The days of new car manufacturing in Australia may be over, but that hasn’t stopped some of the biggest companies in our local engineering industry from continuing to expand their operations.
Walkinshaw Automotive Group – the parent company of the now-defunct Holden Special Vehicles – has been successfully converting American pickups from left-hand drive to right-hand drive in Melbourne since 2016, starting with Ram and then expanding to Chevrolet and Toyota.
Recently, the company has been able to meet the growing demand for large pickup trucks as well as caravans through its New Age brand, but success has come with limitations as current facilities are not capable of meeting the demand.
Some of that pressure could soon be eased as Walkinshaw today broke ground on a new site in Dandenong South, which is expected to house a 100,000 square metre factory by late 2025.
According to Walkinshaw, the plant will become the new home for remanufacturing programs for “some of the largest automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for the Australian market”.
Different brands will have their converting operations handled in separate and secure areas, while the plant will also continue to handle engineering and manufacturing work for other companies.
There will be 700 car parks, dedicated office space and even solar power, in line with Walkinshaw’s carbon neutral goals.
“Today is a very important day for Walkinshaw Automotive Group and our long-term commitment to Australian manufacturing and engineering in Australia,” Group Managing Director and CEO Ryan Walkinshaw said.
“Since 2018, Walkinshaw Automotive Group has seen significant growth, which meant we needed to find a new home that met all of our unique requirements, so we are delighted to be partnering with [private integrated property group] Salta will make this happen.
“The consolidation of our manufacturing and engineering facilities will also help us increase our competitiveness on a global scale by improving efficiency and investing in the latest technologies.”
Currently, Walkinshaw handles the conversion from left-hand to right-hand drive for Ram 1500, 2500 And 3500the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 And Heavy Duty (HD)as Toyota Tundra.
While the US pickup truck market declined in Australia during the first half of 2024 – down 11.4% to 5070 deliveries – this was largely due to the discontinuation of the V8-powered Ram 1500 in the US.
Timing for the twin-turbo six-cylinder replacement in Australia has yet to be confirmed.
With 5,922 Ram 1500s sold last year – more than half of the segment – the Ram 1500 is close to reaching the top 50 sales milestone.
Both the Silverado 1500 and Silverado HD are seeing sales increases this year, while the Toyota Tundra’s 12-month, 300-vehicle evaluation is coming to a close.
If Toyota approves the Tundra mass conversion, Walkinshaw will continue to produce the pickup truck in right-hand drive.
The only full-size American pickup truck that isn’t locally converted is the Ford F-150. This version was converted by Thai company RMA Automotive and has gone through a difficult implementation process.
Walkinshaw is also handling the transition to right-hand drive for the foreseeable future. GMC Yukona sibling SUV to the Silverado will will be on sale next year.
It is not known whether Walkinshaw’s Supercars team will move to this facility from its traditional Clayton base, where the team’s Ford Mustang race cars are prepared.
