Scania executives from Australia and overseas attended a ground-breaking ceremony for the new Scania dealership premises in Hope Valley, south of Perth. The factory-owned site is within the boundaries of the City of Kwinana, a hub of manufacturing industry and support operations.
The new premises shapes up with a workshop/administration block of just under 1400m2, and a parts warehouse of 3500m2, which replaces a temporary warehouse in Welshpool that was stretched to the limits at just 2000m2.
Scania has seen a strong growth in the West over the past five years. The pace eased in 2023 with a slight dip in market share from 11.9 % in 2022 to 10.6%, largely due to supply constraints. (sales were slightly higher but the market went gangbusters). But the brand has an additional boost to numbers with a strong presence in the off-road mining truck market, most of which are not licensed for on-road use, so they don’t feature in the registration data. Scania was a bit shy of numbers but I am reliably informed it has been delivering a volume nudging into three figures worth of these specialist trucks each year.
As a result WA has a higher percentage of Scania off-road mining trucks in its total sales than any other Australian state, so the support of these versions was critical. However most of that support is in preparation and parts supply, as once the trucks are on-site, of necessity they have to be serviced in-situ.
That segment was evident at the ground-breaking, where at least a dozen new off-road Scanias were in preparation for a life of torture in the North-West, including a 770XT with extra ride height. The mining versions are also popular in heavy haulage and multi-trailer side-tipper work across the state.
The new premises will feature three workshop bays vs the seven bays in the existing Kewdale site, but a 36m inspection pit will be added for triples to support Scania’s strong presence in the multi-trailer linehaul business. The parts warehouse will be a stand-alone building and will add a much-needed boost to the brand’s parts resource in the state.
The design of the facility has been undertaken with a focus on sustainability, with particular attention paid to how the site will handle waste and make use of solar power across both the warehouse and workshop facilities.
“Scania in WA has been growing quickly over the past decade and we have attracted more customers both for on-road vehicles running intra-state as well as across to the eastern states, and also within the State’s burgeoning mining industry,” says Scania Dealer Director for WA, SA and NT, Michael Berti.
“These growing segments have required an expansion of services as well as a good deal of innovation from Scania Australia to meet the needs of its customers in a proactive way.
Construction on the new facility is under way – mostly ground preparation at this stage.
