White Motor Corporation, the importer and distributor of Higer Bus and JAC Trucks in Australia and New Zealand recently announced the appointment of Dean Hoverd as general manager for its New Zealand operations.

The company says Dean Hoverd brings a wealth of automotive industry experience to White with more than three decades in sales and management roles in both New Zealand and Australia.

As national sales and marketing manager for Isuzu New Zealand, Dean oversaw Isuzu's rise to market leadership more than doubling sales to 1000 units per year and a 25 percent market share.

After a decade with Holden NZ, in 2008 Dean moved to major distributor of forklift trucks, Eurolift as national sales and marketing manager before accepting his new role as general manager of White Motor Corporation NZ.

According to Jason Pecotic, CEO of White Motor Corporation, the appointment of Dean Hoverd will give the company an enormous boost as it establishes its operations and sales network in New Zealand ahead of the launch of JAC trucks later this year.

"Dean's experience and achievements in the New Zealand truck market will be invaluable as we build our market presence with both JAC trucks and Higer bus," sys Mr. Pecotic.

"He has an intimate knowledge of the New Zealand commercial vehicle market from both his time at Isuzu as well as his experience in the retail car and truck business and there is no one better equipped to oversee the establishment of JAC and Higer in NZ," he added.

Dean Hoverd says he is looking forward to the challenges of establishing JAC and Higer in the New Zealand market and believes that kiwis will be quick to embrace Chinese products.

"This is an exciting opportunity to deliver new competition with quality, cost effective commercial vehicles to the Kiwi market," says Dean.

"The level of engineering and equipment in both the JAC and Higer product lines will surprise many and I believe it is going to quickly gain a strong foot hold in NZ," he added.

Higer is China's largest exporter of buses and coaches producing more than 20,000 buses per annum from its state of the art 500,000 square metre manufacturing plant in Suzhou Industrial Park near Shanghai.

Higer's product line up starts at six metre buses and ranges up to full 18 metre vehicles catering to a variety of applications and specific requirements from high-end tourist coaches to high capacity city commuter route buses.

Higer was awarded the Asia BAAV Bus Expo Bus Coach Builder of the Year for 2007, 2008 and 2009. It also won the Equipment award and the Safest Brand of Choice award in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Through innovative engineering Higer tailor made its bus range to meet Australian and New Zealand standards and conditions and built to withstand the rigours of the harsh Australian environment.

JAC, or Jianghuai Automobile Co. Ltd, was founded in 1964 and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2001. It manufactures a full range of vehicles from light, medium and heavy-duty trucks to MPVs, SUVs, passenger cars and buses. The company also manufactures engineering machinery, engines, gearboxes and other key components.

White Motor Company is based in Sydney and has been the Australian and New Zealand distributor for Higer buses and coaches since 2006.

Since securing the distribution rights for JAC in Australian and NZ earlier this year, White has established a new head office and distribution centre at Milperra in Sydney's South West to serve both its JAC and Higer operations along with a new office in Auckland for its New Zealand operations.