LDV Group's newly appointment chief executive, Evgeniy Vereshchagin, says the company is now moving forward with optimism following its purchase by GAZ Group in 2006.
Speaking at the 2008 Commercial Vehicle Show, Vereshchagin said that over the past 20 months, the company has benefited significantly from being part of the GAZ Group and that it now has the financial backing, the long term automotive perspective and the wider skills base to grow MAXUS both in the UK and overseas.
“We have made solid progress since our acquisition. This includes 51 new MAXUS derivatives introduced into the market, a 30 per cent increase in MAXUS UK registrations, an increase in our UK dealer network of some 25 per cent and over 100 new dealers appointed on the continent. Our manufacturing volumes have doubled with productivity increasing by 38 per cent and we have created 200 new jobs.
“2008 will see us introduce more new models to the market and we are also extending our bespoke product offering through our dedicated special vehicle operations department. There are currently £4 million worth of bespoke vehicles going through this department for customers including the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence and UK police and ambulance fleets.
“On export, sales will increase significantly this year and we are confident that we will export around 5,000 vehicles from Birmingham. Our relationships in the Asia Pacific Rim are also strengthening and we plan to send over 1,000 vehicles as either built up MAXUS products or vehicles in kits for local assembly in Malaysia.
“We believe a platform for growth is now in place and it is the whole teams' responsibility to build on this for future success.”
For further information on the MAXUS range visit www.maxus.com.
