New Zealand Company Vehicle

May 1 saw a sea change in the New Zealand automotive landscape with the formation of Fiat Chrysler NZ Ltd, a joint venture company which is equally owned by Australian businessman Clyde Campbell and New Zealander Neville Chrichton.
Neville Chricton still owns 100 percent of the Ateco Group in New Zealand and it will now focus upon continuing to build the Great Wall, and Chery brands in New Zealand, with Foton trucks to follow.
The two entities have moved into substantial new premises in Mount Wellington - one building but two separate companies.
While Ateco Group in Australia also distributes the Ssangyong range of vehicles, Neville Chricton says he has no interest in pursuing the distribution of the brand locally as it is held by another New Zealand company.
More than 30,000 Great Wall Vehicles have been sold in Australia since its introduction in 2005.
Despite its limited range of vehicles locally, Great Wall has over taken major rivals in the sectors in which it competes and it is now on track to sales of more than 200 a month by the end of 2013.
It will achieve that target via a combination of building on its growth together with new product activity in the second half of the year including a facelift of the V Series Range, the launch of the VX10 Light Car and a new medium size SUV currently codenamed the H6.
The move to the larger facility means that Ateco is now ready to take Chery and Great Wall to the next stage of their growth in New Zealand as well as being able to accommodate the launch of Foton.
At the same time Ateco will share media buying clout with Neville Crichton’s joint venture company, Fiat Chrysler New Zealand, enabling it to have a much great advertising and marketing presence without a major increase in cost.
Fiat Chrysler NZ managing director Clyde Campbell says his goal is to achieve sales in excess of 6000 units annually for Fiat Chrysler in NZ and says he has the experience to succeed.
An accountant by training, Campbell retrained in the law in Australia while selling new Toyotas full time at a dealership, and then he became a commercial lawyer in mergers and acquisitions.
After contracting to Daimler Chrysler for two years in a legal role advising on the merger between the two vehicle giants, he became the general manager of NSW operations for Mercedes-Benz, and ended up second in charge at Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles in Australia.
Leaving the Daimler Group, he successfully went into the IT business in America, and then after the sale of that in 2010, Chrysler Australia came knocking on the door seeking his help.
Campbell says he took on a company that needed help by engaging the staff, focussing on the customer.  “I told the staff they needed to look after my mum Lois, who at the age of 70-something currently drives an Abarth 500.”
“Not many of the staff actually met Lois, but there were many who were afraid of her,” he says.
To revive the brand in Australia, Campbell says he recruited people with the right attitude and created a new management team.
“The Jeep brand in particular has a massive heritage, because it was the American freedom machine and appealed to the customers’ emotions, he says.
“We need to make the product appeal to New Zealand clients, because distress sales do not add value to the operation or the brand,” he says. “We want to design the business from the consumer backwards.”
“Television is a great medium for us, and radio, that will drive people into the digital environment, because the virtual showroom and virtual experience is just as important and necessary as the bricks and mortar.
“In North America, more than 90 out of 100 customers go online to search for their vehicle, model, price and dealership, but 60 percent may change their mind if they have a bad online experience.
“We are going to repeat a lot of the same actions,, because I'm convinced that we can repeat the same success here for Fiat Chrysler NZ as we have done in Australia, by going digital in a massive way to communicate to our customers.
“Engagement and passion is part of our business and it's a perfect marriage for me, I'm in it for the long haul.