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Smooth transition
Page 70
Page 71
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The gap left by Foden's demise has been filled by
Hino, and dealerships such as MTC Northwest have been quick to join the expanding Irish-Japanese club. Kevin Swallow travelled to Kirby to find out more.
In business, success or failure is measured by economics. ,. When Paccar decided to stop producing Foden-badged Dafs with Cummins and Caterpillar engines, it wiped more than just a British name off the truck manufacturing map.
-It killed the market. Our [Foden] stock devalued by more than a third overnight after the decision was announced," says MTC Northwest's general manager/director Stephen Gray.
While the initial response was "oh, no, what do we do now?", the company had rolled with enough punches in the past to be well equipped for change.
Like so many family operations, MTC Northwest has humble beginnings. Back in 1977 Steve Gray senior started out with a workshop in Aintree no bigger than the room in which I'm interviewing his son. During the 1980s the firm expanded to incorporate Lancia and Daihatsu dealerships and a used car lot -while still operating as a CV garage.
Stephen Gray junior joined the family business in 1991 after serving time as a fitter; the Foden link was forged two years later with a contract to become servicing agent to Mersey Waste.
Growth opportunity
When ManchesterTruck Centres' owners Faber Prest wanted out in 1999, Paul Brunning, then managing director of Foden, approached the company to take over the Foden dealership.
Gray admits that expanding the business under the Foden banner wasn't as straightforward as he would have liked: -We were always turning a good profit. Before Foden we were turning over £1.9m with a £300,000 profit -with Foden we turned over £13m for half the profit."
Gray took on the general manager's role in February 2005 to help develop the technical side of the business, but he barely had his feet under the table before the bad news arrived. Even with Daf servicing and parts added to the portfolio not long before, losing Foden could have had disastrous consequences.
Block exemption can allow a way out, hut swamping the NorthWest with another Swedish, German, Italian or French dealer wouldn't have produced the results Gray wanted.
Enter Hino and its proactive dealer-recruitment programme. A demonstrator arrived and MTC Northwest was impressed. "We had a look at the product and were invited to Ireland. We came off a budget flight to find a BMW limo waiting for us," laughs Gray.
The limo, wining and dining were all well received, but business is business. What sold Hino to MTC Northwest was the number of bodied Hinos parked up at the front of the factory, the assembly line and the sheer quality of the product.
In January 2006. MTC Northwest officially joined the growing number of Hino main dealerships.The six-month transition from Foden to Hino seems to have gone smoothly: as demand for Paccar and Caterpill components have fallen away. Hino orders have risen.
-Customers love it," says Gray. "They're nuts and bolts fellas they don't like electronics. Hino ticks every single box: fuel economy, power. the limited slip-diff... it's ideal for landfill [work]," he says, before citing payload, the Thompson bodies and warranties as further reasons for the marques popularity.
The one-stop shop means customers can get a vehicle from its order date in less than half the time it took when Foden chassiscabs had to go to the bodybuilders (another market sector hit by Foden's demise).
Sales prediction
So far 17 Hinos have been sold, and Gray believes the company can sell 50 a year into the tipper and hook-lift markets in the North-West."We've made 70-odd quotes for seven or eight-strong fleets," he reports.
The drivelines have proved reliable: in fact,only two complaints have been levelled against the Hino—its small cabin and the clutch The cab will need some input at the design stage, but Gray reckons there's nothing wrong with the clutch:"With the correct training on changing gear [full depression to the floor is required], that problem is solved."
Sales director John French is an old Foden hand and believes the Hino one-stop-shop process saves valuable time by using mass production methods rather than bespoke construction.
It has been a steep learning curve for MTC Northwest but its experience indicates that Hino is providing dealers and operators alike with a viable alternative to the famous kite, •