Heritage
The Colonial Motor Company Limited
Company History
Today the CMC Group owns and operates 12 Ford Dealerships with each holding a franchise in its own right from the Ford Motor Company of NZ Ltd. From 1999, a number of these Dealerships have been granted Mazda franchises. The Company is involved in the NZ distribution and retailing of KENWORTH and DAF heavy duty trucks, and the retailing of Sterling and Mercedes heavy trucks in the South Island and New Holland tractors and equipment in Southland.
The Colonial Motor Company originated from William Black's coach-building factory which started operations in 1859 at 89 Courtenay Place, Wellington. In 1881 it was taken over by Rouse & Hurrell, who expanded the business with new three storied premises calling it Rouse & Hurrell's Empire Steam and Carriage Works. This partnership was formed into a limited liability company in 1902 with Mr Edward Wade Petherick the first Secretary of the Company. The Ford Motor Car Agency was taken up in 1908 and in August 1911 a new name "The Colonial Motor Company Limited" was registered.
On Ford Canada's recommendation a dominant shareholding and control was acquired by Mr Charles Corden Larmour and the sale of this majority holding and control to Mr Hope Gibbons and his family interests was concluded in April 1918 after negotiations in 1916. At that time there were 17 Authorised Ford Dealers in New Zealand of which 10 were in the South Island. In 1919 the Company restructured with a new memorandum and articles but the 1911 name was retained and remains the same today.
The nine storied building at 89 Courtenay Place, designed by architect J M Dawson to Ford plans, opened as the tallest Wellington construction in 1922. It was the first motor vehicle assembly plant in New Zealand with vehicles starting in boxes at the top and driving out completed at the bottom. The Company later built assembly plants at Fox Street, Parnell, Auckland and Sophia Street, Timaru. This was the age of the Model T with Ford market share reaching a peak of 27% in 1926.
In 1936, Ford Motor Company of New Zealand Limited established an assembly plant at Seaview, Lower Hutt, and took over the distribution of Ford products in New Zealand. CMC then concentrated on the retail side of the business, operating the retail garages it then owned. The 1930's and 1940's were a time of survival with the depression, excess stock of new product, and then no new vehicles available during the war years and petrol rationing until 1950. Service became the key to remaining in business.
Shortly after the end of the war the supply of new vehicles was resumed and the 30 years up to 1980 saw the Group consolidate. The Dealer organisation that developed proved to be one of the best retail motor groups in New Zealand. Over this period nearly every Dealership was either rebuilt, fully refurbished or relocated and new Dealerships were opened in East, West and South Auckland to cater for Auckland growth.
For the 50 years up to 1987 New Zealand had import licensing to control the expenditure of funds on imports such as motor vehicles. The new vehicle industry volumes peaked in 1973, and again in 1984, at around 125,000 new vehicles, a long way from the industry of the 1990's. In 1992 just 66,500 new vehicles were sold. 2005, with just over 100,000 new vehicle sales, was the highest for 20 years.
In recent years our Dealerships have adjusted to a completely open and highly competitive market. The change from cars being seen as an investment to a depreciable consumer durable, was brought about by the advent of imported used vehicles from Japan, completely changing the shape of the industry.
In 1994, after Ford sold their heavy truck division, CMC took up a major interest in Southpac Trucks Ltd, the New Zealand distributor for KENWORTH, FODEN (since retired) and (more recently) DAF heavy duty truck brands which are part of the PACCAR Organisation. The heavy truck business now makes up a significant part of CMC’s operations.
Guinness Peat Group (GPG) made a takeover offer for CMC in October 1995. Among the sellers who enabled GPG to acquire 33.9% were some original Gibbons Family shareholders. As part of a plan to maximise value to shareholders, Directors resolved to rationalise the Company's non-dealership property holdings, repay the surplus funds to shareholders and focus the Company on its core motor trade activities.
In June 1997, GPG sold its shares to the MBM Group of Companies which have interests in the Motor Industry in Malaysia. MBM Group sold all remaining 24.9% stake on the market in May 2003 to a large number of individual shareholders and a few institutional holders, resulting in over 300 new shareholders.
The Company acquired M.S Motors, the Ford Dealership in Nelson, in 1998 and at the same time took over the Blenheim Dealership, merging them as the M.S Ford operation.
In 1999, CMC's Auckland Dealerships joined with Ford Motor Company and three other Ford Dealerships to form Auckland Auto Collection Limited (AACL). This move represented the biggest change in the Ford franchise arrangements in New Zealand for over 60 years. During 1999, this new business acquired the Mazda Dealerships in Auckland and Mazda Motors joined CMC and Ford as a shareholder. From 2002, the business operated as three Ford and Mazda dealerships - North Harbour, John Andrew and South Auckland. CMC sold its share holding back to AACL in May 2005 and, in return, acquired the South Auckland Dealership. Six of the Group's twelve car Dealerships now have both the Ford and Mazda franchises.
On 16 June 2003, Ford Motor Company celebrated its centennial and the production of the original Model A Fordmobile with CMC and its forebears having been actively involved with Ford for 95 of those 100 years. In celebration of this long relationship, a history of the Company's operations and activities "Ford Ahead" was written and published by Roger Gardner.
