AWD operators WI uncertainty
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• AWD operators were this week facing the prospect of dwindling parts supply, tumbling residual values and warranty deals falling through the floor unless a buyer is found for the truck maker which went into receivership last week.
Administrative receiver KPMG Peat Marwick announced at a mass meeting on Monday that 502 of the 650 staff at the Dunstable-based manufacturer would be made redundant. Before the receiver arrived, nearly all production staff had been laid off for six months. But Peat Marwick is confident the business can be sold as a going concern. Production was due to restart yesterday (Wednesday), despite some suppliers stopping deliveries fearing non-payment.
At a press conference last Friday, which founder and chairman David JB Brown did not attend, receivers Tony Thompson and Roger Oldfield said the downturn in the UK truck market and uncertainty over a number of export deals caused the crash of the five-year-old business. The directors had instructed the company's bank to appoint receivers after experiencing difficulties in meeting creditor obligations, they said.
Parts supply and warranty are the main concerns of hauliers Commercial Motor spoke to this week. Several were hit by the collapse of Bedford in 1986.
"We went through the trauma of Bedford. Now it's happened again," says Peter Marshall, transport manager with Mans field Brewery. "Parts could be a problem, but I believe somebody will take it over."
Colin Miles, engineering director with Swift Transport Services in Northampton, which took on 12 AWDs 18 months ago, shares Marshall's belief that AWD will be bought. But he says warranty would have been a major worry if his firm had not taken out independent extended driveline cover.
"We're in no-man's land," says Terry McMahon, chief engineer with Cheshire Highways. "We're concerned because the vehicles have a long life in front of them."
Dealers face uncertainty too, but Rodney Glew of Gales Commercial Vehicles in Wymondham, Norfolk, is putting on a brave face. "There has been no loss of confidence among our customers. The truck might not be the most sophisticated in the country, but it's a good workhorse and trouble-free. Parts supply should not be a problem."
Millionaire David JB Brown set up AWD, after buying the loss-making Bedford plant from General Motors for about £20m in 1987 (see news analysis page 19).
Despite winning recent export deals to Zimbabwe and Iran, it had built only 22 trucks in the first three months of the year.