One of Asia’s leading integrated logistics providers, Toll Group, has completed the sale of its finished vehicle distribution service division in Australia to PrixCar, the automotive storage, processing and repair specialist in which it has a 50% stake.
Toll said the sale will generate $35m after tax.
Toll Group will retain full ownership of its parts logistics divisions in Australia and its finished vehicle and parts logistics divisions in Asia.
Toll’s joint venture partner in PrixCar is K-Line Auto-Logistics, itself a 50:50 joint venture between Kawasaki Australia and Qube Logistics. Qube contributed $20m to the PrixCar purchase of the Toll division.
In May this year Toll Global Logistics announced it was combining its finished vehicle distribution service with PrixCar to “establish a more sustainable and competitive business model”.
Toll said in a statement that the restructuring would provide customers with a more fully integrated, end-to-end supply chain management service and was a response to broader trends in the automotive industry, which included the decline in local manufacturing and the increase in vehicle imports.
Sales of new cars in Australia last year stood at just more than 1m vehicles but around 86% of those were imported. According to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, sales of Australian-made cars accounted for just 14.1% of the market with Japan, Thailand and South Korea all producing more cars for Australians.
Toyota, Holden and Ford are the top three sellers but locally-made models have fallen. Sales of Toyota’s locally-made vehicles fell almost 24% while Ford saw 20% fewer locally made cars in 2011. However, Holden saw sales of vehicles made at its Australian factories actually increase by 30% thanks to the successful introduction of new models.
