Mopar to offer one-stop service shops in Oz

THE parts and service departments of Fiat-Chrysler dealers in Australia will be re-branded Mopar in the new year, with new Mopar Express Service centres offering products like tyres and batteries that are currently left to third-party outlets.

And although its current dealers do not have on-site paint and body repair facilities, Fiat-Chrysler Group Australia director of aftersales Rob Moorcroft told GoAuto it is a service the company wants new dealers in its expanding network to offer.

The idea of offering additional services at dealer level appears to be gathering momentum in Australia, as Volkswagen last week confirmed it was planning to add tyre and body repair facilities to its network.

Globally, Fiat-Chrysler Group has a strategy to better establish Mopar as a parts and service brand, in addition to its more well-known role as a supplier of factory-backed aftermarket accessories and upgrades.

Mr Moorcroft said Mopar will become a general aftersales brand, reaching beyond parts and service to cover extended warranties and general customer relations.

A major advantage of Fiat-Chrysler Group Australia’s recent move to new premises in Port Melbourne is the 10,000 square metre parts warehouse, ending its reliance on a Singapore distribution centre established during the troubled DaimlerChrysler era.

Left: Fiat-Chrysler Group Australia's Rob Moorcroft.

It also brings Fiat, Fiat Professional and Alfa Romeo spares under the same roof as Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge.

Mr Moorcroft said the new warehouse has resulted in a doubling of parts in stock to around $14 million – across 18,600 part numbers – enabling a better, faster service to the network of 75 dealers and their customers.

“Cutting the Singapore link gives us a quicker delivery direct out of the US, it cuts time down on the order of parts that were stocked as Singapore, which got unpacked an packed again and sent here,” he said.

“It just stops a bit of parts tourism to be honest.”

He added that while parts can be directly sourced from the US, Dubai and China for the local market (and to a lesser extent New Zealand), the new Australian operation can also send parts to markets like China and Japan where necessary.

An expansion of Mopar’s aftermarket products in Australia is also on the cards, as Mr Moorcroft revealed the increased development of accessories specific to right-hand-drive markets.

“In the past we had to do a lot of local development and we certainly led the way here for right-hand-drive. In fact we are the biggest country for Mopar outside the United States,” he said.

“This country lends itself to all the four-wheel-drive products and not just our product but all products... that is strange compared with the rest of the world because they don’t do what we do – as Australian car buyers we are different in that manner to start with.”

As GoAuto reported last month, Fiat Chrysler Asia-Pacific chief operating officer Mike Manley said Mopar has become more responsive to markets outside its US homeland, enabling overseas influences to “dictate to a certain extent the sort of accessories and products they need”.

In addition to the local development mentioned by Mr Moorcroft, a more globally-focussed Mopar could take the products of Australian’s respected accessories industry and expand their reach, through dealerships around the world or Mopar’s online store and mail-order catalogues.

Mr Manley indicated he would be happy to see Australian designs among Mopar’s product offerings and said the company is working “very closely with various suppliers around the world to get those products under the Mopar brand”.

Australia’s parts warehouse is part of a global push to improve supply and was established alongside an 11,000 square metre facility in Japan and a 4500 square metre facility in Russia.

Similar facilities have also been opened in Argentina (3000 square metres), Brazil (4500 square metres), China (16,000 square metres) and the United Arab Emirates (18,000 square metres).

Mopar president and CEO Pietro Gorlier said the aim of the company’s expansion is to “fully support our customers and dealers in growing markets around the world”.

“We will continue to look for opportunities to satisfy our customers and support our dealer network.”