being imHow long before we see other Chinese
ported from the new power-house in
heavy trucks such as the FAW, DFM,
truck and bus manufacturing, being the
C&C Trucks, Beiben Truck and others is
Peoples Republic of
China!
Malcolm Yorston is the member and technical
We are all aware
services manager for the Imported Motor Vehicle
of the increasing
Industry Association (IMVIA). IMVIA provides
number of light
advice and support to a wide group involved in the
Chinese commercial
importation of used motor vehicles into New Zealand,
vehicles such as the
including wholesalers, dealers, shipping companies,
Great Wall, Foton,
compliance shops and vehicle exporters in Japan,
Chery, Geely, as well
Singapore and the UK. Email: [email protected]
as the new MG range
of passenger vehicles
entering service in the national fleet.
the interesting question that is begging
I have also seen a Jinbei (Toyota
to be asked.
Hiace look-alike) that has been trialled
I have seen many of these heavy
in Auckland, and it is likely to be a hit
vehicles at both the Beijing and Shangwith couriers and freight companies
hai Motor Shows, and I have also been
because of its price advantage.
lucky enough to visit a number of
There are other Hiace look-a-likes
being produced in China, for example, the Joylong is one such vehicle
that we may see imported into NZ at
some time in the future.
In the heavy industry we have
seen fewer marques appearing on
our roads, but we have had a number of vehicles entering the fleet
over the last few years.
It is my opinion, that we going
to see a lot more of the heavier
vehicles from China entering the
fleet in the near future.
We have already seen a number
of buses such as the Sunlong, Higer,
manufacturing facilities in China.
BCI and JAC working in the tourist inSome of the heavy commercial
dustry, and we have also seen a recent
manufacturers in China impressed me
entrant to the market, known as Yutong, with their level of commitment to quality
supply buses into the New Zealand
assurance, and R&D, while others were
fleet. How much longer will it be before
less impressive.
we see the Foton and Yantai-Shuchi
Some of the Chinese bus manufacbuses (plus others) as well?
turers are using hoop-frame conWith trucks we have seen JAC and
struction methods, whilst others are
Foton represented in the local market
persevering with pin-frame construcplace for a short time and we are now
tion which is not conducive for good
starting to see SINO trucks entering
roll-over performance.
the fleet as well.
I recently spent some time in the
These SINO trucks are very much
Yutong bus factory in Zhengzhou where
a Chinese-made Volvo and are a well
I saw the manufacturing process and
specified vehicle, and I expect to
their R&D facility.
8 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
This particular R&D facility was one
that I would consider to be world class,
and it was being used for random testing of parts that had been supplied by
component manufacturers, such as
headlamp units being
tested in a humidity
cabinet to UN-ECE
requirements, as well
as other supplied
components that
appeared to being
tested to destruction.
A fully laden 'city
bus' was being tested
on a test bed for the
equivalent of more than 1,000,000km
of travelling over corrugated and potholed roads.
The Yutong rustproofing process
involved complete immersion in a
7-stage treatment facility built by the
German company Dhür, using
Henkel rustproofing products.
Along with many other Chinese
manufacturers, Yutong Bus uses
components supplied by recognised global suppliers such as
Robert Bosch for computers and
electronic systems, Cummins, and
DAF for engines, and GM-Allison
for automatic transmissions.
It is reassuring when you see
the international components and
systems such as these being used
by a multitude of Chinese vehicle
manufacturers, because you can
have confidence that there is local expertise available here in Gods-own to
be able to service, diagnose faults, and
carry out repair without having to go
through more product-specific brand
training.
In this article I have only glossed over
what is currently available, and what
may possibly become available here in
the future.
Will we see Chinese-manufactured
heavy motor vehicles become more
main-stream and more of the normal
in NZ?
I believe we most certainly will, and
in the not too distant future.
PEOPLETALK
Investing in the future of
Freight
T
he NZ Transport Agency is currently working with the transport
sector to develop the 2015-18
National Land Transport Programme.
The first step in this process is working with the regional transport committees; I personally sat in on submissions
from the freight sector to the Waikato
Regional Transport Committee and was
impressed at the wider economic and
safety concerns expressed. The completed regional plans form the basis
of the agency is programme to invest
around $12 billion from the National
Land Transport Fund in maintaining,
renewing and improving our land transport system.
The next three-year investment
programme will be the culmination
of much of the Transport Agency’s
work over the last few years to identify
where the best investments are for
the limited amount of money we have.
While the money available is significant, we are also conscious that these
funds have been raised from road users
- through fuel excise on petrol vehicles, motor vehicle registrations and
road user charges.
A significant amount of money also
comes from ratepayers for activities
co-invested through the programme
like local roads and public transport.
The programme will seek to get the
best value for money for New Zealand
through these investments in our transport system. This will include making
sure we invest in the network in a way
that reflects its use and contribution to
the New Zealand’s economy and social
wellbeing.
The need is of improve freight safety
and efficiency has a considerable role
shaping our investment choices. Part
of the thinking behind our investment
approach has been influenced by the
work we have had underway in our
freight planning with local government and industry. These discussions
together with our analysis identify both
specific investment options, as well as
key priority areas – such as growing
50MAX network access and developing
Harry Wilson is the freight portfolio director for the New
Zealand Transport Agency, a role which helps ensure
that freight initiatives are as integrated and coordinated
as they can be. He joined NZTA as the Waikato regional
director in October 2008.
Email: [email protected]
the 58-tonne High Productivity Freight
Network where it is economic to do so.
We know from our work that the
more efficient New Zealand’s freight
system is, the more this reduces the cost
of moving goods – which makes our
economy more competitive. Improving
the competitiveness of the economy
will grow our country’s wealth, create
jobs and lift our standard of living.
This is why growing the value of
New Zealand’s export trade is an important Government policy objective.
As such there is likely be a continued
focus on investment in our strategic
freight network to improve access to
international and domestic markets.
This will mean better connecting our
regions, improving access to major
ports and moving freight across our
major cities will be significant considerations.
The freight task is substantial and
we know it is also growing, by around
50-60% over the next thirty years,
and in some places, like Auckland, by
between 60-70%. Population growth
and increasing car travel in some areas
will also put pressure on some of the
network. This may require investment in
the road network and also in alternative
transport choices to manage demand.
Along with providing efficient journeys, our industry engagement also
emphasises the increasing importance
of improving journey predictability
on key freight routes. Being able to
predict journey time and knowing how
many trips you can make in a day are
important concerns for those moving
freight.
To ensure a more level playing field
for industry and to protect our road
network from damage, we will also be
looking at investing in more automated
weigh devices. These devices, which are
part of our Weigh Right initiative, will
be used to help identify those vehicles
operating illegally over weight and also
those not paying the correct road user
charge for that vehicle type.
One of our objectives for this work
is to allow for more high productivity
access on the network through reduced
illegal overloading of trucks, which are
less safe and can damage roads and
bridges. Another objective is to be able
to better identify those vehicles operat-
We also know that freight
movements should be safe
and we need to invest in
some parts of the network
to address known areas of
high risk.
ing at the correct load limits, in order to
allow them to continue on their journey
while more attention is given to those
who may warrant it.
We also know that freight movements should be safe and we need to
invest in some parts of the network to
address known areas of high risk. This is
something that is really important to me
in as regional director for the Waikato
and Bay of Plenty. While I recognise
the importance of moving freight for
the wellbeing of our country, I do not
believe death and serious injury are legitimate costs of moving freight. Given
the high volumes and economic value
of freight moving through the Waikato,
together with our proximity to New
Zealand’s largest ports – we need our
most important highways and rail networks to move this freight as efficiently
and safely as possible.
So as you can see this programme
is likely to have a lot in it. More specific
detail will become available over the
next few months – as those who pay
into the national fund, I am sure you will
appreciate knowing how this money is
being spent.
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 9
PEOPLETALK
Industry training
apprenticeships stack up
T
he Industry Training Federation says
it has welcomed a
report from the Ministry of
Education, which highlights the effectiveness of
industry training apprenticeships over apprenticeships offered through
Polytechnics or Institutes of
Technology.
The Education Ministry
study http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/80898/what-is-amanaged-apprenticeship
was released last month, and
shows that industry training apprenticeships result in
higher completion rates and
longer-term employment
prospects.
“Industry training apprenticeships take place on
the job. They benefit both
workers and employers,”
says acting ITF chief execu-
Kevin Bryant is the acting chief executive for the
membership-based Industry Training Federation. It
represents industry training organisations (ITOs) to
government, and it works with agencies and sector groups to improve the policy for, and delivery of
industry skill development and workplace learning.
Email: [email protected]
tive Kevin Bryant.
“Integrating study with
practical skills and workplace knowledge is a winning formula.
“A massive bonus is that
industry training graduates
complete their qualification
free of a student loan,” says
Bryant.
“Importantly, industry
trainees and apprentices can
earn while they learn. So
they gain work experience,
competence, and national
qualifications without getting into student debt.
“The study also shows
that industry training ap-
prentices are much more
likely to stay and work in
New Zealand, boosting our
economy with qualified
workers.”
Bryant says every year
around 140,000 people are
gaining national qualifications through industry
training and these numbers
are growing.
Apprenticeships provided
through polytechnics and
institutes of technology are
relatively small, with the
study limited to three fields
of study, including automotive engineering.
“Progress is rapid in in-
dustry training, and there
has been a great deal
of positive change in
recent years,” he says.
“The report highlights
the cost-effectiveness
of industry training apprenticeships, costing
the taxpayer an average
of $10,907 compared to
$21,399 for managed apprenticeships.
Bryant says that New Zealand's industry training success must be celebrated and
recognised, but there is still
work to be done. The ITF
is seeking a more cohesive
vocational education and
training sector, with a level
playing field for industry
training and other education
providers.
The ITF is a membership
organisation representing all
of New Zealand’s Industry
Training Organisations.
A WINNING OPPORTUNITY FROM HINO
H
ino Distributors (NZ)
Ltd are running a
nationwide competition which will see the
winning recipients upgrading their driver’s licences to
either a Class 2 or Class 4.
The competition asks
entrants the reasons why
they want to get their truck
licence, and offers them
the chance to win a truck
licence training package
valued up to $1000.
The prize includes
logbooks (unit standard),
theory, practical training
and assessment with AMS
Group.
The first winner was
Manawatu-resident Louis
Nyman who had his name
drawn out at the Central Districts Field Days
in March, and he was
presented with his prize recently in Palmerston North
by Hino New Zealand general manager Ray Roberts.
Nyman says he is keen
to get his truck licence so
that he can start a business
providing a portable rehabilitation facility for horses.
“At Hino, we’re all about
the transport industry,” says
Roberts. “That includes
encouraging the next
10 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
generation of drivers to join
a rewarding and growing
career option.”
“Initiatives such as the
Hino competition is a great
way to correctly set young
people up to join the truck-
ing industry,” says AMS
Group’s Lower North Island
area manager, John Marcus.
Marcus will be the
person from AMS who will
be responsible for training
Nyman.
ASSET LEASING & FINANCE
Is your finance
fit for purpose?
A
s this quarterly issue of DIESELtalk arrives at the beginning of the new financial year,
we decided it was time to revisit
the world of asset finance, leasing,
and insurance for the heavy diesel,
logistics, construction, agriculture
and equipment sectors.
The asset finance/leasing sector
is a very competitive one currently,
with traditional asset financiers vying for business with large trading
banks as well as leasing providers and
truck/equipment rental specialists.
DIESELtalk
FEATURE
There is no doubt that the strong
domestic economy is driving growth
across most of the sectors which
DIESELtalk caters to, and which is
reflected by strong sales in both
new trucks and equipment, but it still
remains that many business and fleet
operators may not be using the best
method of financing for their purposes.
In this feature we have spoken to
some end users, as well as suppliers
of asset finance, leasing, and insurance to present the many and varied
options that are available to the SME
operator as well as the large corporate fleet.
