Avia Trucks gets ready to return to British roads
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By David Wilcox CZECH-BUILT Avia lorries are to reappear in the UK, imported by a consortium of businessmen based in Stoke-on-Trent.
Avia Trucks – then called Daewoo Avia – irst came to the UK in 2002, offering 7.5-tonne and 9-tonne GVW D-Line chassis. They boasted a competent driveline, with a Cummins four-cylinder ISBe engine, ZF six-speed gearbox and Albion or Meritor axles. The company targeted 10% of the UK’s 7.5-tonne market within four years, meaning annual sales of between 1,300 and 1,500 trucks.
Sales of around 200 in the irst year suggested this was plausible. However, business stalled, with sales dwindling to 55 by 2005 – the year in which the Daewoo preix was dropped.
Eastern promises
Hopes were raised in 2006 when Prague-based Avia was bought by India’s Ashok Leyland, (part of the huge Hinduja Group), promising further investment.
The arrival of a 12-tonne GVW model in 2007 was intended to offset the plunge in the UK’s 7.5tonne market. But none of that helped and Avia’s UK importer in Bolton shut up shop in 2010. No more than about 500 D-Lines were sold during the marque’s eight years in the UK.
Now a new enterprise called Longton Avia (UK), based in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, is trying again after researching the business case for over two years.
“The feedback we had is that it was an excellent truck, let down by poor service and back-up,” says commercial director Jonathan Dale. “We are tackling that with an eightyear anti-corrosion warranty, threeyear bumper-to-bumper warranty and three-year breakdown cover.” Some 50 UK dealers have already been appointed, and there are more in the pipeline. “Nobody will be more than 50 miles from a dealer,” says Dale.
Ready for arrival
The irst two UK chassis will arrive in mid-March, ready for a dealer launch event on 4 April. Apart from their Euro-5 engines – still Cummins ISBe – the 7.5-, 9and 12-tonne GVW D-Line models are broadly unchanged but are now badged Longton Avia. The Longton name was well-perceived by customers around the world, with Dale emphasising Ashok Leyland’s worldwide ambitions for Avia, which sold 600 trucks last year. Ashok Leyland also has a 75% stake in UK busbuilder Optare. Glider D-Lines (i.e. without engines) are supplied to Smith Electric Vehicles of Washington, Tyne & Wear, as the basis of its Newton electric truck.
Further plans
Longton Avia (UK) is speaking to UK bodybuilders about offering ready-bodied trucks, and there are plans to expand the model line-up to include heavier models. Allwheel drive (4x4 and 6x6) versions are thought to offer a particularly strong niche opportunity.
Even more ambitious is a longerterm plan to assemble the trucks in the UK. “The numbers we need to do this are not as big as you might think,” says Dale, pointing out that the Cummins engines and Albion axles are made in the UK, enhancing the logistics of local assembly. Longton Avia (UK) is looking for a site in Stoke and has pencilled in the end of 2013 as a possible start date for UK production. “Stoke-on-Trent City Council has been tremendously supportive and you should not under-estimate the ambition or capability of Ashok Leyland and the Hinduja Group,” says Dale.
He declines to spell out his sales target for Longton Avia trucks, but insists the business model is sound. “We’ve already had many expressions of interest,” he adds. ■