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Influential car dealer new Federation Chairman

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Published: Tuesday, 17 December 2013 03:06

The Australian Motor Industry Federation (AMIF) today announced Mr Neville Gibb, the President of the Motor Trade Association of South Australia, has been appointed AMIF Chairman for the next two years.

“I am honoured to be elected by my state and territory colleagues into the role of National Chairman of the Australian Motor Industry Federation. I also take this opportunity to acknowledge and express deep appreciation to outgoing Chairman, Maurie Pinfold, from the NSW Motor Trades Association, for his considerable contributions and leadership during the formative two years of the Federation” Mr Gibb said.

“I look forward to working with all state and territory Motor Trade Associations, the Victorian and Tasmanian Automobile Chambers of Commerce, and AMIF Chief Executive Officer, Richard Dudley, to further progress the retail automotive sector in Australia.

“There are many challenges facing our members, like the body repair industry which is currently responding to an evolution in technology and the constant pressures of forced cost reductions by insurers. 

There are also a number of issues facing the new car sector due to the large number of imported brands sold in Australia and the ability of local dealers to continue to be profitable as a result. And the independent service station sector continues to face the might of the supermarket giants, which AMIF has and will continue to fight to ensure the sector remains competitive.

“All these issues and many more need appropriate policy responses and as Chairman of AMIF I will continue to work with my state and territory colleagues to progress them further. I will also continue to follow-on the good work already completed in AMIF’s ‘Automotive 2018 – An Industry at Crossroads’ platform and will continue to drive the issues identified,” he said.

Neville Gibb is a prominent new car dealer from the South Australian rural centre of Jamestown. The Gibb family has been members of the South Australian Motor Trade Association for more than 50 years. Neville has been a member of the MTA-SA board since 1997, President of the South Australian Association for the last three years and Deputy Chairman of AMIF. During his time Neville has seen a large number of changes in the retail, service, repair and recycling sectors of the Australian automotive industry, including the significant technological advances and has gained a deep understanding of the issues facing the industry. He has overseen a number of key policy issues for the MTA in South Australia, and has been significant contributor to MTA-SA’s push for mandatory vehicle inspection scheme at change of ownership among many other state and national issues.

Further Information: Richard Dudley, CEO AMIF 0412 146 828

Enforceable Undertakings made by Coles and Woolworths on Shopper Dockets a step in the right direction.

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Published: Saturday, 07 December 2013 03:04

The Australian Motor Industry Federation (AMIF), and the Australian Service Station and Convenience Store Association (ASSCSA) representing the interests of Australia’s remaining independent fuel retailers, today cautiously welcomed the Undertakings made by Coles and Woolworths regarding fuel discounting.

AMIF CEO, Richard Dudley said that capping fuel discounts at 4 cents per litre, along with the terms agreed within the Undertakings of Coles and Woolworths, is step in the right direction to levelling the playing field for fuel retailing.

“AMIF and ASSCSA will remain vigilant to the activities of predatory pricing and abuse of market power and will closely monitor adherence to these undertakings and will not hesitate to raise such matters in the future to protect the interests of independent fuel retailers,” Mr Dudley said.

“Unfortunately today’s developments in this long running battle is too little too late for many of those retailers who have already exited the business under the burden of at-times ludicrous levels of discounting that has occurred over recent years.

“It provides some relief for those remaining to provide consumer choice and competition to the largest players in fuel retailing,” he added.

Mr Dudley said AMIF and ASSCSA and their State and Territory Motor Trades Association and Automobile Chambers of commerce and fuel retail members were instrumental in convincing the ACCC to further investigate fuel discounting and the behaviours of market players.“

AMIF congratulates Commissioner Sims and the ACCC for their diligence and thanked them for the opportunity to work closely with its investigations into the market behaviour of the major grocery chains”, he said.

Further Information:Richard Dudley CEO AMIF 0412 146 82.

We’re on a road to nowhere with another ‘New Car Plan’

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Published: Saturday, 17 August 2013 23:18

The Australian Motor Industry Federation (AMIF) today slammed the Labor Party’s ‘New Car Plan for the 2020s’ as a policy pronouncement worthy of the in-flight napkin it was obviously written on.

AMIF CEO, Richard Dudley, said the ‘new’ plan should be seen for what it is – a thinly disguised attempt to buy votes in marginal electorates; a distraction from the lost jobs, lost sales, cancelled orders, industry instability and uncertainty, caused by proposed changes to FBT rules; and a disguise for an ongoing lack of knowledge and understanding of the entire Australian Automotive industry and the unprecedented Change impacting it.

‘This announcement perpetuates the current ad-hoc, dysfunctional policy narrative that starts with car and car component manufacturing and ends with the delivery of the new car to the dealer, only this time it sets new benchmarks for larger buckets of money, over longer timeframes with even less detail for only 25% of the industry,’ Mr Dudley said.

“As in the past, it fails to take into account the unprecedented change impacting the other 75% of the Australian automobile industry, the 100,000 businesses employing a further 320,000 Australians in sectors who sell, service, repair and recycle Australia’s 17 million strong vehicle fleet,‘ he added.

Mr Dudley said it was clear the Labor Party is not content with their past ad‐hoc policy ‘achievements’ with today’s announcement rounding off an Herculean and unprecedented month of incredulous pronouncements and policy on‐the‐run.

AMIF said this approach to an industry as critical as automotive had to stop and repeated its call for a Green/White Paper on the entire Australian Automotive industry.

‘450 automotive businesses on average are closing each year with this number climbing rapidly. The acute shortages of skilled workers are dramatically affecting the productivity and continued viability of many automotive sector businesses, Mr Dudley said.

‘2700 people left car and car component manufacturing in 2011/12 but more than 13,000 people left the automotive service and repair sectors over the same period. Yet recent research showed there is a shortage of 19,000 skilled mechanics in Australia now. Where are these issues reflected in the new car plan.

‘Given that the automotive retail, service, repair and recycling sectors make up the largest concentration of small business in Australia, and the depth of Australia’s reliance on the motor vehicle, it is irresponsible to consider any policy mechanism outside of a White Paper/Green Paper to develop comprehensive, evidence based policy to guide and sustain the medium and long term future of the Australian automotive industry.” Mr Dudley concluded.

For further information, please contact Mr Richard Dudley, CEO of AMIF on (02) 6273 8222 or 0412 146 828.

AMIF’s position paper Automotive 2018 - An Industry at Crossroads can be viewed at www.amif.com.au.