Toyota Australia has exclusively shared details of its new Melbourne-based pre-delivery mega centre known as Toyota Centralised Services with Drive.Com.Au.
According to Drive, the $100 million investment into the former manufacturing site in Altona, will see the finishing touches applied to up to 270 vehicles daily which will then be supplied to dealers in Victoria and Tasmania.
Toyota Australia told Drive that it is looking to establish similar facilities in other Australian states to speed up the vehicle delivery process, ensure a consistent quality of accessory fitment and allow dealers to redeploy technical staff to focus on service and repair work.
According to Drive, the opening of Toyota Centralised Services in November 2022 allowed almost 50 Toyota dealers in Victoria and Tasmania to redeploy their pre-delivery staff and shorten service centre wait times.
It says Toyota Centralised Services reduces the need for dealerships to maintain large holding areas for vehicles, and eases the pressure on their parts and accessories inventories.
Because the vehicles are centrally located, Drive says Toyota dealers can swap stock among themselves before a car has been delivered to their showroom, saving time and money – and avoiding double handling.
It says the Altona facility has outdoor parking space for 4400 vehicles, of which 3950 are under 85,000 square metres of hail nets, while the balance of 450 vehicles are in an open area ready for immediate transport.
More than 1000 types of Toyota Genuine accessories are fitted at Toyota Centralised Services according to Drive. Dealerships complete the vehicle registration process – and conduct a final inspection – before the customer handover.
Dealers are still taking care of window tinting and paint protection for now. However, Toyota told Drive it may expand its offerings to include these in future if there is demand.