Spreading the financial load
DIESELtalk editor Robert Barry spoke to contracting company director Linda Bullock about
the positive benefits of using an independent financial broker for capital asset purchases.
H
aving a relationship with
an independent local
financial broker who understands your business goes a
long way, according to the directors of Wellington-based Keith
Bullock Contracting Limited.
Glenn and Linda Bullock took
over the family-owned business
from Glenn's father Keith in 1983,
and now their sons Mark and Dean
are also active in the day-to-day
operations of the company.
Linda Bullock says the contracting company has enjoyed
a relationship with Crediflex
broker Mike Smith for more than
20 years and recently employed
Smith’s services to obtain a new
Caterpillar excavator.
Although the couple do use
a national commercial trading
bank for their day-to-day company operations, Bullock says its
important to spread the financial
load and not put all of their eggs
into one basket. She says that
over the many years they have known
Smith, there have been a number of assets purchased through the brokerage
model for their growing business.
Currently Keith Bullock Contracting
Ltd operates seven diggers of varying sizes, as well as two rollers, three
heavy trucks – including a Hino and a
Western Star, as well as an equipment
transporter – and there are around
eight to nine pick ups of various sizes
and configurations on the fleet.
The company carries out earthworks, site clearance, section clearance, demolition work, sub division
work, gorse mulching, metal deliver-
ies, skip bin delivery, as well as
contract work for the Wellington
and Porirua councils, and is also
a sub contractor to the Fulton
Hogan-John Holland joint venture servicing KiwiRail.
Bullock says the seasonal
workload can be varied and demanding.
“Mike’s knowledge of our business and his local knowledge of
upcoming developments in the
area adds value to the business
relationship,” she says.
“It’s the benefit of having someone who knows you, knows your
business, knows how the industry
works and knows what is required
that helps. You don’t start from
scratch when it comes to securing
funds for a new capital asset.
“You are not dealing with
someone sitting in an office who
doesn’t understand you or your
business, as well as the area and
region you are working in, and
the real need for the asset you are
trying to finance.
“The new Cat excavator is operated by
our oldest son Mark, it's his baby and he
treats it very well. He had a huge hand in
the purchase of the machine and did the
bulk of the configuration work pre-sale
to make sure it met the growing needs of
our workload,” she says.
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 11
DIESELtalk
FEATURE
ASSET LEASING & FINANCE
Putting the appropriate
finance package together
W
hile many townies might think
that much of the rural sector is comprised of the dairy
industry, the asset finance business specialists at UDC recognise it is only one
part of our growing economic force.
According to UDC national sales
manager - equipment dealer, John
Wragg, the viticulture, arable, sheep and
beef markets are all strong and all are
buying new equipment. He comments
that the new truck space continues to
see growth, and the market for small to
medium excavators is also very buoyant.
“We’ve had a great start to the year,
and seeing our equipment dealers with
a positive frame of mind is a good space
for us all to be in,” says Wragg. “We will
continue to support our equipment dealers at all of the field days throughout New
Zealand this year, including the National
Fieldays at Mystery Creek, because it’s
important that they don’t miss out on any
opportunity to close a sale.”
John Wragg
Wragg says that sales promotions being run by equipment dealers focusing on
both structure and price points are proving successful and are examples of where
dealers are using financing as an incentive
Keep the costs
from stacking up.
Want someone else to manage your forklift
maintenance costs and be able to remove a
depreciating asset from your balance sheet?
With an operating or finance lease from FleetPartners, you
can gain better control and remove the residual value risk
from your business. A fully maintained operating lease will
also remove the asset from your company’s balance sheet.
So don’t get caught with goods that aren’t moving due to
machinery needing repair.
Talk to FleetPartners today about a Materials Handling lease, give us
a call on 0800 532 738 or visit our website www.fleetpartners.co.nz
12 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
to encourage their customers to trade up
to new gear at an affordable price.
“Equipment dealers have grasped
the ability to structure deals differently
and to use finance in a more creative
way with their product offer to better
entice their customer,” says Wragg.
“We work with the equipment dealers
to put together the appropriate package
- some products don’t suit some types
of finance contract, so we can tailor the
package to suit the customer or suit the
situation,” he says.
Wragg says because there has been
strong growth in the equipment and truck
space, the equipment and truck dealers
who finance through UDC are looking for
greater capacity and capability to be able
to expedite deals more effectively and
efficiently for their customers.
Continued on page 13
ASSET LEASING & FINANCE
DIESELtalk
FEATURE
Speed to market is essential
W
ebbline Agriculture Limited
director Stan Malcolm says
the greatest benefit of being a
UDC equipment dealer to his customers is the speed to market of the UDC
Live online finance tool.
The family-owned company was set
up in 2003 and sells specialist agricultural and forage equipment to the
dairy, sheep and beef, and agricultural
contracting sectors. There are three
Webbline branches located in Southland, Canterbury, and the Waikato.
“We need to react quickly to our customer’s needs, because often they need
to purchase new equipment urgently
when the old gear breaks down, and they
have fine weather and a crew waiting to
harvest a crop in the field,” he says.
“Customers wanting a machine to
be delivered to them in a little as two
hours is not uncommon during the
harvest season which runs from September to April,” he says.
Malcolm says that cutting grass silage will begin in Northland in September and that the maize harvest finishes
in April, so the need for equipment is
wide and varied.
“Speed of trade needs to be fast
in this circumstance, and provided
the customer's application meets the
preset criteria within the UDC Live
platform, we can get finance approved
on the spot which allows our client to
take the equipment and get on with
the job that day.
“A customer recently arrived in our
branch at 1pm urgently needing a replacement agricultural trailer for a job,
and thanks to the UDC Live system, he
left at 4pm with the trailer hitched up
and ready for work.
“I would say that around 30% of
our business is conducted in this way
and UDC Live enables us to meet and
exceed customer expectations, especially when they need the equipment
as soon as possible.
Malcolm believes that the sector
is still cautiously optimistic about the
future, and that there continues to be
replacement and upgrading of equipment as well as the urgent purchases.
PUTTING THE APPROPRIATE FINANCE
PACKAGE TOGETHER
Continued from page 12
Hence the online UDC Live platform now has an application for
equipment and truck dealers to use,
and Wragg says that its an efficient
tool providing real-time information
at the dealers finger tips.
Adopting the finance models and
technologies from the motor vehicle
dealer space into the equipment and
truck space, has enabled these dealers
to better serve their customers, and
they can sell not only the equipment,
but also warranty and service plans
through a finance package that suits
the needs of SME operators.
The new UDC Live platform allows
vendors of trucks and equipment to
secure the sale and the customer
right away, which is very important in
such a busy and competitive market
that New Zealand is currently experiencing. “Speed is key. UDC Live gives
an instant approval securing the
customer right away”, says Wragg.
UDC continues to offer term loans,
credit sale agreements, finance leases,
and revolving credit facilities so that
SME businesses in the rural sector can
pick the product that best suits their
particular need or asset.
“We are continually focused on
better serving our equipment dealer
customers to enable them to be better focused on serving theirs,” says
Wragg.
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 13
DIESELtalk
FEATURE
ASSET LEASING & FINANCE
Building strong relationships
in the transport industry
F
rom starting out as a trailer rental
company in 1992, the familyowned TR Group has grown to
become New Zealand’s biggest truck
and trailer leasing and rental provider
but has maintained its focus on growing its brand through both staff expertise and professionalism as well as
personal relationships.
In the first six years of operation
TR Group solely focussed on trailer
rentals before moving into trucks. Now
trucks make up two thirds of the fleet
and trailers one third in an operation
which functions 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, all year around.
As part of providing a greater service to current and future customers
beyond just truck leasing and rental,
TR Group also has a shareholding in
MasterDrive Services which supports
the delivery of fuel efficiency and safety
programmes through its operational
support services division.
“People come to us to get a job
done in the best possible way, and they
keep on coming come back to us because our people treat them in the best
possible way,” says TR Group managing
director Andrew Carpenter.
“While leasing might be the mechanism that you do business with us,
people come to us because they want
to deal with our people who have the
expertise and add value. Our customers
know that their truck is always in good
hands and that there is always someone at the end of the phone 24/7.”
TR Group says that more than 70%
of its business is focussed on longterm
leasing with rental business making up
the remaining 30%, but it says that it
will easily drop a rental fleet truck out
of the pool to help a lease customer
with a short delivery requirement. TR
Group services both corporate customers and SME businesses as well as
owner operators, and has a large and
varied fleet from which to do so.
It predominately operates trucks
from 5-tonne GVM and above, and
covers all facets of the transport industry from metro operations to long-haul,
with a range of trucks including HPMV,
curtain siders, reefers, container trucks,
tippers, tankers, dairy tankers and even
logging trucks.
“Providing a bespoke leasing solution to the customer is more than just
getting the finance component right,
the truck needs to be right for the job
on day one, and then for every day
thereafter,” says Carpenter.
“Virtually all of our leases run from 4
to 8 years which often involves carting for 6 to 800 kilometres a day at 50
tonnes, so its vital that we ensure the
customer has the right truck and equipment to do the job properly,” he says.
“We need to make sure the truck
is fit for the purpose intended, but
also it's important to have the flexibility to change the truck, or the
configuration of the truck, if things
should ever change during the lease
period, and these changes and variables can include legislation, a new
driver, a different workload, a change
of company ownership or policy, and
economic conditions.
“There’s a perfect home for every
truck, and although most of our newly
commissioned fleet is built for 50MAX
operation, there are still customers who
require only a 44 tonne GVM truck for
their operations.
“When a 4 to 5 year lease term
expires, we can re-cut the lease to suit
14 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
the clients need or the truck can be
moved to another client,” says Carpenter. “There’s always a perfect home for
every truck.”
With the current demand for new
truck builds seeing lead times on delivery increasing beyond 6 to 9 months,
TR Group has seen a demand for rental
vehicles to cover the increasing volume
of work generated by the buoyant
economy.
Most lease customers are on a fully
maintained operating lease arrangement, which allows TR group to ensure
the truck and trailer are proactively
maintained over the life cycle of the
vehicle to minimise downtime for their
client.
“We want to ensure the client
has a good experience while they
are using the truck and dealing with
TR.Because of the breadth of experience within the maintenance team
we often know what may go wrong
with a truck during its life time so
we’ll get ahead of it and do preventative maintenance to ensure it doesn’t
happen,” says TR Group national sales
manager, Shane O’Grady.
“TR Group is made up of a group
of people who understand the unique
requirements of the transport industry
and are extremely passionate about
operating, maintaining and selling the
services of our fleet.”
ASSET LEASING & FINANCE
DIESELtalk
FEATURE
A 'one stop shop' service
W
ith the recent addition of materials
handling equipment
to the FleetPartners commercial asset leasing portfolio,
the company now offers its
clientele a ‘one stop shop’ for
all their vehicle and materials
handling requirements.
‘Having received enquiries
from our customers over the
past 12 months and knowing
that a large number of fleet
managers are now in charge
of all vehicles and equipment, this seemed a natural
addition to the FleetPartners
stable, says FleetPartner's
general manager Dean
Purves. What made it easier
was that we were already
discussing with Centra
Forklifts how we might work
together and bring a full
fleet solution to both ours
and their customers."
To that end, FleetPartners
has co-branded with Centra
Forklifts to be able to offer
a range of fork lifts, reach
stackers, order pickers and
forklift telehandlers.
Purves says the forklift
telehandlers in particular
are very popular for working in confined spaces, and
are great for lifting pallets
from one side of a truck or
a rail car without the need
for extension forks, and
enables the job of loading or
unloading to be completed
quickly and safely.
According to Purves,
FleetPartners differentiates
itself from industry competitors by focusing on customer service as its number
one priority.
“We have a high touch
point relationship management model with all of our
Dean Purves
customers,” says Purves. “Our
relationship management
team is one of the largest
within the local vehicle leasing industry and our last customer experience research
had them achieve a +27 'net
promoter score', leaving our
competitors in the dust.”
