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DUFFTF-I,DS • East Anglian Volvo distributor DuffleIds is relocating its Norwich operation to a new site just half a mile away. Its old home is to be disposed of, says managing director, Tony Sadler.
The 45 employees ere moving to a two-acre depot in Frensham Road on the city's Sweetbrier Industrial Estate. The purpose-built premises incorporates a workshop with six drive-through bays, a tachograph centre, a brake centre and a vehicle wash.
"The workshop is unusual because it is equipped with underfloor heating," says Sadler. "It costs 10% more to install than alternative methods of keeping the place warm, but 15% less to run, so you can soon justify the extra investment."
A Volvo distributor since 1969, Duffields covers Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, most of Cambridgeshire, north Essex, and North and East London. It has sites in Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Enfield, Felixstowe, Ipswich, Thetford, Wisbech and Yarmouth, as well as Norwich.
The company aims to sell 600 new vehicles this year, not including Mitsubishi Canters. At the time of writing it had sold 40 new Canters since March.
"The crew-cab 6.3-tanner is a very sought-after vehicle," Sadler reports.
Four hundred used trucks should find buyers too this year, he says; Cambridge usually has 50 trucks in stock. "Used FHs are selling very strongly, especially 6x2 tractors," reports Sadler.
ROAD TRUCKS WEST Northern Ireland Scania distributor Road Trucks West has opened a purpose-built depot on the Gortrush Industrial Estate on the Greet Northern Road in Omagh, County Tyrone. With 11 employees, the two-acre site boasts a workshop with five drive-through bays. It is already attracting plenty of work, says depot manager Con Law, BILLOWS
'le Volvo looks set to acquire oldestablished Northants-based dealership John R Billows. The company has sites in Bedford, Leicester and Peterborough as well as a head office at Kettering.
The deal is for the acquisition of the dealership only. The other Billows businesses—including the distribution of Mitsubishi refrigeration equipment—are not involved.
Billows has declined to disclose how much was paid for its Volvo operations.