It has been part of the Company's philosophy and success to own the property sites from which its
retail subsidiary companies operate. Until its sale
in August 2005, the Company owned the "CMC
Building", a large office building in Wellington
that originally housed the first assembly plant.
The current major shareholdings in CMC are with
individual members of the wider Gibbons Family,
who collectively hold over 60% of the Company
shares. There are also many descendants
of the original 1902 subscribers to the Rouse &
Hurrell Carriage Building Company Limited who
remain shareholders today.
Throughout the Company's history, change has always been with us and our ability to adapt in good times and in bad has ensured ongoing wellbeing and prosperity. As well, it has always been recognised that dedicated, skilled and enthusiastic people have been, and will continue to be, the key to the Company's future.
PACCAR
Paul Pigott, son of the founder, acquired a major interest in the Company from American Car in 1934. Under his leadership, the Company expanded its products and introduced the Carco line of power winches for use on crawler tractors in the logging industry.
This product line later became the basis for PACCAR's Winch Division located in Oklahoma, which now includes Braden, Carco and Gearmatic.
In 1941, America went to war, and the Company's Renton plant built Sherman Tanks and tank recovery vehicles for the military. Pacific Car and Foundry also constructed dry docks and steel tugboats during the conflict.
The Company entered the heavy-duty truck market in 1945 with its first major acquisition, Kenworth Motor Truck Company of Seattle. Pacific Car and Foundry greatly expanded its heavy-duty truck capability with the purchase of Peterbilt Motors Company in 1958. That same year, the acquisition of Dart Truck Company permitted its entry into the entirely new market of mining vehicles.
The Company's Structural Steel Division fabricated the steel for the construction of the Space Needle for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Later, it played a major part in the construction of Grand Coulee's third powerhouse as well as New York's World Trade Center.
In 1960, PACCAR became an international truck manufacturer. Kenworth moved into Mexico with 49 percent participation in an affiliate company, Kenworth Mexicana S.A. de C.V., and in 1966 PACCAR entered the Australian truck market with the establishment of a Kenworth Truck assembly plant near Melbourne.
Also in 1960, Carco Acceptance Corporation, currently PACCAR Financial Corp., was launched to facilitate domestic sales of trucks.
In 1967 the Dynacraft division was formed to provide belts, hoses, adapters, and other accessories for Kenworth and Peterbilt truck plants.
In 1969, 28 acres of land were purchased at suburban Bayswater - 30 kms east of Melbourne for Kenworth Australia. Construction plans were drawn up and by 1970, the 56,000 sq ft factory and office complex was completed to produce trucks initially on a CKD (Completely Knocked Down) basis. During Kenworth Australia's 35 year history in Australia, it has become a major manufacturing force in the Australian, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea markets.
Believing "Pacific Car and Foundry Company" no longer accurately reflected the Company's products and activities, directors and shareholders voted to adopt PACCAR Inc (no punctuation) as its new name in 1972. Pacific Car and Foundry Company, located in the original Renton facility, became a division.
In 1973, two major divisions of PACCAR were founded. PACCAR International Inc., with headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, was formed to consolidate the sales and service of company products abroad, and PACCAR Parts Division was established in Renton to supply aftermarket parts sales.
PACCAR Leasing Corporation was formed in 1980 to offer full-service leasing and rental programs through PACCAR's dealer network. A year later, PACCAR became a European truck manufacturer with the acquisition of Foden Trucks in Sandbach, U.K
PACCAR's new Technical Center opened in July of 1982. Located approximately 65 miles north of Seattle, the multimillion-dollar center underscored the Company's commitment to technical excellence, quality and value in the products it manufactures.
In 1986, PACCAR signed a merger agreement with Trico Industries, Inc., and became a recognized world leader in manufacturing oil field pumps and accessories. In December 1997 Trico was sold to EVI of Houston.
In 1987, PACCAR acquired Washington-based Al's Auto Supply, an aftermarket retailer and wholesale distributor of auto parts and accessories. In 1988, PACCAR increased its subsidiary PACCAR Automotive, Inc. when it purchased Grand Auto, Inc., a California-based retailer of auto parts and accessories. In October 1999, PACCAR Automotive was sold to CSK Auto, Inc.
PACCAR solidified its place in the Mexican heavy-duty truck market by purchasing the remaining portion of its Mexican Operation, VILPAC, S.A. in 1995.
The acquisition of DAF Trucks N.V. IN 1996 and Leyland Trucks in 1998 solidified PACCAR’s position as one of the major truck manufacturers in the world.
DAF Trucks is a Netherlands based truck company with production facilities in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and Westerlo, Belgium. Leyland manufactures trucks in the 6-18 ton commercial segment at its plant in Lancashire, England.
DAF's roots go back to 1928, when the brothers Hub and Wim van Doorne laid the foundation for what currently is the fastest growing truck manufacturer in Europe. What started as a small engineering business and blacksmith workshop, developed into a trailer manufacturing business in 1932. In 1949, the first DAF truck was produced in the trailer factory. A year later a new truck factory was built and production started with three, five and six tonne truck chassis.
Today, PACCAR is a global technology leader in the design, manufacture and customer support of high-quality light-, medium and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF nameplates. It also provides financial services and information technology and distributes truck parts related to its principal business.