The growth of the new
heavy vehicle market during 2014 (RUC type 6 and
above) pushed through the
4000pa mark for the first
time on record, according
to Infometrics, March 2015
forecast report.
Purves believes that there
is still some catch up going
on in the heavy vehicle space
from post-GFC deferment
and this is all helped along
with the elevated NZ dollar.
“The demand for sale and
leaseback from the heavy
commercial vehicle customer has also increased as
the demand for capital to
fund business expansion has
grown,” says Purves.
“There has been a substantial update of this financial instrument as companies look to unlock funds for
growth from their existing
fleet of assets.”
Purves makes the observation that large corporate
customers tend to prefer
Continued on page 17
GIGA HD: FACTS AND FIGURES
Continued from page 15
Isuzu Motors says that the new
Giga HD models offer improved
airflow around and under the cabs
as well as improved cooling capacity
and reduced fuel consumption.
While the distributor wouldn’t
give out the exact diesel consumption figures, it says in a side by side
evaluation test with a European
model in New Zealand, a Giga HD
combination unit equipped with the
18-speed Eaton Road Ranger gearbox produced consumption that was
similar to and at times better than
the Euro truck under some severe
local testing conditions.
Muir told DIESELtalk that arrival
times for the new VC36 Giga HD
models are based on current start of
production.
All manual Giga HD 8x4 models
are due to arrive in June and July,
followed by all 8x4 AMT models in
August and September.
All of the Giga HD 6x4 models
with manual and AMT transmissions
in both truck and tractor configurations are due to arrive in August and
September.
Current Isuzu Truck owners in
New Zealand will be pleased to see
the return of “favourites” in the big
truck range.
Here is a brief summary of some of
the new Giga HD models:
The CYZ460 (6x4) returns with the
option of the 18-speed Eaton Road
Ranger manual or the Isuzu 16-speed
AMT transmission, magnetic driveline
retarder, 7500kg front axle, low roof,
319mm chassis, and SCR emission
control, not DPD.
The CYH460 (8x4) and CYH530
(8x4) return with the option of the
Eaton or Isuzu AMT transmissions,
and the option of a 582mm or
319mm chassis, the 460 has a low
roof and the 530 a high roof, and
both have SCR emission control, not
DPD.
The CYJ560 (8x4) and the CYJ530
(8x4) return with the option of the
Eaton or the Isuzu AMT transmissions,
a 285mm chassis, air-bag suspension,
and SCR emission control, not DPD.
The EXY460 (6x4) and EXY530
(6x4) tractor units return with the
option of the Eaton or AMT transmission, a 285mm chassis, air-bag suspensions, the 460 has a low roof, and
the 530 a high roof, and both have a
7,500kg front axle.
A full run down on the new Euro
5 Giga HD model range will follow in
the next DIESELtalk issue.
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 15
Every Customer, Every Vehicle, Every Day
ASSET LEASING & FINANCE
DIESELtalk
FEATURE
Specialist transport
insurance brokers
O’Connor Warren grows and expands
W
hen O’Connor
Warren director
Eamon O’Connor
branched away from the
corporate world to establish
his own specialist transport
and trucking insurance
brokerage more than
two years ago, he says
he didn’t appreciate the
significant interest this
move would generate.
O’Connor is also a
former board member of
the New Zealand Trucking Association and general
adviser to many industry
bodies and groups around
matters of insurance and risk.
He has garnered a respected
track record across New
Zealand transport risk management, with his knowledge through the industry’s
insurance, risk and legislation issues. His expertise and
passion for getting results for
clients has been recognised
and reflects in the exponential growth they have
enjoyed since O’Connor
Warrens doors were opened
in January 2013.
Eamon O’Connor explains, “We have found that
our specialist knowledge,
expertise and proactivity is
proving to be the difference.
We are attracting a broad
range of operators - big and
Keep up with daily
transport and
equipment news
www.dieseltalk.co.nz
small. It’s our reputation for
providing market leading
advice, solutions and service
that is at the forefront of our
success.”
O’Connor says the key has
and risk services for transport and other select sector
clients gives us a true endto-end brokerage service,”
he says.
“Significant demand has
Eamon O’Connor is a director of O’Connor Warren
Insurance Brokers, which specialises in transport
and logistics insurance. He will be sharing his
expertise on risk management and insurance
matters in DIESELtalk. He can be contacted at:
[email protected]
been its ability to offer the
client genuine and knowledgeable advice on business
issues, as well as effectively
structuring their insurances
so that it has an impact on
the efficiency and profitability of their business.
“We have achieved all of
the objectives we set out to
do more than two years ago,
and I’d like to point out that
this is a long-term proposition, we intend to be here
well into the future.
“There are very few Kiwiowned insurance broking
houses left operating in
New Zealand. We continue
to see the retirement of
older broking directors and
the subsequent sale and
acquisition of their businesses into the international
insurance broking models.
There is no doubt that this
trend leaves us as an attractive proposition for the
insurance buyer.”
The Tauranga domiciled
operation now has seven
operating staff and effective
from April 15 launches its Life
& Health division.
“Adding Life & Health to
our portfolio of insurance
come in recent times, particularly from our larger clients
looking for genuine employee
benefits (life and medical
packages) to offer their staff. It
ties in nicely with our existing
business insurance offering.”
says O’Connor.
O’Connor Warren has appointed two specialists to look
after its life and health division,
which is headed by Darren
Cornforth who has more than
30 years experience.
“Too often owners of
SME businesses have motor
vehicle cover, public liability
and business protection
insurance but they themselves are not protected
should something happen
to them,” says Cornforth.
“We will pick the company that’s right for you, we
will recommend a policy
that is in the top four available on the market, we keep
an eye on your insurances
so your cover is always up
to date, and if you already
have cover, we are happy to
provide a free assessment to
make sure its adequate and
properly structured to meet
your needs,” he says.
A ONE-STOPSHOP SERVICE
Continued from page 15
fully maintained commercial operating leases
for their heavy commercial fleets while there has
been a slower uptake from
the privately held transport companies, but he
says some are beginning
to realise the benefits of
a lease product, be that
an operating lease or a
finance lease.
“Finance leases that
offer no deposit, structured monthly payments,
and a residual balloon
payment at the end of
the term are certainly
growing in popularity in
the heavy commercial
space,” says Purves.
“For many a finance
lease can often be the
stepping stone to a
fully maintained operating lease, particularly
when the finance lease
is backed by our commercial managed maintenance product. It’s simply
a matter of choosing a
product that is fit for purpose for their need.”
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 17
NEWSTALK
Giga: Behind the scenes
There is an incredible amount of human and digital resource that goes into the development
and testing of a new heavy duty truck. Robert Barry saw some of the application of this
while visiting Isuzu Motors Limited in Japan.
A
s you saw on the front
page of this quarterly
issue, our first introduction to the new Giga HD
was at the Wacom testing
facility, near the city of Sapporo in the northern Japanese island of Hakkaido.
Wacom is one of 26 proving grounds in the region
operated by all of the Japanese automotive brands and
suppliers to the automotive
and truck manufacturing
industry. Hokkaido endures
some particularly extreme
cold and snowy weather
during the Japanese winter,
so its ideal for testing a ve-
hicles performance in these
conditions.
The facility was first
opened by Isuzu Motors in
November 2002 but was
eventually spun off from
the company to become
an independent operation,
though it is still primarily
used by the manufacturer
and it’s customers. There
are more than 190 staff employed at Wacom.
Thanks to being located
in the southern region of
Hokkaido the 443 hectare
facility provides Isuzu Motors
with all year round testing, as
well as driver training events
18 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
for customers on public
holidays. The facility encompasses a high-speed test
course, as well as a straight
line circuit, a low friction
surface track, a cross country course, a Belgian block
road (also known as pave, or
cobblestones), a long wave
road, a dirt and gravel circuit
and six different elevation
slopes.
Having the mixture of
real world surfaces and
conditions in one place
allows the Isuzu Motors engineers and testing personnel to conduct every known
durability and endurance
test in the industry.
Even on a Sunday we
saw Wacom test staff driving Isuzu evaluation units
around the various circuits.
And judging by the amount
of different Isuzu truck models we saw parked around
the periphery of the test
circuits, it would be fair to
assume that the trucks are
thoroughly and rigorously
put through their paces.
This is further backed up
by the facilities on offer at
the Isuzu Motors Limited
Research & Development
centre which is housed
Continued on page 19
NEWSTALK
Waiting for a test run at Wacom
Truck of the future and past
Continued from page 18
within the Fujisawa production operation located 90
minutes south of Tokyo.
In the words of the
Japanese lady guiding us
through Fujisawa, the size of
the entire operation including production of engines
and trucks, R and D, and the
Isuzu premium club onsite
for customers, is equivalent
to “two Disneyland’s” thats
around 100 hectares.
Isuzu Motors has also
built its own wind tunnel
facility at Fujisawa with a
chassis dynamometer testing unit that can accommodate all truck models from
light duty to heavy duty.
According to the heavy
duty truck engineering chief
Hagimori-san, Isuzu Motors
Editor at the wheel
is the only global truck manufacturer which has a facility
of this scale, and allows the
trucks to be subjected to extremes of temperature from
minus 40 degrees celsius to
50 degrees celsius.
And the facility can move
from doing cold tests on the
trucks to hot tests in as little
as two hours!
Equally impressive is the
environmental testing facility
for the diesel engines.
Located on the Fujisawa
site there are no less than
130 test cells for the diesel
engines. Isuzu Motors can
simulate an environment up
to 5,000 metres above sea
level to test the durability
and operating efficiency of
its engines as well as subjecting them to inclination
tests of up to 35 degrees
forward and aft as well as up
to 45 degrees listing to the
left or the the right.
Isuzu Motors have engineered a testing jig for
the engines which allows
them to prepare a unit to be
hooked up and on the test
bed in as little as ten minutes. We were told that the
consumption of diesel can
run into tens of thousands of
litres daily.
During his presentation to
the New Zealand delegation,
Hagimori also talked about
Isuzu Motors other global R
and D operations, which are
located in Europe, China, Indonesia, the USA, and Thailand. He commented that
Isuzu Motors had strategically set up facilities in those
markets to pursue greater
efficiencies when developing
vehicles for them.
Isuzu Motors also uses
digital analysis when developing new vehicles through
computer aided engineering to verify handling and
stability as well as durability
and rough road performance, before prototypes
are built and then subjected
to driving and collision
testing.
The company is also
building a new interactive
training and visitor centre
which will be called Isuzu
Plaza, which will open this
year and also means that
media may no longer be
granted access to visit parts
of the R and D centre as we
were.
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 19
ards
Richard Edw
NEWSTALK
March 9
DIESELtalk
itor
Managing ed
ards
Richard Edw
onth
looks at the m
gone by on
.nz
dieseltalk.co
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Daily news fo
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DIARY
March 4
March 6
Navman Wireless to
merge with US firm
More accidents
follow port safety
inquiry call
New Zealand-founded vehicle
telematics firm Navman Wireless has announced a merger
with US competitor Teletrac
Inc, in a bid to create one of
the world’s largest global telematics organisations.
The combined company
will be run by an executive
management team selected
from both Teletrac and Navman Wireless. TJ Chung, Navman Wireless president and
chief executive officer, will
lead the joint company.
n3 appoints
Manheim for vehicle
and asset disposal
n3, the current name for what
was previously the Government Supply Brokerage, has
appointed auction his Manheim as its preferred supplier
for disposal services.
The multi-year contract
will see Manheim provide
n3 members with access to
their wide range of vehicle
and equipment disposal sales
channels and vehicle and
equipment sale preparation
services.
The contract was previously
held by Turners Auctions.
Two serious port accidents
have occurred so far in the
week since the Maritime Union
renewed its call for a national
inquiry into New Zealand’s
port safety.
A Port of Lyttelton worker
suffered a broken arm on the
morning of Tuesday March 3,
after a fall aboard a vessel.
