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17th October 2002
Page 46
Page 46, 17th October 2002 — Old trucks—
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

new dealer

Scottish-born David Brown Is dealer principal at Sydney Truck Sales at Am deli Park, JLP's local Iveco distributor. JLP is one of STS's biggest customers and tends to buy its tractor! outright. "That's not unusual in Australia," says Brown, "although smaller operators and ownerdrivers are getting more into leasing."

As Australian hauliers run their trucks a lot longer than in Europe the average fleet age is significantly higher. According to Brown: "It's too high!

"The average first life would be around five years and many operators tend to do a lot of their own maintenance. JLP does most of Its own, although we look after the warranty work," he says.

STS's product line-up includes EuroTech and PowerStar tractors as well as Daily vans and chassis-cabs and, most recently, Cargo lector. "It's the only way to operate," says Brown. "You need a full complement of vehicles here."

He came to Australia 16 years ago, having originally trained as an HGV mechanic, and together with three other business colleagues he recently bought STS. previously a whollyowned Iveco operation.

"I was previously running a Nino mediumduty truck dealership." he says. "My business associates were approached by Iveco and they then approached me. We inherited the client base: all we had to do was physically move in."

US has a number of heavy truck local rivals including Kenworth and Mercedes/Freightliner/ Stirling dealerships nearby, plus an MAN/Western Star outlet. Far Eastern manufacturers also do well in the middleweight sector: "The Japanese are very strong as far ai high subsidies and very low margins are concerned: that's why they can sustain such a high market share' The typical average return on revenue for a Aussie truck dealership is about 4%, which will certainly strike a familiar note with UK distributors. Likewise Brown's conclusion rings true for us—that: "The best operators are very very professional."

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