RAM is just the beginning

The joint-venture that yesterday launched the RAM 2500 and 3500 full-size pick-ups onto the Australian market is depicting the move as very much the first step in a plan that will include substantial exports and expansion into other makes of vehicles.

American Special Vehicles is jointly owned by industry veteran Neville Crichton's Ateco Automotive and the Walkinshaw Automotive Group, owned by the Walkinshaw family and overseen by Ryan Walkinshaw.

Ateco is responsible for the distribution, sales and marketing of the full volume certified right-hand drive RAMs, while WAG has performed the engineering work and established an assembly line at the same Clayton facility in south-east Melbourne where Holden Special Vehicles are built. The partners have invested unspecified millions of dollars to get the project to this point.

The new assembly line at WAG, which created 15 new jobs, has been developed specifically for ladder frame vehicles such as the RAMs, which means it could also handle other similar vehicles such as the Ford F Series and GM's Chevrolet and GMC trucks, as well as separate chassis SUVs.

Like the RAMs, none of these vehicles are currently offered ex-factory in right-hand drive, which means ASV has a significant potential global RHD market to chase. The j-v is promoting the conversion as equivalent to factory-spec and the highest quality ever achieved by an Australian converter.

"I think the potential of what we are looking at is huge," Crichton said. "We haven't even got into the export business as yet, which without doubt we will.

"And the numbers; you can think of any number virtually. The potential is massive around the world for right-hand drive.

"We have an awful lot of confidence and I think we are only just touching the surface with what we are doing."

ASV's first export market for the RAMs will be New Zealand in the second quarter of 2016. But South Africa, where utes are hugely popular and where Ateco already has a presence through its Maserati distribution business, also seems a near certainty.

The company is forecasting sales in 2016 in Australia of around 500 RAMs through a 20-strong dealer network. But the assembly line at Clayton in its current specification, has the capability to build around double that per annum.

The partners hinted that discussions were already underway with the other full-size truck manufacturers for right-hand drive deals. They tacitly admitted the company's name indicated the broad scope of its ambition.

"Naturally the manufacturers – and I am sure it's not only Chrysler which are looking at what's happening –are looking at how successful this will be," said Crichton.

For Walkinshaw this investment is not only designed to provide a financial return to WAG but also promote its capabilities as an engineering and design supplier to the Asian region. Once Ford, Holden and Toyota depart by the end of 2017 it will be Australia's biggest 'one stop shop' car company.

"We are that rare thing in Australia today, a car company that is growing," he said. "It is a real feel-good story and hopefully it's the start of a lot more."

Walkinshaw is the son of the late Tom Walkinshaw, who grew TWR into a global automotive engineering, design and manufacturing business until striking financial issues in the early 2000s.

"I have mentioned plenty of times in the press our ambitions as a design and engineering group," Walkinshaw said. "What we would like to do is use the changes in the Australian market to grow our business and try and replicate a lot of what TWR was in the past.

"We have been taking small steps towards that in the last couple of years and I think this is a big step forward we can be proud of.

"The first time I walked through the plant and saw the assembly line physically in action it was a pretty emotional moment. You have seen the amount of work that has gone into it and the ability for us to do something that is very different to some of the other stuff we have done.

"I am really really proud of what the guys have achieved in very short time scales. What the guys have done in just under one year is really, really impressive. The fact [is] we pride ourselves on being a business that welcomes challenges and welcomes things that are going to put our expertise to the test, and this is one of those occasions that really proved we are capable of doing it.

"It has given us a lot of confidence going forward as well."