Two C3 employees in the
Port of Timaru were taken
to hospital after an incident
aboard a container vessel on
the early morning of Wednesday March 4.
Construction crime
wave in Canterbury
A unfortunate side effect of
the Canterbury rebuild is the
growing amount of opportunistic theft from the vehicles of
tradespeople, as well as containers and construction sites
says Canterbury Police.
The most common thefts
are power tools, trailers, plate
compactors, generators and
diesel fuel.
Investigations are ongoing
into the theft of 50 bags of
under floor insulation valued at
$20,000.00 from a warehouse
in January.
All the Auto Industry HOT NEWS
every day as it happens on
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direct to your email
Aussie economy dips
Fulton Hogan profit
According to Fulton Hogan
its first-half pre-tax earnings
dropped 10% as Australia’s
economic woes kept a lid on
resources and state sector
spending, while the strong kiwi
dollar eroded profit earned
across the Tasman.
Pre-tax net profit fell
to $83.4 million in the six
months ended Dec. 31 from
$92.8 million a year earlier
according to a statement
released by the company.
March 10
Remaining
Expressway work to
start
Work on the remaining
three sections of the Waikato Expressway is set to get
underway this year, following
approval by the NZ Transport
Agency board to spend $1.08
billion on the construction of
the Hamilton and Longswamp
sections.
When completed the
expressway will extend
102km from the intersection
of State Highway 1 and 2 at
the base of the Bombay hills
in the north, to just south of
Cambridge. The continuous,
divided four-lane highway
will reduce the length of State
Highway 1 by 6km.
The approval in spending
on a major trade route through
the Waikato shows the
Government’s commitment
to unlocking New Zealand’s
potential for economic growth
says Transport Minister Simon
Bridges.
HPMV permit
applications now
available online
A new online high productivity
motor vehicle (HPMV) permitting system will be rolled out
by the NZ Transport Agency
nationwide after a successful
implementation in Auckland.
This new system will enable all HPMV operators to
apply for their permits online
from mid-March 2015.
Applying online means operators will have the benefit of
a system which offers a range
of features including tracking
each step of their permit’s progress and remembering details
to make repeat applications
much easier and faster says
the Transport Agency. Equipment salesman
jailed for fraud
A former top salesman for an
agricultural machinery supplier
has been sentenced to two
years and seven months prison
after admitting 29 dishonesty charges totalling nearly
$352,000.
According to The Southland Times, Judge Micheal
Turner told the Invercargill
District Court that 56-yearold Paul Yeo ripped off a
former employer, a business
partner, a finance company
and numerous long-time
friends between 2006 and
2010.
Judge Turner says Yeo used
his friends and his knowledge
of how agriculture equipment
was financed to commit the
crimes.
More Kiwi
acquisitions for
Penske?
Having invested heavily in
the Australasian transport
and heavy engine industry
and launched a V8 Supercars
team, billionaire American
Roger Penske has revealed his
likely next move will be to start
acquiring automotive dealerships in Australia, according to
motoring.com.au.
“We need to digest our
trucking and transport acquisitions over the next 12
months, but out of the corner
of my eye I would say there
is an opportunity for retail
automotive,”
March 11
More local bodies
supporting effluent
expo
More than 50 exhibitors are
confirmed for the Waikato
Effluent Expo at the Mystery
Creek events centre on Tuesday March 17 (St Patricks Day).
Continued on page 21
20 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
NEWSTALK
While most attendees last
year came from the Waikato
region, some farmers came
from as far away as Northland,
Taranaki and Wairarapa. This
year the Bay of Plenty and
Taranaki regional councils
have promoted the expo as a
place for farmers in their areas
to learn about developments
in effluent management.
The event is in its fifth year
and it is hoped attendance will
top last year’s figure of 650.
March 12
Crack down on
drug and alcohol
impairment
The government is set to get
tough on people impaired by
drugs or alcohol when operating aircraft, marine vessels or
railcars.
A discussion paper exploring regulatory options for
managing drug and alcohol
impairment in the aviation,
maritime and rail sectors has
been released today by the
Ministry of Transport.
It is a response to the Transport Accident Investigation
Commission’s calls for laws
to stop commercial transport
operators or recreational users
if they are impaired by drugs or
alcohol.
March 17
Pacifica announces
new coastal shipping
service
Pacifica Shipping says it will
take delivery of a new 1100
TEU vessel, the Spirit of Canterbury, on March 19 in New
Zealand.
The new vessel has a 220
reefer unit capacity, and it
will be introduced onto the
New Zealand coastal shipping
route. It will offer a dedicated weekly service across
the following port rotation:
Auckland, Lyttelton, Nelson,
Tauranga and back to Auckland.
“This investment in new
tonnage underlines Pacifica’s
commitment to supporting New Zealand’s domestic
transport infrastructure,” says
Pacific Shipping chief executive Steve Chapman. March 18
Forestry truck expert
recognised by peers
Logging truck engineer, Lincoln Taylor has been awarded
a Fellowship of the Institution
of Professional Engineers NZ
for his contribution and leadership in making New Zealand
logging trucks and trailers
stronger and safer.
IPENZ says Taylor is a
leading designer in the heavy
road vehicle industry in New
Zealand.
He has lead the improvement of codes and standards
for heavy vehicle certification
and was a founding member
of the Log Transport Safety
Council.
Big ticket items
popular at Field Days
More than 30,000 visitors attended last weekends Central Districts Field Days and
exhibitors with “big ticket”
items such as machinery and
tractors saw good transaction
levels.
Fairfax NZ AgriMedia brand
manager Dean Williamson
says exhibitors at the site
were up on last year, reaching almost 560, with 111 new
exhibitors.
“The farmers looking to
splash out were on a mission
– they knew what they were
after and hunted it down,” says
Williamson.
March 19
More HPMV capable
bridges in Otago
The New Zealand Transport
Agency says it has more than
$1.6 million worth of bridge
strengthening work under
way in Central Otago and the
Queenstown-Lakes district,
to allow HPMV vehicles with
loads up to 58 tonnes to use
four bridges in the area.
The work is on the State
highway 8 (SH8) Alexandra
bridge, plus 3 bridges on State
highway 6 (SH6) in the Kawarau Gorge between Cromwell
and Queenstown.
Fliway IPO priced at
$1.20 a share
Transport and logistics operator Fliway Group has been
priced at $1.20 a share in the
book-build for its $34 million
initial public offering.
According to a BusinessDesk report existing shareholders Duncan and Gretchen
Hawkesby will retain 54% of
the South Auckland-based
company.
The couple planned to retain 30 to 50% of the company
after the IPO, according to the
prospectus lodged with the
Companies Office this month.
The shares had been offered
in an indicative range of $1.20
to $1.40.
March 20
Profit increase
forecast by
Mainfreight
Mainfreight expects annual
profit to rise as much as 7.1%
on revenues in excess of $2
billion.
According to BusinessDesk, Mainfreight has said
profit excluding abnormal
items will be in a range of
$80 million to $83 million in
the year ending March 31, up
between 3.2% and 7.1%.
Annual earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and
amortisation will be between
$156 million and $160 million,
up between 4.6% to 7.2%, says
Mainfreight. The result will be
released May 27.
Stock transport
breaches condemned
by industry bodies
Industry bodies Federated
Farmers and DairyNZ have
both warned farmers and
trucking operators that animal
welfare rules must be adhered
to when transporting stock
regardless of their desitnation.
The regulation reminder
comes following recent news
and social media comments
on a case now being investigated by the Ministry for
Primary Industries (MPI).
A picture of Jersey cows
being transported across Cook
Straight for slaughter recently,
led to thousands of shares on
Facebook, attacks on farming
practices and a complaint to
MPI.
Container volume
up 3% at Ports of
Auckland
Ports of Auckland has released
its half year results and says
against expectations freight
volumes were up across all
areas.
Container volumes rose 3%
against an expectation that
volumes would fall as a result
of the loss of a significant
service (to Port of Tauranga)
and given the impact from
congestion at overseas ports.
A new truck facility has
been built to speed up
container handling and rail
services to the inland port at
Wiri have been quadrupled,
resulting in 3000 fewer truck
movements a month to and
from the terminal.
March 23
NRC: AMETI needs to
address freight issues
Auckland Transport must
re-think the next stage of the
Auckland Manukau Eastern
transport initiative (AMETI)
project to ensure trucks and
general traffic can travel the
planned route safely says National Road Carriers.
“The focus of the project
needs to be widened beyond
meeting the needs of just
buses, cyclists and walkers,”
says NRC chief executive
David Aitken.
March 31
Waimea contract
carriers in voluntary
admnistration
Nelson-Marlborough based
log transport business Waimea
Contract Carriers Limited has
been placed into voluntary
administration, with Price
Waterhouse Coopers partners
John Fisk, and Richard Longman appointed as the administrators.
It is the intention of
the two administrators for
Waimea Contract Carriers to
continue to trade as usual,
while they assess the options
available to rehabilitate the
business.
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 21
TESTTALK
French white van man
BY ROBERT BARRY
T
here has never been so much
choice before in the mid size
delivery van segment with the
arrival of more European products
to give the short wheelbase Toyota
Hiace and the Hyundai iLoad a run for
their money.
Enter stage left comes the Renault
Trafic, available as you see here with
twin glazed rear doors with no bulkhead, or you can have a “blind” version
with the twin sliding doors and no glazing
for $49,990.
There is also a glazed version of the
Trafic that has a iron bulkhead with internal window, a twin rear door set-up that
opens to 270 degrees, and this model is
also equipped with rear parking sensors,
which is a very good thing when the rear
view is compromised, for $51,990.
While Renault vans haven’t widely
featured in the New Zealand market
in recent years, they have been the
category leader for the last 16 years in
Europe, and as far back as 1907 Renault
supplied commercial van chassis to the
London Taxi market!
Our test vehicle was a long wheelbase
model which has 5.9 cubic metres of
load space and a 2.8m load length. It was
also equipped with the six-speed automated manual transmission (AMT), and
was one of the better examples of this
style of gearbox that we’ve come across.
The Trafic is powered by a 2-litre fourcylinder common-rail turbo diesel engine which offers 85kW of engine power
and 290 Newton metres of torque.
Those figures may sound quite
modest, but the Trafic engine produces
its maximum torque at 1600 rpm, so
combined with the well spaced gears of
the six-speed AMT, you find the van has
quite a bit of get up and go, especially
when unladen.
While the single-clutch AMT doesn’t
have the lightening fast response of a
dual-clutch system, it was still relatively smooth and efficient, feathering
the throttle as you would do in a fully
manual car allowed for smoother gear
changes, and the gearbox does become
quite intuitive and works with the driver,
rather than against them.
You can also manually
change up or down a gear
should you wish.
The Trafic is a front-wheeldrive vehicle, which gives it the
ability to have a lower loading
floor, as well it also has a lower
roof height of 1.97m and a body
width of 1.91m which will allow
it to be driven into multi storey
buildings which is ideal for
urban-based trades-people or delivery
drivers.
Towing capacity (braked) is rated at
2,000kg for the Trafic and the payload
capacity for the AMT version is rated
at 1,222kg.
Inside the cabin you find seating
for three people, theres a two person
bench seat for passengers, though it is
rather snug for two Kiwi-sized rugby
blokes, rather than two slim French
soccer players.
The driver has a comfortable multiadjustable seat of their own with height
adjustable seat belt, as well as an
adjustable steering wheel, and finger
tip controls for the cruise control with
speed limiter, as well as the radio and
Bluetooth telephony.
As you would now expect from a
mobile workplace, there has been a bit
of thought placed into storage around
the cabin. Theres an assortment of cup
holders, bottle holders, card holder,
22 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
A4-sized document holder, and an
oddments tray up front.
The Grey ‘Galatone’ cloth upholstery
looks durable and feels comfortable to
sit on, and while the plastics might look
and feel a bit hard, no doubt they will
remain rattle free for the many thousands of km that this workhorse will be
subjected to during its working life.
