A DECADE OF GROWTH The past decade has marked a rapid growth period for the Mercedes-Benz brand and our dealership, which has more than doubled new vehicle sales, servicing capacity, and the number of staff employed. In 2018, we will deliver more than 2,000 new cars and 500 pre-owned cars, up from 700 cars per annum just a decade ago. We are also expecting to service in excess of 15,000 cars this year, after doubling our daily capacity from 30 to 60. Mercedes-Benz Parramatta has outperformed several of our fellow dealerships across Australia. In the past decade we have moved from number seven in vehicle sales to number three, and there is more growth ahead. A BRIGHT FUTURE The construction and redevelopment of new and existing facilities in recent years marked significant milestones in the history of Mercedes-Benz Parramatta and sets our business up for future growth. Just a few short years after relocating to our custom-built premises on Church Street, we have invested $25 million in a new dealership at Castle Hill and $8 million in a vehicle processing centre at Seven Hills. Castle Hill is an 8,095sqm facility that includes a 969sqm showroom, 1,367sqm workshop, a 596sqm two-storey office building, and more than 2,000sqm of landscaping. It will also feature a detailing bay, wash bays, and oil/water separators in the workshop as well as a basement car park accommodating 91 spaces. At Seven Hills, we will be able to hold all our parts, warehouse new cars, prepare used cars, and create a new base for our commercial vehicles. It will incorporate van servicing, as well as some retail and wholesale activities. Development of these facilities will take some pressure off the Parramatta dealership, improving our customer service offering at Church Street. It really is an exciting time for our Group. OUR STAR STAFF Without our valuable staff members, we wouldn’t be close to where we are today. The number of staff at our business has increased from 80 to 150 in the past 10 years. More importantly, each one of them applies themselves professionally and displays strong commitment to the brand. Mercedes-Benz Parramatta has a large cohort of long-serving staff who have stepped up to the mark as our business has expanded. This year, Alex Ayoub, who started as a technician and is now workshop foreman, is celebrating his 30th anniversary with the dealership. We are very proud to provide our employees a space where they can start as an apprentice and work towards a leadership role in our business. To name a few others, parts manager Tony Duggan has been with Mercedes-Benz Parramatta for 25 years and Vicky Abela- Behrens for 15. There are also many staff members who have between five and 10 years’ experience working for us who continue to demonstrate their commitment and loyalty to the brand. DID YOU KNOW? We began selling Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the same year that the national franchise was founded. Mercedes-Benz Australia was founded as a joint venture between Daimler-Benz AG (DBAG) and Australian-owned Standard Motor Products (later Australian Motoring Industries). At that time, Australia had prohibitive import car tariffs, so Mercedes-Benz Australia manufactured the 190s and 220s in Victoria using kits sent from Germany under tuition of German engineers. For six years, from 1959 to 1965, Mercedes- Benz vehicles were manufactured locally and distributed around Australia. Over that time, around 7,500 cars were produced at the Port of Melbourne factory. Daimler-Benz bought out its Australian partners in 1961 and four years later wound down production. FEATURE 9