Humble delivery van drives record profit result for cars king Neville Crichton

Best known for selling sports cars, Neville Crichton’s business made far more money this year selling vans and trucks to couriers and delivery drivers.

Neville Crichton’s Ateco made a $49m net profit for the 2021 financial year, up from $8.6m in the previous 12 months. Revenue surged from $679m in 2020 to $1.09bn. Picture: James Croucher

Forget flashy Maserati sports cars and $100,000 sports utility vehicles. With e-commerce booming and demand for courier services surging, the humble delivery van has driven a huge increase in sales for Neville Crichton’s car ­business.

The Sydney business identity’s private Ateco Group, the biggest independent locally owned car importer that distributes brands such as Maserati, Ram and Renault across Australasia, recorded a huge 486 per cent increase in net profit for 2021 for the best result the company has ever had.

Ateco made a $49m net profit for the 2021 financial year, up from $8.6m in the previous 12 months. Revenue surged from $679m in 2020 to $1.09bn.

Mr Crichton told The Australian that 2022 would be an even better result, forecasting revenue of $1.7bn-$1.8bn as the LDV van range proved a hit with the couriers and delivery drivers who crisscross cities daily dropping off packages and other online purchases to people’s homes.

“We will sell 10,000 LDVs and as of today we’ve got 16,000 back orders with the factory waiting for the product to arrive,” Mr Crichton said.

“It’s all about e-commerce and people getting their Woolies shopping home delivered. So we’re dealing with courier vans, services and tradies, basically. That market has been going really strong.”

Ateco distributes the LDV Chinese light commercial vehicle brand in Australia and also has exclusive rights for Maserati and Ram Trucks from the US, which it converts to right-hand drive standards in its Melbourne factory. It also took over the distribution rights for Renault in Australia in April.

The company’s financial report, recently lodged with the corporate regulator, attributed its revenue surge to customers having more disposable income given the inability of most Australians to spend on overseas travel since Covid first hit last year, and the government’s instant asset write-off program for businesses.

 

Mr Crichton said he still expected sales to hold up even as travel restrictions lifted, and was forecasting his business to sell about 34,000-35,000 vehicles in the year to June next year. About 25,000 of those would be commercial vehicles.

He has high hopes for his new Renault distribution deal, with five new car launches coming between now and 2025, including electric passenger vehicles and cars. Ateco’s Melbourne factory should convert about 4000 Ram utes this year as well, while a new Maserati MC20 sports car is arriving ahead of a new SUV to compete with Porsche. Ram also has an electric truck planned for 2023.

But Mr Crichton admitted the sales figures for the current financial year could be even better.

New-car sales in Australia have fallen recently despite heightened demand due to supply chain problems that are set to extend into next year.

Sales statistics for October released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show 74,650 new vehicles were sold for the month, down 8.1 per cent on the same month last year.

Mr Crichton said supply chain issues were the toughest he had faced in four decades in the business, but he said he was optimistic that blockages would ease within the next months.

“We’ve got a massive supply issue with Renault. Ram will be tight but OK. Maserati is quite a small sector of the market, but there will definitely be a delay in getting here,” he said.

“It is across the industry though. The cost of getting cars out of China is certainly going up, so are spare parts containers. That’s quite an issue. Anything in a container is costing a fortune and we’re still having trouble getting parts into the country.”

There is also a shifting trend towards electric vehicles, though Mr Crichton cast doubt on just how quickly Australian consumers would willingly buy cars that needed charging.

“A lot of people are talking about them but I’m not sure anyone is making money out of them at this stage,” he said. “They are expensive. There’s nothing under $40,000 at that entry level.

“We are going to have to get into it, the government is backing it. But take electric pick-up trucks, for example. I’m not sure how they will go in Australia, where people like to drive out in the country where charging may be hard. For now, I think they are overpriced and the average Australian will probably have a preference for driving a car with a combustion engine for a while yet.”

Originally published as Humble delivery van drives record profit result for cars king Neville Crichton