The manual air-conditioning in the
Trafic works well, the audio system
provides a decent quality of sound and
there’s even a CD player, but sadly the
quality of the Bluetooth reception in our
test vehicle wasn’t brilliant.
It might have been the quality of the
connection between my iPhone 5C
and the head unit, but call recipients
commented that sound quality was
marginal to poor.
Safety is also a consideration in any
mobile workplace, and the Trafic of-
fers a driver and passenger airbag, ABS
brakes with electronic brake distribution
and emergency brake assist.
Unsurprisingly for a vehicle that carries valuable cargo, there is an alarm
and immobiliser fitted as standard, and
the remote central locking with three
button ignition key, allows you to have
the front cabin unlocked but the rear
locked, for obvious reasons.
There’s a long options list which
allows fleet buyers to spec a Trafic to
meet their exact needs and requirements, including an upgrade from the
standard steel wheels to alloy rims if required, as well as navigation, automatic
climate control, single passenger seat,
and fog lamps.
But in summary, the real appeal of the
Trafic apart from it’s practical nature has
to be it’s unique exterior style amongst a
sea of mostly boring boxes, and for that
it certainly deserves a second look from
light commercial buyers.
PEOPLETALK
STATSTALK
Isuzu continues the
new truck charge
I
suzu trucks continues to
be the market leader for
quarter one 2015 with 86
truck and bus registrations in
March and a year to date tally
of 240 units as opposed to
192 in the previous corresponding period last year.
Hino followed in second
place with 144 registra-
NEW HEAVY TRUCKS
OVER 23,001KG MARCH 2015
MAKE
VOLVO
DAF
ISUZU
HINO
SCANIA
FREIGHTLINER
KENWORTH
MITSUBISHI FUSO
MAN
UD TRUCKS
OTHER
TOTAL
MAR'15 MAR'14
48
43
27
30
26
20
24
23
18
18
11
9
10
10
10
12
9
12
9
10
31
29
223
216
% Change
11.6
-10.0
30.0
4.3
0.0
22.2
0.0
-16.7
-25.0
-10.0
6.9
3.2
NEW MEDIUM TRUCKS
9001-23,000KG MARCH 2015
MAKE
HINO
ISUZU
MITSUBISHI FUSO
UD TRUCKS
MERCEDES-BENZ
OTHER
TOTAL
MAR'15 MAR'14 % Change
22
21
4.8
20
28
-28.6
19
27
-29.6
14
12
16.7
3
2
50.0
6
25
-76.0
84
115
-27.0
% of Market
26.2
23.8
22.6
16.7
3.6
7.1
100.0
ISUZU
MITSUBISHI FUSO
MERCEDES-BENZ
FIAT
HINO
FOTON
FORD
OTHER
TOTAL
MAR'15 MAR'14 % Change
37
24
19
18
15
3
2
6
124
35
27
18
17
18
3
4
12
134
5.7
-11.1
5.6
5.9
-16.7
0.0
-50.0
-50.0
-7.5
% of Market
29.8
19.4
15.3
14.5
12.1
2.4
1.6
4.8
100.0
corresponding period, and
third placed Mitsubishi Fuso
Continued on page 24
NEW TRUCK MAKES ALL WEIGHTS OVER
3500KG – MARCH 2015
MAR'15
ISUZU
HINO
MITSUBISHI FUSO
VOLVO
DAF
MERCEDES-BENZ
UD TRUCKS
SCANIA
FIAT
MAN
OTHER
TOTAL
86
61
58
48
28
28
24
23
18
14
71
459
MAR'14 % Change % of Market
85
62
71
44
38
26
22
22
17
27
81
495
1.2
-1.6
-18.3
9.1
-26.3
7.7
9.1
4.5
5.9
-48.1
-12.3
-7.3
18.7
13.3
12.6
10.5
6.1
6.1
5.2
5.0
3.9
3.1
15.5
100.0
NEW BUSES OVER 3500KG – MARCH 2015
MAKE
NEW LIGHT TRUCKS
3500-9000KG MARCH 2015
MAKE
tions for the first quarter, a
slight drop on the 157 units
registered in the previous
MAKE
% of Market
21.5
12.1
11.7
10.8
8.1
4.9
4.5
4.5
4.0
4.0
13.9
100.0
Vehicle Inspection NZ
MAR'15 MAR'14 % Change % of Market
ALEXANDER DENNIS
MITSUBISHI FUSO
SCANIA
ISUZU
MAN
OTHER
TOTAL
6
5
4
3
3
7
28
12
5
4
2
4
3
30
-50.0
0.0
0.0
50.0
-25.0
133.3
-6.7
21.4
17.9
14.3
10.7
10.7
25.0
100.0
NEW LIGHT COMMERCIAL MAKES
UNDER 3500KG – MARCH 2015
MAKE
ISUZU
MITSUBISHI FUSO
MERCEDES-BENZ
FIAT
HINO
FOTON
FORD
OTHER
TOTAL
MAR
'15
37
24
19
18
15
3
2
6
124
MAR
'14
35
27
18
17
18
3
4
12
134
% Change
5.7
-11.1
5.6
5.9
-16.7
0.0
-50.0
-50.0
-7.5
% of
Market
29.8
19.4
15.3
14.5
12.1
2.4
1.6
4.8
100.0
Vehicle Inspection Specialists
Vehicle Inspection NZ
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DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 23
PEOPLETALK
STATSTALK
Isuzu continues the new truck charge
Continued from page 23
also saw a slight drop in first
quarter registrations from
145 in 2014 to 132 in 2015.
Volvo trucks enjoyed a
better first quarter in 2015
up three units to 84 registrations, UD trucks increasing
from 52 to 69, and Scania
saw its first quarter registrations rise from 41 to 61.
Heavy truck and bus
registrations in total grew
from 1147 in the first quarter
of 2014 to 1191 in the first
quarter of 2015.
Local distributor Isuzu
Trucks New Zealand says 878
new trucks were registered
in 2014 and
general manager Colin Muir
commented to
AutoTalk, while
on a trip to
Japan for the
media launch of
the new Isuzu
Giga HD truck,
Colin Muir
that he thinks
market growth this year will
be in line with GDP.
It is Muir’s opinion that
the market will start to cool
towards the end of 2015,
he feels that Isuzu Trucks
will see sales of its N-Series
light truck cool off, and
NEW HEAVY TRUCKS OVER 23,001KG
QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
VOLVO
ISUZU
HINO
DAF
KENWORTH
SCANIA
FREIGHTLINER
MAN
UD TRUCKS
MITSUBISHI FUSO
MACK
IVECO
MERCEDES-BENZ
WESTERN STAR
RENAULT
INTERNATIONAL
CATERPILLAR
DENNIS EAGLE
GROVE
LIEBHERR
FACTORY BUILT
PETERBILT
TEREX
TOTAL
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
83
78
6.4
72
58
24.1
56
50
12.0
55
47
17.0
45
36
25.0
43
31
38.7
38
27
40.7
35
33
6.1
32
23
39.1
28
31
-9.7
27
10
170.0
13
11
18.2
12
15
-20.0
11
12
-8.3
9
6
50.0
6
7
-14.3
5
8
-37.5
2
2
1
100.0
2
2
0.0
1
6
-83.3
1
1
579
492
17.7
% of Market
14.3
12.4
9.7
9.5
7.8
7.4
6.6
6.0
5.5
4.8
4.7
2.2
2.1
1.9
1.6
1.0
0.9
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.2
100.0
NEW MEDIUM TRUCKS 9001-23,000KG
QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
ISUZU
HINO
UD TRUCKS
MITSUBISHI FUSO
IVECO
MAN
MERCEDES-BENZ
DAF
SCANIA
KENWORTH
RENAULT
VOLVO
KATO
TOTAL
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
60
49
22.4
52
50
4.0
36
29
24.1
32
42
-23.8
9
11
-18.2
6
27
-77.8
6
7
-14.3
3
9
-66.7
3
2
50.0
1
1
2
-50.0
2
-100.0
1
-100.0
209
231
-9.5
24 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
% of Market
28.7
24.9
17.2
15.3
4.3
2.9
2.9
1.4
1.4
0.5
0.5
0.0
0.0
100.0
the medium size
F-series may be a
little stagnant, but
the new Giga HD
will definitely grow
sales as that segment grows.
The 2015 launch
of the new Isuzu
Giga HD truck will
see the range grow
from 9 models to 18.
Isuzu Trucks wants to gain
the number one heavy duty
truck sales title back, and it
says the addition of a model
with a 285mm chassis, a
manual gearbox, and air suspension will help it to regain
some lost share in the stock
truck sector.
“I think overall there
will be a consolidation of
growth in the three segments in 2015 back into the
teens, not the 26% that we
saw in the market last year,”
says Muir.
“The constraints of the
local truck body building industry will undoubtedly have
some effect on new truck
registrations given that its
at 93% capacity of skill and
utilisation.”
Hino on track for a strong
second quarter
Hino Distributors general
manager Ray Roberts says
the greatest highlight for
the brand in the first quarter
of 2015 was the continued
market confidence in what
is normally is a traditionally quieter period for the
industry.
“Hino exceeded its sales
targets for the first quarter
of 2015 and that will show
through in the registration
Continued on page 25
NEW TRACTOR REGISTRATIONS
– MARCH 2015
MAKE
MAR'15 MAR'14 % Change
JOHN DEERE
NEW HOLLAND
KUBOTA
TRACTOR
CASE IH
MASSEY FERGUSON
DEUTZ-FAHR
CASE
CLAAS
OTHER
TOTAL
39
19
12
12
11
11
7
5
4
18
138
39
20
8
8
12
4
7
4
5
11
118
0.0
-5.0
50.0
50.0
-8.3
175.0
0.0
25.0
-20.0
63.6
16.9
% of
Market
28.3
13.8
8.7
8.7
8.0
8.0
5.1
3.6
2.9
13.0
100.0
NEW LIGHT TRUCKS 3500-9000KG
QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
ISUZU
MITSUBISHI FUSO
FIAT
HINO
MERCEDES-BENZ
FORD
FOTON
IVECO
HYUNDAI
VOLKSWAGEN
CHEVROLET
DODGE
GMC
MAN
RENAULT
JAC
FACTORY BUILT
TOTAL
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
97
79
22.8
58
59
-1.7
56
48
16.7
36
56
-35.7
34
36
-5.6
9
5
80.0
7
7
0.0
6
10
-40.0
4
2
100.0
3
9
-66.7
2
2
0.0
1
1
1
1
1
0.0
2
-100.0
1
-100.0
316
317
-0.3
% of Market
30.7
18.4
17.7
11.4
10.8
2.8
2.2
1.9
1.3
0.9
0.6
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.0
0.0
100.0
PEOPLETALK
STATSTALK
Continued from page 24
data in the coming months,”
says Roberts.
“It will however be difficult to hold the number
one position in heavy duty
trucks this year, as Hino did
in 2014, due to the extremely competitive market
and regulatory changes,” he
says. Roberts says that Hino
is keeping pace with the
market.
“We are always looking to
improve our market share
and promote the brand to
current and new customers
alike. According to Roberts, one
thing remains constant with
the Hino brand and that is
its QDR. He says the quality, durability and reliability
hallmarks of the brand is the
reason behind its success in
NZ. “It was an even spread of
sales in the first quarter of
this year across all segments
and models which is pleasing. Most pleasing is the
Hino 300 series or light duty
range which has gone from
strength to strength within
the market. “The light duty product
has many safety features as
you would expect from a
Toyota Group Company, it
is a great value proposition
to the informed light truck
buyer. “The medium and heavy
duty sectors also remained
an area of strength for the
Hino brand in the first quater,
in particular trucks for the
freight, waste and construction sectors.
