Kenworth Oz clocks 50
KENWORTH HAS BEEN CELEBRATING THE 50TH anniversary of its first Australian-made truck.
Since that K125CR cabover – long since dubbed the Grey Ghost and now, fully restored, on show in the Kenworth Dealer Museum in Alice Springs – 60 models and 70,000 trucks have been built at Kenworth’s Bayswater, Victoria plant.
A celebration at Bayswater in March to mark the 50-year milestone was attended by government officials and Cabinet Ministers (including Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg), industry partners and suppliers and factory staff.
PACCAR Australia managing director Andrew Hadjikakou paid tribute to the foresight of those who first brought Kenworth to Australia and those responsible for establishing the Bayswater plant – describing its development as a defining moment for the Australian road transport industry.
“We are extremely proud of this achievement and honoured that the Treasurer and his colleagues have joined us to show their support for our industry and for PACCAR.
“The company’s success has been underpinned throughout by an unwavering commitment to the manufacturing of quality trucks designed specifically for Australian conditions.
“Today, the workforce behind each truck is measured in the thousands – an extended family of exceptional employees, dealers and suppliers that span the nation.
“Not everything has changed though. Each Kenworth is still specifically application-engineered for its intended task and the desire to build the world’s best trucks still inspires and unites us.”
Hadjikakou added that fostering a culture of innovation and investing heavily in next-generation technologies had Kenworth rise to every challenge over the 50-year journey. They included the removal of import tariffs, soaring fuel costs, economic downturns, global recessions, dimensional changes, emission reductions and, most recently, a pandemic demanding changes to the production line to protect the workforce and maintain supply of trucks to the essential transport industry.
T&D