Renault Trucks officially inaugurated Renault Trucks Coventry, its new, custom built dealership at Nuneaton yesterday. A total of £4 million has been invested in the new site, which will offer the full range of Renault Trucks products and services.

The new dealership, which was officially opened by Stefano Chmielewski, the President and CEO of Renault Trucks SAS, was one of two major investments by Renault Trucks being celebrated on the 8th October 2009. The second was the £5 million investment in a new Renault Trucks UK headquarters building at Dunstable, Bedfordshire. The inauguration ceremony for the new headquarters was held later the same day on the 8th.

Renault Trucks Coventry
The Renault Trucks Coventry dealership is located at Burlington Road on the Bermuda Industrial Estate at Nuneaton. The dealership is the latest to join the Renault Truck Commercials line-up, which is the company’s wholly owned dealer network group. In the UK, Renault Truck Commercials now has eleven sites, making the group a significant presence in Renault Trucks’ UK network. The total network currently comprises over 65 locations, plus a further four dealerships in the Irish Republic.

The new building has been constructed on the site of what was an old Lynx Distribution warehouse and is in a prime location for easy access to and from all the major road routes in the area.

The site covers 2.5 acres and comprises a custom build internal showroom and reception area, a fully equipped 4-bay workshop with two full length inspection pits, a comprehensive parts store and a state of the art steam cleaning facility. There is also a further workshop bay specifically dedicated to LCV service and maintenance, as the new dealership is the latest to achieve Renault Trucks’ Fast & Pro Van Sales & Service Centre accreditation.

The opening of Renault Trucks Coventry has initially created ten new jobs, which will grow in line with the business.

The new dealership is under the management of Chris Hammond, as Distributor Principal, who will also maintain his role as Distributor Principal of Renault Trucks Midlands at Tipton, the recent winners of the Motor Transport Dealer of the Year Award for 2009.

Sales and aftermarket functions will also be managed in dual roles by existing management staff from the Tipton branch. With Rob Flemwell being a new appointment to the role of Depot Supervisor, dedicated to the new site.

Vehicle Sales:
On the sales side, Renault Trucks Coventry sells the full Renault Trucks range of new and used vehicles, offering one of the widest ranges of products in the commercial vehicle industry; from the Renault Master van to the flagship Renault Magnum tractor unit.

On the used sales side, the new dealership is a member of Renault Trucks’ Truckplus network, offering a full range of quality used vehicles, both on-site at Nuneaton and via the Truckplus website at www.truckplus.co.uk.

Workshop:
From the workshop a full range of repair and maintenance services are available, from routine repairs and service inspections, to accident damage repairs and MOT preparation. The facility is a licensed tachograph centre and, in addition to looking after customer’s Renault trucks and vans, it can provide the same services for all makes ofcommercial vehicles, trailers and ancillary equipment.

In fact, one of the first major successes for the new dealership has been to win a contract with a major haulier in the area for the maintenance of 250 trailers.

Situated alongside the workshop to the rear of the new building is a state of the art, drive-through steam cleaning facility for trucks and trailers.

Roadside Assistance:
Renault Trucks Coventry is a member of the Renault Trucks 24/24 roadside assistance network. It has invested in a brand new, fully equipped roadside assistance van, which is staffed by highly trained technicians to provide support 24 hours a day, seven days to week to customers with difficulties at the roadside across the region.

Comment:
“The distribution business has become one of the fastest growing sectors in the Coventry and Nuneaton region,” says Chris Hammond, Distributor Principal of Renault Trucks Coventry. “The volume of commercial vehicles running from and through the area has grown significantly in line with this growth, which led to the decision to invest in this area.

There is already quite a strong Renault Trucks vehicle parc in the area and, despite the current economic difficulties, we are confident that we will grow our market share in the region across the product range.”

Chris continues, “Our strap line at Renault Trucks Midlands is ‘our business is to keep your business on the move’ and we will be bringing this ethos to the new operation at Renault Trucks Coventry, with the focus very much on excellent customer care.”

Renault Trucks New Headquarters – Dunstable
Renault Trucks moved into its new UK headquarters at the Houghton Hall Business Park, Dunstable, on the 2nd September 2009, with the official inauguration ceremony taking place on the 8th October. Stefano Chmielewski the President and CEO of Renault Trucks SAS presided over this event.

Three companies will operate from the new headquarters; Renault Trucks UK Ltd, (the UK sales and service HQ), Renault Truck Commercials Ltd, (the headquarters of Renault Trucks wholly owned UK dealerships) and BRS Ltd, the group’s truck rental, contract hire and fleet management services company.

Both Renault Trucks UK Ltd and Renault Truck Commercials were located in the company’s previous headquarters at Boscombe Road, Dunstable. While BRS Ltd joins the building, relocating from its previous offices at Warwick and Eland.

Renault Trucks has had a long association with the Dunstable area, having been located at its previous premises on Boscombe Road since it entered the UK market in 1981.

The company took the decision two years ago to look for a new headquarter premises, as the old site no longer met its requirements in term of size, facilities or brand image. It wanted to stay in the vicinity of Dunstable, both to retain continuity of staffing and to take advantage of the excellent infrastructure and locality to many major road, rail and air routes.

The new site at the Houghton Hall Business Park, comprises a building of some 26,000 square feet in total, which encompasses three double storey wings housing 100 staff and a dedicated training and development centre, that includes a fully equipped, 3-bay technical training workshop.

Training and Development
Training and development in both technical and commercial aspects is very important for Renault Trucks, its network and its customer base in the UK, hence the incorporation of the new training centre at Dunstable.

In addition to the 3-bay workshop, there are also three training classrooms equipped with the latest IT and smart whiteboard technology, plus a fourth classroom that will primarily be used as an IT learning centre for a variety of courses.

Renault Trucks is currently training 70 apprentices through this new centre. These are a mixture of technicians, parts and service advisor apprenticeships, under the Renault Trucks Advanced Apprenticeship Options programme.

The company also offer in excess of 60 training and development courses for existing technical and commercial staff across Renault Trucks and its network. The commercial courses range from basic IT skills right up to senior director development.

The latest building techniques:
The new headquarters building at Dunstable has been built / refitted to the highest standards. The building comprises two pre-existing double storey wings that were totally gutted and refitted, plus a 3rd custom built double storey wing to the rear of the building.

In line with the latest environmental building standards, all lighting in the premises works on automatic sensors that turn the lights off if activity is not sensed after a period of time. Furthermore, the latest insulation materials have been incorporated into the building fabric to ensure optimal climate control.

Of particular interest is the two roller shutter doors installed for commercial vehicle access in the technical training workshop. These are the first of their kind to be installed in the UK market and feature special glass that is designed to aid cooling during summer months and to absorb heat and feed it back into the building during colder months.

Comment:
As Laurent Farman, the Managing Director of Renault Trucks UK Ltd commented in his inauguration speech at Dunstable. “Renault Trucks is committed to the UK market and we are here to stay. As we all know, economic conditions are very difficult at the moment but the UK market is still the 3rd largest truck market (above 6t) in Europe and there are still opportunities for us to grow today and in the future.

Both of the new investment projects were, of course, started before the economic meltdown and it is strong sign of the full support we have from our headquarters in Lyon that these investments in our future were allowed to continue.

Customers will start buying trucks again and recovery will come. We now have the best products, the best processes, the best people and the best network that we’ve ever had in our history, so are in a very strong position to take advantage of this recovery as it happens.”