NEW TRUCK & BUSES ALL WEIGHTS
OVER 3500KG QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
ISUZU
240
192
25.0
HINO
144
157
-8.3
MITSUBISHI FUSO
132
145
-9.0
VOLVO
84
81
3.7
UD TRUCKS
69
52
32.7
SCANIA
61
41
48.8
MERCEDES-BENZ
59
72
-18.1
DAF
58
56
3.6
FIAT
57
48
18.8
MAN
50
84
-40.5
KENWORTH
46
36
27.8
FREIGHTLINER
38
27
40.7
IVECO
29
32
-9.4
MACK
27
10
170.0
FACTORY BUILT
16
10
60.0
RENAULT
11
9
22.2
WESTERN STAR
11
12
-8.3
FORD
9
5
80.0
ALEXANDER DENNIS 7
35
-80.0
FOTON
7
INTERNATIONAL
6
7
-14.3
CATERPILLAR
5
8
-37.5
HYUNDAI
4
2
100.0
HIGER
3
1
200.0
VOLKSWAGEN
3
10
-70.0
CHEVROLET
2
2
0.0
DENNIS EAGLE
2
GROVE
2
LIEBHERR
2
2
0.0
YUTONG
2
DODGE
1
GMC
1
KING LONG
1
PETERBILT
1
TEREX
1
FOTON
7
-100.0
JAC
2
-100.0
GROVE
1
-100.0
KATO
1
-100.0
TOTAL
1191
1147
3.8
% of Market
20.2
12.1
11.1
7.1
5.8
5.1
5.0
4.9
4.8
4.2
3.9
3.2
2.4
2.3
1.3
0.9
0.9
0.8
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
Roberts says he believes
that the market in the second quarter will continue
along at a similar rate as the
first, with the ever increasing freight task and positive
business outlook. “A lot of work on tenders
is currently being undertaken
by corporate companies in
readiness for the next financial year, Hino is looking to
be a large part of those new
tender releases and build on
the momentum of last year. “The strength of the NZ
dollar is helping importers,
however that does create an
issue for the export sector. New Zealand’s economy is
experiencing a very buoyant
period and we would anticipate this continuing into the
second quarter of 2015. NEW BUSES OVER 3500KG QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
FACTORY BUILT
15
3
400.0
SCANIA
15
8
87.5
MITSUBISHI FUSO
14
13
7.7
ISUZU
11
6
83.3
MAN
8
24
-66.7
ALEXANDER DENNIS 7
35
-80.0
MERCEDES-BENZ
7
14
-50.0
HIGER
3
1
200.0
YUTONG
2
FIAT
1
IVECO
1
KING LONG
1
UD TRUCKS
1
VOLVO
1
1
0.0
HINO
1
-100.0
VOLKSWAGEN
1
-100.0
TOTAL
87
107
-18.7
% of Market
17.2
17.2
16.1
12.6
9.2
8.0
8.0
3.4
2.3
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
0.0
0.0
100.0
NEW TRACTOR MAKES QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
JOHN DEERE
106
164
-35.4
NEW HOLLAND
59
66
-10.6
TRACTOR
31
18
72.2
MASSEY FERGUSON 27
19
42.1
CASE
24
16
50.0
CASE IH
22
28
-21.4
DEUTZ-FAHR
22
28
-21.4
KUBOTA
22
26
-15.4
CLAAS
18
16
12.5
FENDT
9
21
-57.1
SAME
5
1
400.0
AG.MACH.
3
#DIV/0!
MCCORMICK
3
2
50.0
GOLDONI
2
2
0.0
JCB
2
4
-50.0
LANDINI
2
2
0.0
MERLO
2
1
100.0
VALMET
2
ABI
1
DAEWOO
1
DELTA
1
HUSQVARNA
1
INTERNATIONAL
1
ISEKI
1
1
0.0
KAWASAKI
1
1
0.0
OAKLAND
1
SHIBAURA
1
FACTORY BUILT
1
-100.0
FERRARI
1
-100.0
FORD
1
-100.0
MAHINDRA
1
-100.0
MANITOU
1
-100.0
NISSAN
1
-100.0
NUFFIELD
1
-100.0
TORO
1
-100.0
TOTAL
370
424
-12.7
% of Market
28.6
15.9
8.4
7.3
6.5
5.9
5.9
5.9
4.9
2.4
1.4
0.8
0.8
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 25
PEOPLETALK
STATSTALK
If you’re looking
to purchase a new
truck or equipment
talk to UDC
Used trucks, and tractors
up but buses down
F
or the month of March
registrations of used
imported trucks over
3500kg saw an increase of
32% year on year from 93
vehicles to 122.
Used light commercials
under 3500kg also had a
healthy 27% year on year
increase up from 617 registrations in March 2014 to 785
registrations in March 2015.
Used imported tractors
saw an increase in registra-
tions from 79 units in March
2014 to 101 units in March
2015 an increase of more
than 27%.
Light trucks from 3500kg
to 9000kg continue to be
the greatest volume of used
imported registrations with
97 in March 2014 a 24%
increase year on year.
Used medium trucks
(9001 to 23,000kg) saw 11
registrations, an 83% increase
over the previous period,
USED HEAVY TRUCKS
OVER 23,001KG – MARCH 2015
MAKE
KENWORTH
HINO
ISUZU
LIEBHERR
OTHER
TOTAL
MAR'15
5
2
2
1
5
15
MAR'14 % Change % of Market
33.3
4
-50.0
13.3
3
-33.3
13.3
6.7
4
25.0
33.3
11
36.4
100.0
USED MEDIUM TRUCKS
9001-23,000KG – MARCH 2015
MAKE
HINO
ISUZU
NISSAN
OTHER
TOTAL
MAR'15
5
2
2
2
11
MAR'14 % Change % of Market
1
1
400.0
100.0
4
6
-50.0
83.3
45.5
18.2
18.2
18.2
100.0
USED LIGHT TRUCKS
3500-9000KG – MARCH 2015
MAKE
TOYOTA
HINO
ISUZU
MITSUBISHI
NISSAN
MAZDA
OTHER
TOTAL
TOTAL
MAR'15 MAR'14
38
26
26
14
7
3
6
120
97
25
7
22
7
13
1
10
85
78
% Change
52.0
271.4
18.2
100.0
-46.2
200.0
-40.0
41.2
24.4
and used heavy trucks (over
23,000kg) recorded 15
registrations for March 2015
which was a 36% increase
over the previous corresponding period.
Used heavy trucks have
seen a 35% increase in registrations over the previous
January to March period in
2014, with 27 trucks as opposed to 20, while medium
trucks had a smaller increase
from 109 units to 112 registrations for a 2.8% increase,
but light trucks saw the biggest quarterly increase from
247 registrations in the first
USED TRUCK MAKES ALL WEIGHTS OVER
3500KG – MARCH 2015
MAKE
TOYOTA
HINO
ISUZU
MITSUBISHI
NISSAN
KENWORTH
MAZDA
OTHER
TOTAL
OTHER
TOTAL
31.7
21.7
21.7
11.7
5.8
2.5
5.0
100.0
100.0
TOYOTA
NISSAN
MAZDA
ISUZU
HINO
MITSUBISHI
FORD
HOLDEN
CHEVROLET
FIAT
OTHER
TOTAL
Your first choice in
truck & equipment finance
Ph 0800 500 832 or visit www.udc.co.nz
UDC Finance Limited lending criteria applies.
26 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
MAR'15 MAR'14 % Change
38
26
46.2
33
13
153.8
30
26
15.4
15
8
87.5
9
15
-40.0
5
3
1
200.0
16
19
-15.8
149
108
38.0
15
15
0.0
122
93
31.2
% of Market
25.5
22.1
20.1
10.1
6.0
3.4
2.0
10.7
100.0
12.3
100.0
USED LIGHT COMMERCIAL MAKES
UNDER 3500KG – MARCH 2015
MAKE
% of Market
quarter of 2014 to 306 in the
same period this year.
Used tractor registrations were up 6.8% for the
first quarter from 222 to 237
but used buses saw a drop
of 28% from 127 registrations in the period last year
to 92 units registered for the
period this year.
The total market for light
and heavy commercials increased from 1836 registrations in the first quarter of
2014 to 2132 for the same
period this year, an increase
of more than 16%.
MAR'15 MAR'14
395
147
44
35
33
30
22
18
12
8
41
785
302
142
25
38
13
18
24
9
14
2
30
617
% Change % of Market
30.8
3.5
76.0
-7.9
153.8
66.7
-8.3
100.0
-14.3
300.0
36.7
27.2
50.3
18.7
5.6
4.5
4.2
3.8
2.8
2.3
1.5
1.0
5.2
100.0
PEOPLETALK
STATSTALK
Shine your rims
T
he time consuming,
and back-breaking
challenge of cleaning
and polishing truck wheels
has an answer with the
newly acquired Rim Reshine
machine from Cleanco.
It’s an expensive option to remove wheel rims
for cleaning and polishing which results in longer
down times because of the
need to refit and re-tension
lug nuts.
The Rim Reshine is designed for the job, and Cleanco says it can be adapted
to all wheel configurations
and applications including
trucks from USA, Europe
or Japan, or trailers built in
Rotorua.
The first machine is now
operational in at Cleanco
in Onehunga, Auckland
providing an add on service
at its facility in 331 Neilsen
Street or the machine is also
available as a mobile service
to call on fleets for fast and
effective coverage of multiple rigs in one visit.
It says that chrome plating also dulls with time and
corrodes if left too long,
because dirt will etch its way
under coatings.
Wheel cleaning takes
USED HEAVY TRUCKS OVER 23,001KG
QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
KENWORTH
HINO
VOLVO
ISUZU
MACK
GROVE
LIEBHERR
MERCEDES-BENZ
MITSUBISHI
NISSAN DIESEL
SCANIA
FACTORY BUILT
KATO
TADANO
TOTAL
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
10
4
6
-33.3
3
4
-25.0
2
3
-33.3
2
1
1
1
0.0
1
2
-50.0
1
1
1
1
0.0
1
-100.0
1
-100.0
1
-100.0
27
20
35.0
% of Market
37.0
14.8
11.1
7.4
7.4
3.7
3.7
3.7
3.7
3.7
3.7
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
USED TRACTOR REGISTRATIONS
– MARCH 2015
MAKE
MAR'15 MAR'14 % Change
MASSEY FERGUSON
JOHN DEERE
INTERNATIONAL
CASE
FORD
DEUTZ-FAHR
FIAT
NEW HOLLAND
TRACTOR
CASE IH
TOTAL
35
13
11
7
4
3
3
3
3
19
101
14
11
2
2
2
5
2
3
10
28
79
150.0
18.2
450.0
250.0
100.0
-40.0
50.0
0.0
-70.0
-32.1
27.8
% of
Market
34.7
12.9
10.9
6.9
4.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
18.8
100.0
USED BUSES REGISTRATIONS
– MARCH 2015
MAKE
MAR'15 MAR'14
FIAT
MAN
OTHER
TOTAL
1
1
1
3
6
6
%
MARKET
CHANGE
33.3
33.3
-83.3
33.3
-50.0
100.0
around four minutes after
set up, and is effective as
the cleaning shifts dirt, un-
like high-pressure sprays
that only lift the loose stuff
on the surface.
