A Tokoroa manufacturing company is going up in the world fast - by sending cars upwards.
Ahu Developments, the firm behind the innovative U-Parkit multi-level car park stacking system, has struck a US seven-figure deal to sell and install the systems throughout the United States.
Ahu Developments
managing director Phil Jones, who designed the U-Parkit concept and had the prototype built and unveiled last December, said the US licence included ongoing income for the company as the systems began to be installed throughout the US over the next few months.
The licensee is Francis Rost, a 34-year-old businessman from Nevada. Mr Rost travelled to Tokoroa last week with his business partner Kacey Cattoor to sign the deal.
Mr Rost, whose companies are involved in managing investments, said he expected there would be immediate demand for the system in the US.
"This system is 80 per cent more space efficient than a concrete parking building," he said. "It also eliminates the potential for bumps and scratches, car theft, burglaries and muggings. The cost of land in the big cities of the US makes this technology hugely attractive.
"It is so far ahead of anything in the world ."
Mr Rost will approach the United States market in stages, relying initially on manufacturing capacity in Tokoroa. The plant based at South Waikato Precision Engineering is capable of producing 10 car park "cells" on a one-day shift. Mr Jones, a former manager of Carter Holt Harvey's Tokoroa Sawmill, said manufacturing plants in other parts of the world would roll out over the next 24 months and a joint venture company had been established in South Africa, mainly for manufacture.
Since the prototype launch last year, several more licences have been sold.
The first of what promises to be many such car stacking systems is about to be installed at Rotorua Airport and will be fully operational early next month.
