Suzuki New Zealand expanding parts warehouse at Whanganui head office

Suzuki is expanding its warehouse in Whanganui. Photo / Bevan Conley

Suzuki New Zealand’s Whanganui head office is growing, with the company expanding its spare parts warehouse.

The Japanese manufacturer has had a presence in Whanganui since 1962 when the Coleman family established South Pacific Suzuki Distributors to import machinery to New Zealand, with an assembly plant also building cars in Castlecliff between 1977 and 1987.

The Suzuki Motor Corporation purchased the business from the Colemans in 1984, re-establishing it as Suzuki New Zealand, with its head office set up on Heads Road.

Suzuki New Zealand CEO Tom Peck said the warehouse was being expanded as the company has been struggling to find room for all the spare parts they hold.

Peck said they import a few hundred different models of motorcycles, marine engines and cars, which meant there were a lot of parts they needed to store.

“We’ve been struggling for room for parts and accessories for a little while,” he said.

“There’s something like 175,000 line items in our warehouse.”

The problem with the warehouse, Peck said, was when it was originally built, it wasn’t built tall enough, so storage became an issue as time went on.

“A lot of modern warehouses are eight to 10 metres high, and I think ours is about four, so we’re having to go out instead of up,” he said.

Storage had become so hard to find the company had to rent out other buildings around the city, but once the expansion to the warehouse was complete, Peck hoped to bring all the parts back under one roof again.

Construction has already begun on the 600-square-metre expansion, with concrete having been poured before Christmas and a roof scheduled to be put on in the next week.

However, once the exterior was completed there would still be work to be done, as all the racks within the warehouse would be replaced, which Peck described as “a major exercise.”

He said construction was expected to be completed between April and May.

With this expansion, he said Suzuki New Zealand would continue to operate out of Whanganui for years to come.

“We haven’t got any plans to move on at the moment... we’re here for the medium to long-term.”