USED MEDIUM TRUCKS 9001-23,000KG
QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
HINO
ISUZU
NISSAN
DAF
CARAVAN
FACTORY BUILT
FORD
FRANNA
GMC
HOLIDAY HOME
MACK
MITSUBISHI
VOLVO
MAN
IVECO
MERCEDES-BENZ
SCANIA
TEREX
TOTAL
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
10
3
233.3
4
4
0.0
4
2
1
100.0
1
1
1
0.0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
-66.7
12
-100.0
2
-100.0
1
-100.0
1
-100.0
1
-100.0
112
109
2.8
% of Market
34.5
13.8
13.8
6.9
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
USED LIGHT TRUCKS 3500-9000KG
QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
TOYOTA
ISUZU
HINO
MITSUBISHI
NISSAN
MAZDA
FIAT
DAF
IVECO
MERCEDES-BENZ
MITSUBISHI FUSO
PEUGEOT
CHEVROLET
DODGE
FACTORY BUILT
FORD
GMC
LEYLAND
DAIHATSU
DAIMLER
TOTAL
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
98
74
32.4
62
61
1.6
50
20
150.0
34
16
112.5
31
33
-6.1
8
10
-20.0
7
7
0.0
2
2
2
7
-71.4
2
3
-33.3
2
1
100.0
1
8
-87.5
1
1
1
4
-75.0
1
1
0.0
1
1
-100.0
1
-100.0
306
247
23.9
% of Market
32.0
20.3
16.3
11.1
10.1
2.6
2.3
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.0
0.0
100.0
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 27
PEOPLETALK
STATSTALK
Reaping the benefits of
being a local manufacturer
W
USED BUSES OVER 3500KG QTR JAN-MAR 2015
%
MAKE
QTR'15 QTR'14
% of Market
CHANGE
TOYOTA
4
3
33.3
36.4
MITSUBISHI
2
3
-33.3
18.2
FIAT
1
9.1
ISUZU
1
1
0.0
9.1
MAN
1
2
-50.0
9.1
MITSUBISHI FUSO
1
9.1
NISSAN DIESEL
1
9.1
NISSAN
5
-100.0
0.0
FORD
3
-100.0
0.0
ALEXANDER DENNIS
2
-100.0
0.0
DENNIS
2
-100.0
0.0
HINO
1
-100.0
0.0
TOTAL
11
22
-50.0
100.0
CHRYSLER
1
-100.0
0.0
CUSTOMBUILT
1
-100.0
0.0
MCW
1
-100.0
0.0
MERCEDES-BENZ
1
-100.0
0.0
MITSUBISHI FUSO
1
-100.0
0.0
TOTAL
92
127
-27.6
100.0
USED TRUCK MAKES
ALL WEIGHTS OVER 3500KG QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
TOYOTA
102
77
32.5
ISUZU
69
68
1.5
HINO
64
30
113.3
MITSUBISHI
38
19
100.0
NISSAN
35
38
-7.9
KENWORTH
10
FIAT
8
7
14.3
MAZDA
8
10
-20.0
DAF
4
1
300.0
VOLVO
4
7
-42.9
MACK
3
MERCEDES-BENZ
3
10
-70.0
MITSUBISHI FUSO
3
3
0.0
FACTORY BUILT
2
2
0.0
FORD
2
7
-71.4
GMC
2
1
100.0
IVECO
2
2
0.0
NISSAN DIESEL
2
PEUGEOT
2
1
100.0
CARAVAN
1
CHEVROLET
1
8
-87.5
DODGE
1
FRANNA
1
GROVE
1
HOLIDAY HOME
1
LEYLAND
1
LIEBHERR
1
1
0.0
MAN
1
14
-92.9
SCANIA
1
2
-50.0
ALEXANDER DENNIS
2
-100.0
DENNIS
2
-100.0
DAIHATSU
1
-100.0
DAIMLER
1
-100.0
ISUZU
1
-100.0
KATO
1
-100.0
TADANO
1
-100.0
TEREX
1
-100.0
TOTAL
373
318
17.3
28 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
% of Market
27.3
18.5
17.2
10.2
9.4
2.7
2.1
2.1
1.1
1.1
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
anganui-based
Ali Arc industries
Limited launched a
brand new website in March
to give a more comprehensive overview of the aluminium products it manufactures
in New Zealand for the local
transport industry.
A visit to www.aliarc.
co.nz will provide information on the companies
specialist products which
includes aluminium truck
bumpers, truck cab guards,
as well as aluminium bull
bars, and nudge bars for
light commercial vehicles.
Some recent product
developments include low
line bull bar for the Scania
R620 and a shroud for the
Hino 700 Series US04, which
incorporates the factory grill.
As a result of the considerable interest generated from
the market regarding this
refinement; a shroud will also
be developed for the Euro V
Continued on page 29
USED TRACTOR MAKES QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
MASSEY FERGUSON 58
47
23.4
JOHN DEERE
34
34
0.0
NEW HOLLAND
23
18
27.8
INTERNATIONAL
16
7
128.6
CASE
15
9
66.7
TRACTOR
10
17
-41.2
DEUTZ-FAHR
8
12
-33.3
FIAT
8
4
100.0
FORD
8
10
-20.0
JCB
8
2
300.0
DAVID BROWN
5
10
-50.0
SAME
5
5
0.0
CASE IH
4
4
0.0
FENDT
3
3
0.0
FORDSON
3
4
-25.0
ISEKI
3
4
-25.0
MCCORMICK
3
2
50.0
KUBOTA
2
10
-80.0
LANDINI
2
6
-66.7
NUFFIELD
2
1
100.0
POLARIS
2
TOYOTA
2
BEDFORD
1
BMC
1
CATERPILLAR
1
FARMALL
1
2
-50.0
FERGUSON
1
FOTON
1
KATO
1
MANITOU
1
MERLO
1
MITSUBISHI
1
RENAULT
1
TYM
1
ZETOR
1
1
0.0
CHAMBERLAIN
3
-100.0
RENAULT
2
-100.0
CLAAS
1
-100.0
GMC
1
-100.0
LEYLAND
1
-100.0
NISSAN
1
-100.0
SHIBAURA
1
-100.0
TOTAL
237
222
6.8
% of Market
24.5
14.3
9.7
6.8
6.3
4.2
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
2.1
2.1
1.7
1.3
1.3
1.3
1.3
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
PEOPLETALK
STATSTALK
Continued from page 28
Hino says Ali Arc.
Another recent development is a heavy duty
bumper for the Isuzu CYH/
CYJ/CYZ 400 Euro IV models as well as a bull bar for
the Kenworth K200.
Developments happening in the near future will
include a tandard bumper for
the Scania R620 and a heavy
duty bumper for the Isuzu
Euro IV 530 says Ali Arc.
“The last 12 months have
been unprecedented in
terms of sales volume for
our company,” says Ali Arc
Industries general manager
Haig Elgar.
NEW COMMERCIAL MAKES QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
TOYOTA
1933
1717
12.6
FORD
1596
1337
19.4
HOLDEN
802
532
50.8
NISSAN
800
833
-4.0
MITSUBISHI
658
570
15.4
ISUZU
624
486
28.4
VOLKSWAGEN
388
321
20.9
MAZDA
319
302
5.6
SSANGYONG
212
211
0.5
HYUNDAI
208
227
-8.4
GREAT WALL
155
242
-36.0
HINO
144
157
-8.3
FIAT
139
78
78.2
FOTON
134
80
67.5
MITSUBISHI FUSO
132
145
-9.0
LDV
113
91
24.2
MERCEDES-BENZ
110
117
-6.0
VOLVO
84
81
3.7
UD TRUCKS
69
52
32.7
SCANIA
61
41
48.8
DAF
58
56
3.6
MAHINDRA
55
39
41.0
MAN
50
84
-40.5
KENWORTH
46
36
27.8
LAND ROVER
40
21
90.5
FREIGHTLINER
38
27
40.7
SUZUKI
31
16
93.8
IVECO
29
32
-9.4
MACK
27
10
170.0
FACTORY BUILT
16
11
45.5
RENAULT
16
10
60.0
KIA
11
8
37.5
WESTERN STAR
11
12
-8.3
PEUGEOT
10
4
150.0
ALEXANDER DENNIS 7
35
-80.0
INTERNATIONAL
6
7
-14.3
CATERPILLAR
5
8
-37.5
CHEVROLET
3
2
50.0
HIGER
3
1
200.0
DENNIS EAGLE
2
GROVE
2
1
100.0
LIEBHERR
2
2
0.0
TATA
2
YUTONG
2
JAC
2
-100.0
DODGE
1
GMC
1
KING LONG
1
PETERBILT
1
TEREX
1
KATO
1
-100.0
TOTAL
9158
8045
13.8
% of Market
21.1
17.4
8.8
8.7
7.2
6.8
4.2
3.5
2.3
2.3
1.7
1.6
1.5
1.5
1.4
1.2
1.2
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
“Our products often
outlive the vehicle they have
beeninstalled on. We know
of numerous occasions
where an Ali Arc bumper or
bull bar has been transferred
from one truck to another, ”
he says.
USED COMMERCIALS QTR JAN-MAR 2015
MAKE
TOYOTA
NISSAN
MAZDA
ISUZU
MITSUBISHI
HINO
FORD
CHEVROLET
HOLDEN
FIAT
FORD
VOLKSWAGEN
GMC
DODGE
KENWORTH
SUZUKI
MERCEDES-BENZ
RENAULT
DAF
LAND ROVER
PEUGEOT
VAUXHALL
VOLVO
IVECO
MACK
MITSUBISHI FUSO
CITROEN
DAIHATSU
FACTORY BUILT
GREAT WALL
HONDA
NISSAN DIESEL
BMW
CADILLAC
CARAVAN
FRANNA
GROVE
HOLIDAY HOME
HYUNDAI
LEYLAND
LIEBHERR
MAN
SCANIA
SSANGYONG
ALEXANDER DENNIS
DENNIS
AM GENERAL
DAIMLER
INTERNATIONAL
KATO
MERCURY
TADANO
TEREX
TOTAL
QTR'15 QTR'14 % Change
1066
900
18.4
409
389
5.1
121
72
68.1
85
106
-19.8
72
47
53.2
64
30
113.3
63
82
-23.2
39
42
-7.1
35
31
12.9
29
20
45.0
22
17
8
112.5
16
11
45.5
10
5
100.0
10
8
6
33.3
7
25
-72.0
6
6
0.0
4
1
300.0
4
4
0.0
4
1
300.0
4
4
0.0
4
7
-42.9
3
2
50.0
3
3
3
0.0
2
1
100.0
2
1
100.0
2
2
0.0
2
2
2
1
1
1
0.0
1
1
1
1
1
1
0.0
1
1
1
0.0
1
14
-92.9
1
2
-50.0
1
2
-100.0
2
-100.0
1
-100.0
1
-100.0
1
-100.0
1
-100.0
1
-100.0
1
-100.0
1
-100.0
2132
1836
16.1
% of Market
50.0
19.2
5.7
4.0
3.4
3.0
3.0
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.0
0.8
0.8
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
100.0
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 29
NEWSTALK
Ignore the health and safety
law changes at your peril
DIESELtalk editor Robert Barry spoke to Navman Wireless health and safety
expert Chris L’Ecluse on the forthcoming changes in legislation and how
they affect the transport industry and, particularly, the mobile workplace
commonly known as a heavy truck or light commercial vehicle.
C
hris L’Ecluse doesn’t mince
his words when he says that
in a developed country such
as New Zealand, driving is the most
inherently hazardous task with the
greatest risk exposure, and when
people use vehicles such as heavy
trucks inappropriately causing harm
or death, the resulting road trauma
affects everyone.
“The majority of organisations understand the scepticism over changing
the health and safety laws, but it's a
perfect opportunity for people to understand the changes and how these
will affect transport operators and
drivers, as well as other employees and
company directors,” says L’Ecluse.
“People will need to understand
the difference between mitigation and
control under the new regime, and that
everyone in the transport and logistics
supply chain has a duty of care and
a role to play in every journey that is
made from despatch to delivery and
return,” he says.
“From a statutory perspective, under
the new health and safety regime, every person in the supply chain from despatch person, to the driver, the forklift
operator, transport manager, company
director, and even the inwards goods
receiver, will have their hand held to
the prosecution fire in respect of duty
of care.”
“While we don’t want to scare
people, we do want to educate them
about their responsibility and roles to
play under the new health and safety
law which is currently being processed
through the New Zealand house of
representatives,” says L’Ecluse.
“What the new law in New Zealand
will set out to do, is very similiar to the
current Australian health and safety law
where the onus is placed upon every-
body in the supply chain doing everything practicable to mitigate risk.
