Fruehauf ownership change
INNOVATIVE TRUCK BODY AND trailer manufacturer Fruehauf NZ is now fully owned by Jeff and Yvette Mear.
The couple took over the company on August 18, purchasing the remaining Fruehauf shares from Phil and Karen Watchorn, who are departing the company to pursue other personal interests.
“We purchased the remaining shares in Fruehauf because we believe it is a great company and capable of becoming even a better company,” says Jeff Mear, who becomes managing director of the company.
Fruehauf NZ has its head office and primary manufacturing facility in Feilding with a sales outlet and further manufacturing operations in Manukau City.
It’s currently positioned in a clear second place behind Patchell Industries in new trailer registrations (YTD 2022) with its range of livestock, tipper, curtainsider, skeletal, flat-deck and special purpose trailers. Fruehauf ’s truck body building focuses on curtainsider, flat deck and bathtub tipper designs.
Fruehauf New Zealand had been jointly owned by Watchorn and Mear since 2009 and they set up the Auckland branch of the firm in 2011.
Jeff Mear says the company thanks Phil and
Karen Watchorn for all their past contributions and wishes them the very best for their future. He says the company has an exciting future.
“We have fantastic employees who are highly skilled and experienced,” he says.
“We also have excellent and loyal customers who appreciate the quality of our products, and we have great strategic supply partners who want us to be successful by leading a mutually beneficial pathway of further growth.”
T&D