Scania New Zealand has stepped in to take over the role of distributor for Scania nationwide, and the Drury branch is its very first owned and operated service centre. Having taken the decision in 2018 to change the local setup and take over distribution from CablePrice, Scania New Zealand has also set up three offices in Wellington, Penrose Auckland, and Christchurch to support a network of 21 workshops.
“We need to have service support in the right places. It‘s an ongoing process and we will adapt and change if needed,” says Mattias Lundholm, MD of Scania New Zealand.
The Drury location was chosen to serve the growing move to South Auckland. Following an investment of $5 million, the Scania Drury dealership is currently staffed by a team of 13, but is rapidly growing and branch manager Phil Smith aims to grow it to 25.
The workshop currently features two Wi-Fi controlled lifts (there are no pits; the lifts are seen as a safer, more flexible option) and the under-roof area is to be extended to double the workshop space. The workshop will start with one shift but Smith intends to add another as soon as possible.
The workshop is fully equipped with genuine Scania tools (each technician gets a fully stocked Scania tool cabinet), a computerised lubricant system, and battery-powered equipment rather than pneumatics.
The dealership stocks 8000 part lines worth $5.5 million, supported by the national warehouse in Wellington.
In addition to being a full sales, service and parts dealership, Scania Drury will also house the company‘s national training centre. With access to Scania‘s global training network, the training centre will run 48 technical training classes next year, and going forward this will also extend to soft skills to help improve the customer experience.
“Scania in New Zealand has a very high reputation in terms of training. The local team has won the global Scania Top Team competition back-to-back. But finding good technicians is a problem globally. We‘re playing the long game and creating a team that fits the Scania culture,” Lundholm says.
There are currently 4000 Scanias on New Zealand roads with, notes Lundholm, a high percentage of V8 models compared with other markets. Scania New Zealand sales director Deon Stephens says that the Scania New Truck Generation has set a record in its first year of deliveries and the team expects more of the same in 2020. The company‘s current market share is 8% (up from 5.4% a year ago) and, having opened up its whole product portfolio to offer a model to fit every application in New Zealand, the company has set aggressive targets for its future.
“When you deal with us you deal with the OEM. We have placed salespeople in strategic areas. We are hungry to be number one in New Zealand,” Stephens says.
Scania New Zealand will also launch another first this month, its online truck configurator on which customers can build their trucks from the chassis rails up. “When customers click around themselves they add options they actually need and that they put real value to. We find they are more satisfied with end product, and it‘s more tailored to their application. Passionate buyers can say they tailor-made their truck,” Lundholm says.
“The truck industry in New Zealand looks good; it‘s expected to grow along with industry. We‘re in a good space for the near future and the long run. In 2020 our focus will be on meeting customer demand, making sure the network is consistently applying Scania standards, and investing in training, tooling and parts. At the end of the day it‘s all about the customers‘ businesses and we‘re here for them,” he concludes.