“For example a truck driver can still
fall foul of the law even if all practicable steps have been taken by his or her
employer and colleagues to mitigate
his or her risky behaviour that has resulted in an incident,” says L’Ecluse.
“It's not good enough to just identify
a high risk person behind the wheel,
you as manager, colleague or company
must consider what steps you have
taken to mitigate the risk and control
further incidents of speeding, damage
to vehicles, and infringements.
You need to demonstrate that you
have offered training and retraining to
the offender, and as a company you
can no longer hide behind the corporate banner, because corporate entities
will also be considered liable for risk
management of their employees and
fined if they are found to be foul of the
law,” he says.
“You also need to know where your
truck drivers and vehicles are located
at all times.”
Challenging and changing driver
behaviour will be a big part of the new
regime and L’Ecluse says that unrealistic organisation expectations as well
as decades of mistaken belief – as well
as unrealistic expectations and operating procedures – are all part and
parcel of this.
“Some drivers do have a deep
rooted belief that they can control their
trucks at beyond legal speeds, and
some are almost criminally negligent
in the way they operate trucks leaving
zero margin for error on the road. It is
decades of mistaken belief for some
that we as an industry need to step up
and challenge.”
L’Ecluse quotes a prosecution in
Australia where local government
30 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
Chris L’Ecluse
agency Workcover brought a case
against the management and company directors of one transport company
in the New South Wales magistrates
court - because management had
failed to mitigate and address more
than 400 infringement notices against
its fleet of trucks.
He says that individual company
directors were also fined because they
had allowed the culture of infringements amongst drivers to continue
unchecked – they had failed to mitigate and they had failed in their duty of
care, and therefore were successfully
prosecuted in the magistrates court.
Another NSW transport company
was fined for allowing drivers to use
retired trailers which were put back on
the road without being made properly roadworthy and fit for purpose
intended, and a brake failure occurred
with the loss of life of several other
road users.
It is precisely this sort of behaviour
that the new legislation will root out
says L’Ecluse.
He says the vast majority of transport operators are safe and law abiding. It is his opinion it is the rogue
operators, such as those mentioned
above, that need to be weeded out of
the industry.
“We need to send a clear message
to those rogue operators: change your
behaviour or get out and leave the
transport industry for good,” he says.
NEWSTALK
Freight customers looking to
their providers for transport
emissions reductions
T
he Sustainable Business Council
(SBC) did a freight survey in late
2014 with a number of its members to find out not only what a customer wanted from their freight company
but also to find out what initiatives were
already being taken by customers and
providers to reduce their carbon footprint and improve sustainable practice.
SBC executive director Penny Nelson told DIESELtalk that the results of
the 2014 freight survey will be presented to members at a workshop on
April 29, but it is clear that reducing
transport emissions is a top priority for
SBC members, and they are looking
seriously at what can be done to make
this happen.
“Having a look at the issue really
made sense to us because there were
emissions reductions to be made as
well as the ability to address health and
safety issues. By doing the freight survey
we got a good feel for which members were doing what, and how many
members were already working with
their freight partners on sustainability,”
she says.
Nelson says that some large businesses within the SBC membership are
serious about reducing their freight
emissions footprint, and those freight
companies who come on board with
this strategy will be well positioned for
future growth.
Making the most of every freight
movement has a big impact on freight
emissions, and Nelson says that this is
front of mind.
“What was pleasantly surprising was
the fact that many of our SBC members
already had quite a few initiatives being
put into place, and there were already
some great relationships with
freight providers focused on
being more sustainable,”
says Nelson.
“There’s some great
stuff being done already,
but we still want to become more proactive, so
we intend to scale up some
of the initiatives at the
freight workshop on
Penny Nelson
April 29, and see if there
can be greater collaboration between providers
and members to do even more.”
Aligning sustainability values to freight
operations
Dunedin City Council owned company City Forests Ltd called for tenders to
supply log cartage services in late 2014. The winning bidder mentioned its
involvement in the EECA Heavy Vehicle
Fuel Efficiency Programme and City
Forests says this particular association
strengthened the bidder’s application.
“There are a number of aspects of
the EECA programme that align with
potential benefits to our business as
an employer, including environmental,
health and safety, lower fuel cost and
lower repairs and maintenance,” says
City Forests production manager Guy
Bonner.
“Lower fuel cost allows for a more
competitive bid for work in a tender
process, but being part of the EECA
programme also signalled being committed to continual improvement as a
business.
“As an employer we like to know
the cartage contractor we are using
is continually improving the likes of
driver ergonomics and driver safety
and also continually seeking to uphold professional standards in the
community environment,” he says.
Working with a freight partner
Toyota New Zealand isn’t just
committed to using sustainable technology in its vehicles, it is also committed to
sustainable business practices
throughout its organisation.
Chief executive officer Alistair Davis
stated in Toyota’s latest sustainability
report: “Our way forward will be to
better measure our carbon footprint,
including freight, and set targets to
reduce emissions across the board.”
Toyota New Zealand says it tracks
and measures the emissions associated
with the freight and distribution of both
the vehicles and service parts it sells, as
well as the packaging they use on the
distribution of service parts.
Each part is assigned an emission
value based on its size, and the distance
it travels. As emissions from these areas
are closely tied to sales, the company
calculates both the total emissions and
per unit emissions every month.
These results are reported monthly
to Toyota Japan, and reviewed annually
by external auditors and certified under
the CEMARS programme.
Freight operators find a competitive edge in
reducing carbon emissions for their customers.
Visit www.eecabusiness.govt.nz/heavy-vehicles to find out more.
EEC3278_DT_6
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 31
14Q-051-NZ mccorkell
Navman Wireless is a unique GPS fleet management solution that gives you
visibility of your vehicles so you are in the passenger seat even when you are not.
Keep your drivers safe and comply with Health and Safety regulations.
navmanwireless.co.nz
TRUCKTALK
Delivering on a
brother’s dream
One man’s dream become another’s driving force in the challenging business of buying,
selling, re-building and servicing, at first used trucks, then importing used trucks from
Japan, then moving the business into a new truck franchise model and becoming the largest
dealer for that brand in NZ. DIESELtalk Editor Robert Barry spoke to CAL>Isuzu managing
director Ashok Parbhu on the journey so far.
M
ore than 30 years ago Raman
Parbhu started Commercial
Autos Limited as a one-man
band buying and selling trucks on his
parents' residential property in Avalon
Drive, Hamilton. Today the company is
known as CAL>Isuzu with more than 100
staff located in Auckland, Hamilton and
Tauranga, and it is the master Isuzu truck
dealer covering a territory from Northland down to South Waikato and across
the Kaimai Ranges, to the Bay of Plenty.
CAL>Isuzu managing director Ashok
Parbhu first joined his older brother
Raman’s venture in the late 1980s as
the two men moved the business from
dealing in second and third hand NZ
new vehicles, into selling used imported trucks from Japan and establishing
the landmark CAL dealership on the Te
Rapa straight near Hamilton.
The unexpected death of a brother
and skilled business partner would make
many rethink their strategy and possibly
slow the pace of growth and expansion,
but when Raman passed away in 1997,
his younger brother ploughed on, stick-
ing to the long term goal that they had
shared for many years.
Raman had a dream of one day
owning a premier truck dealership in
New Zealand, and it would be fair to
say that his younger brother Ashok
more than delivered on that, with the
help of some very talented and experienced staff behind him.
Parbhu secured the first Isuzu Truck
franchise in 2008, buying the waikato PMA from Holden dealer Ebbetts.
Commercial Autos Limited became
CAL>Isuzu, and by 2010 there were
more than 30 staff working in the business, some of whom had spent 10 to 15
years working with him.
“We knew that importing used trucks
was not going to last as a longterm business proposition because there was no
opportunity to have a parts and service
department, so changing over to a new
truck franchise business model gave us
the opportunity to have one, and add
more strings to our bow,” says Parbhu.
“The truck sector comes with some
particular difficulties with high unit
prices, at times low margins, and ongoing frustrations with importing.
“We then knew that we needed more
capacity hence we purchased TCL Isuzu
in 2012, which provided more scale, more
service, and better purchasing power to
enable our customers to stay on the road
which is where they need to be,” he says.
Over the years the CAL>Isuzu
premises in Te Rapa have seen a number of refurbishments and renovations as the company has grown and
increased its range of services to the
transport industry.
There was a full scale overhaul of the
entire front of house operation in 2011
resulting in a truck dealership constructed
from vast expanses of aluminium, glass
and polished concrete that stood on par
with the best of European passenger
brands, yet there was still an acknowledgement to the company’s humble origins with the new staff room being aptly
named the Parbhu Brothers lounge.
Last year saw a massive rebuild of
the Te Rapa manufacturing site and
Continued on page 34
DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015 | 33
TRUCKTALK
Continued from page 33
the completion of additional
facilities which take up the
same dimensions as a full
sized rugby union pitch!
CAL>Isuzu now offers service, parts, truck body building, auto electrical, painting,
fabrication, and WOF all on
one site, and there is the potential that COF - B will also
become available too.
“We had a stated aim to
provide a true one-stopshop for the heavy vehicle
marketplace, and we now
can touch the truck at every
point of the journey from initial inquiry to financing the
sale, to building and painting
the truck, to engineering
and auto electrical services,
to pre-delivery inspection
and ongoing service and
maintenance,” says Parbhu.
“Without a shadow of
a doubt this is what we
now provide to all of our
customers, in world class
facilities with technology
and staff that are second to
none,” he says.
Around 10% of CAL>Isuzu
annual sales see customer
trucks receive specialist inhouse engineering services
on the premises.
Parbhu comments that
there is a 4-month lead time
for in house coach building
services, and other truck body
builders are experiencing lead
times of six months and more
and most are at full capacity.
“We are currently using
general engineers to do
profile cutting, plasma,
and fabrication work off
site, and then assembling
the body and ancillaries to
the truck on site here at Te
Rapa, purely in an effort to
speed up the process and
get the trucks out to the
customers as quickly as possible,” he says.
In 2014 CAL>Isuzu also
sold more than 400 new
Ashok Parbhu
trucks accounting for 45 to
50% of new truck sales in the
Isuzu dealer network.
In addition to the service workshops in Te Rapa,
Auckland, and Tauranga,
CAL>Isuzu also has another
five authorised service centres
covering its entire PMA with
after hours coverage as well.
“We are committed to ensuring that our customers can
expect more,” says Parbhu.
“This includes outstanding levels of service delivery, timeliness, attention
to detail, honesty, integrity and passion for every
job that comes through
our doors.”
As it head onwards
through 2015, Parbhu
outlines further plans
involving finding suitable
land for new dealerships
in Auckland and Tauranga. It is very clear that for
Parbhu and the team at
CAL>ISUZU, the journey is
far from over.
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34 | DIESELTALK QUARTERLY REPORT | APRIL 2015
Tauranga
64 Port Side Drive
Mt Maunganui
07 572 1741
[email protected]
Hamilton
4 Crawford St
off Avalon Drive
0800WASHME
[email protected]
#3$)3#/2$25-!8,%
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ELECTRONIC HUBODOMETER
,IGHTWEIGHTVIRTUALLYINDESTRUCTIBLE
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• Battery
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powered – 10 year life – •
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500,000kms
RPK calibration
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0REDICTABLEPROGRESSIVEROLLSTIFFNESSADDINGTOSAFETY
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-AINTENANCE
NB: This particular STEMCO Electronic Hubodometer has been specifically
configured/manufactured for TATES and the only model approved by the NZTA
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A ll-seeing
We’re a rural-based operation so many of our
drivers are in remote locations most days.
With the EROAD system we can now keep track
of them wherever they are and know they’re safe.
Peter Fiddes
Managing Director
Amuri Transport
www.eroad.co.nz
Ph 0800 4 EROAD
RUC STAR: Amuri Transport
INDUSTRY: Stock
PRODUCT: GPS Tracking,
Eruc, Ehubo