Motor vehicle sector on IBIS World list totals more than $18.3bn in revenue

Motor vehicle dealerships and wholesalers have taken prime positions among Australia’s top 500 non-listed companies as the sector recovers from the pandemic. SEE THE LIST

There were 34 companies from the motor vehicle sector on the IBIS World 500 private companies list totalling more than $18.3bn in revenue in 2022-23. Picture: iStock

A range of motor vehicle dealerships and wholesalers have parked themselves in the top 500 non-listed companies in Australia in a sign that cashed-up buyers were steering the sector out of the slow lane.

According to the IBIS World 500 private company list, there were 34 companies from the motor vehicle sector on the list totalling more than $18.3bn in revenue 2022-23, helped by ­purchases delayed by the pandemic and the easing of supply chain disruptions.

Motor Trade Association of Australia interim chief executive Geoff Gwilym said the industry had had a good year.

“We are now past the post-Covid back-up and are returning to a normal domestic vehicle market that sells over a million a year,” he said.

“We still have people willing to wait for three or four months for a car, but there’s no cliff ­looming ahead of us. While there’s been a slight softening of used car sale prices, it hasn’t been significant and used cars are still doing well.”

Last year, there were 29 motor vehicle dealerships and wholesalers on the list making just over $18bn in revenue. However, that revenue included NSW dealership NGP Investments (No.1), which recorded $2.174bn in income in 2021-22, that was not on the list this year.

NSW vehicle wholesaler Ateco Group, or the Australian Tractor and Engineering Company as it was originally founded, climbed 15 places to top the ­sector at No.21 on the list with an annual revenue of $2.6bn. That was an increase of 67.4 per cent on the previous year when it ­recorded revenue of $1.596bn.

Ateco was an engineering consultant until 1985 when it was acquired by Neville Crichton, who had an automotive business background in New Zealand, Australia and the US.

He saw that a sea change in Australian automotive tariffs and automotive import rules would open the car market and produce a range of business opportunities for car companies that had left the Australian car market or never launched here.

Mr Crichton developed Suzuki into a major player in the small car and 4x4 market in NSW and the ACT. Nowadays, Ateco’s brand partners include Maserati, RAM and Renault.

South Australian-based dealership giant CMV Group was second for the sector at No.36 with revenue of $1.67bn, up 3.7 per cent from where it was in 2021-22 when it sat at in 38th place. CMV Group was founded in 1934 by Sidney Crawford with a staff of five. The Crawford family’s third and four generation occupy management and board positions. The company has truck and horticultural divisions and more than 1600 employees.

Queensland’s Autopact came in at No.39 with an 11.7 per cent increase in revenue to $1.52bn and Victorian-based Albert ­Automotive Holdings was No.51 with a 15.6 per cent increase in revenue to $1.29bn.

Mr Gwilym said he expected revenue increases were a “very positive sign”.

“Even if the economy shows some signs of weakness we’ve got baby boomers coming through that are seriously cashed up. They’ve been working for 45 to 50 years and guess what – they are going to buy the car they’ve always wanted,” he said. “People are also shifting brands. Electric cars were not here five or six years ago.”