American company Paccar Financial, which finances Kenworths and Dafs Australia-wide, will continue to serve the Australian market as GE Money
American company Paccar Financial, which finances Kenworths and Dafs Australia-wide, will continue to serve the Australian market as GE Money pulls out of financing heavy haulage.
Australian General Manager Roland Hollingsworth says Paccar sources its funds across the globe, meaning it does not depend solely on American finance. He expects the company, which focuses on heavy haulage finance, will survive the worldwide economic downturn.
The good news follows GE money’s announcement last week it intends to close down its heavy haulage finance division on November 30, spokesman for GE Money Tristan Everett says.
However, GE does not expect its decision to have wide-ranging consequences because most of its business is tied up in car financing rather than the heavy haulage sector.
GE Money will continue to finance ridged trucks up to 4.46 tonnes.
Although stable, Paccar has lost revenue in America. The company announced on October 21 it earned $US299 million for the third quarter of 2008, compared to $US302.3 million n the third quarter last year.
In an announcement on Paccar’s website, Executive Vice President Dan Sobic says exports will increase.
“Industry retail sales are projected to improve slightly in the second half of 2009 and are expected to be in the range of 170,000-210,000 as fleets replace vehicles after several years of lower purchases,” he says.
Sobic says declining housing starts and suto production have affected truck sales this year, but customers are reporting an increase in income due to good freight traffic levels and lower fuel prices.