| |
CMV
HISTORY (page 2)
1940’s & 1950’s – A time
of considerable growth
For a vehicle starved population the Company was, during
the late '40s and early '50s, able to sell virtually every
new truck and tractor it could obtain. It was thus a period
of considerable growth. In the early 1960's the long association
with Diamond T trucks and Case tractors regretfully came
to an end following changes in the operations and ownership
of both companies in America. From 1954 until 1966 the
Company distributed Humber and Hillman cars in South Australia
alongside Commer, all products of the then Rootes Group
of Great Britain. 1960's
- The commercial vehicle focus
In 1966 with the acquisition by the American Chrysler
Corporation of the Rootes Group of Companies in both
Great Britain and Australia, the Company elected to
cease selling motor cars and to concentrate again on
the sale of commercial vehicles, accepting from Chrysler
a Dodge truck specialist dealership. The Company was
also involved for many years in the distribution of
Chrysler and subsequently Mitsubishi parts in S.A.
1963 was to be an important year for the Company when
it became the South Australian distributor for Toyota
commercial vehicles. During the 25 years to 1988 until
Toyota resumed the distribution, some 40,000 new vehicles
were handled by the Company.
From its distribution of Toyota commercial vehicles
the Company also became involved in the retail of Toyota
commercial vehicles at Flinders Street, Adelaide (CMI Toyota) and Hino Trucks at Regency Park, SA (now CMI Hino).
In 1968 and 1969 the Company was appointed S.A. distributor
for both Kenworth and Volvo trucks, respectively.
The reasoning for these further new vehicle responsibilities
was that the franchises then held (Toyota, Dodge, Volvo
and Kenworth) were very much complementary to each other,
representing various capacity vehicles to enable the
Company to provide the widest range of commercial vehicles
to the South Australian market.
The '70s and '80s saw the emergence of Japan as a major
supplier of passenger and commercial vehicles in Australia.
Thus Mitsubishi has replaced Dodge and Hino trucks were
added by Toyota. In 1975 the building of a completely
new heavy duty truck sales and service centre in the
new Regency Park Industrial Estate was a major investment
following the sale of the extensive workshop facility
at South Road, Richmond, to the Government for the subsequent
ill-fated MATS Highway Plan.
|
