End of the road for Dennis trucks
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BUT MUNICIPAL VEHICLES TO CONTINUE
• No more Dennis trucks are to be produced. That was the surprise announcement this week from the Guildford works of Dennis Motor Holdings Ltd, now part of the Hestair Group. But the company is to continue to make municipal vehicles and fire appliances.
Hestair paid over £.3m for Dennis in April this year and Mr David Hargreaves, the Hestair chairman, told CM on March 31 that there was a question mark over the future of general haulage vehicles. Now the decision has been made and Dennis trucks — which first went into production in 1903 — are no more. More than 300 were made last year.
The company is to honour existing orders but no further quotations are to be made, distributors were told last week. Warranty claims on existing vehicles will be met and parts will be available for at least seven years.
Dennis is now part of the Hestair Special Vehicles Division which already includes Yorkshire Vehicle and Eagle Engineering. The Guildford plant will remain in operation and no redundancies are expected. Production of fire appliances and municipal vehicles on Dennis chassis will continue and for the first time Dennis bodies will be available on other makes of chassis. Announcements about the availability of special bodies for particular makes of chassis will be made later this year.
A number of personnel changes have taken place at Dennis. Mr Hargreaves has been appointed chairman and Mr H. A. Wainwright becomes deputy chairman. Mr N. Macdonald-Smith, a Hestair director, takes over as managing director from Mr Wainwright and Mr W. T. Brown, marketing director of the Special Vehicles Division, has joined the Dennis board as marketing director.
Mr L. Baines has taken over responsibility for technical matters from Mr Ken Martlew, formerly technical director, who has left the company.