Archive, Product News

Scania looks to launch finance arm in first quarter

Stars align as Australia gets go-ahead for stepped introduction of financial services

 

Scania Financial Services (SFS) appears set for its Australian launch in March, the company reveals.

The initiative is being led by Scania Financial Services Australia business development director and country manager Peter Taylor.

“The board decided the time was right in September,” he tells a media event.

Later next year, a second phase will see a dedicated Scania insurance offering launched.

Taylor is an SFS veteran of more than two decades standing with stints as managing director and finance director in Italy and the UK and Ireland.

He has worked with Scania Australia managing director Roger McCarthy for a year and the impetus for the launch was the establishment this year of a company cash-pooling and treasury operation in Kuala Lumpur.

McCarthy notes that Taylor had at one time been tasked with reviving Scania Financial in Ireland following the global financial crisis, so had experience with difficult economic climates, while Taylor himself relates the recent challenging nature of the Italian market.

The operation will use Scania cash independent of banking institutions in deals structured to be more compelling than similar bank offerings and which would link with other customer support operations.

The deals will not be exclusive for customers, who will be free to also exploit bank options as they wish but SFS will not be looking to refinance existing deals, with Taylor saying that “is not our ambition” and that its approach would be “slow-burn” and “long-build”.

Elsewhere, McCarthy says its Euro 6 engine offering has had limited take-up, with customers involved  tending to be run them tandem with other vehicles and Scania hoping to gain optimum service regime insights through the IT packages on board.

The hefty 730 model was seeing increased usage in aggregates and minerals haulage in 130-250 tonne applications and the 14 or 15 units sold was up nearly 50 per cent on last year.

While the firm “might be the last” using the V8 platform, it has no plans to withdraw it and it and the 730 has been useful in drawing customers to the 630 model.

McCarthy noted the addition of dealers such as NJ’s of Wagga Wagga, RSC Diesels in Cairns and Toowoomba’s Spanns Trucks joining K&J Trucks in Coffs Harbour as focused on Scania sales and service while insisting on the value of balance with independent operators.

On the potential for scandal pressure on owner Volkswagen affecting its truck-making subsidiary, he discounts concerns and underlines that Scania is not for sale.

 

Previous ArticleNext Article
Send this to a friend