Isuzu utes help rebuild Christchurch

04 March 2011
immediate release

Isuzu utes help rebuild Christchurch

They’re a tough lot, the red and blacks. Isuzu tough, you might say.

Christchurch D-Max ute dealer Silvester Isuzu was back up and helping customers just a week after the devastating earthquake, which hit in the company’s 50th year.

“Many of our fine customers are relying on their ute to rebuild their business and get on with their lives,” commented the Dealer Principal Donna Silvester.

“At a time like this the last thing they want is vehicle issues - they need to know we are here for servicing and all the normal backup you expect from Isuzu D-Max.”

For Silvesters it’s been a mammoth effort to get to this point – operational if not totally as normal.

Staff used a digger and days of shovelling to clear several tonnes of liquefaction silt which had burst out of the ground to cover the dealership.

“It was a good 60cm deep across the yard and probably 30cm deep right through the Parts Department and other buildings,” Ms Silvester explains.

“We used a digger outside, but inside it was it was peoplepower and shovels.”

The silt is gooey, sticky, smelly gloop that kicks up dust which then blows around, covering buildings, vehicles and parts. People suffer runny nose, watery eyes and irritated breathing; face masks are a common sight.

Large plate-glass windows in Silvester Isuzu’s showroom burst in the earthquake, a roof collapsed in the servicing bay, numerous other buildings are seriously damaged and contents including parts were strewn everywhere. Some buildings will be demolished.

“Fortunately no cars were greatly damaged, which is a minor miracle,” says Ms Silvester.

“But it’s certainly been a huge task and only now are we beginning to focus on what lies ahead.

“Our staff are marvellous. They all have serious recovery required at home, but they’ve been in here helping get the place cleaned up and operating again.”

Even removing the silt once it was dug up, was a challenge. A ridge of silt waist-high already stretched along the dealership’s main frontage on Moorhouse Avenue, on the fringe of the city’s cordoned CBD.

“We had to pile our lot on a side street, where the rescue team diggers and trucks can get to it,” said Ms Silvester.

“The dust is still blowing everywhere, but we are doing our best to ignore it.

“Christchurch has to work together to recover and rebuild, we need to support each other and as a committed local company we are doing everything we can to help.”

Already Christchurch people are responding. Some businesses, including smaller contractors, are finding they need a new vehicle – but right now cashflow is at a premium.

“We are working with some operators on a range of finance solutions to suit their situation,” said Ms Silvester.

“Isuzu New Zealand has been marvellous: they have given us truly generous offers to assist with interest-free packages to help provide vehicles.

“Fleet Partners have indicated that they can have an instant turnaround of lease processes to get people out on the road.

“And fortunately, as fate would have it, we had just commenced a sale of demonstrator D-Max utes before the earthquake struck.

“Those vehicles are very well priced and a customer can take ownership and be driving the ute within half an hour.”

The entire New Zealand operation of Isuzu Utes, from distributorship to 15 dealers the length of the country, is 100 percent locally owned and operated.

The Isuzu D-Max range, the only ute made by a truck maker, is especially trusted by Kiwi farmers, tradespeople, weekend warriors and families carrying people and household items.

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