Page 72 - Australian Paint & Panel Nov-Dec 2020

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BEST MEDIUM SHOP – VICTORIA
PAINT&PANEL NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2020
DSI PANELS CROYDON
WHILE THE PUBLIC CONVERSATION ABOUT ELECTRIC VEHICLES CONTINUES TO SPARK CONTROVERSY, SMART OPERATORS KNOW THE CAR INDUSTRY IS GOING ELECTRIC, LIKE IT OR NOT.
ABOVE: Clarissa and Dave Iacobucci
SHOP STATS
D SI PANELS, A SECOND-GENERATION family business established in ’86, is just one of those smart operators. The business was founded by Don Iacobucci, an Italian migrant who begin working at a Fitzroy panel beater before he learned English (though you can get by with only Italian if you’re working in Fitzroy...). Beginning his own appren- ticeship in ’99, the Iacobucci’s son Da- vid became a partner in 2006. By 2014, David and his wife Clarissa had bought his parents out, and began expanding
DSI’s footprint.
With established shops in Mel-
bourne’s East, the Iacobuccis foresaw skyrocketing demand for panelbeaters with the skills to repair BEVs – specifi- cally Teslas.
In fact, it turns out that in Croydon and its surrounding suburbs, there’s plenty of appetite already. “We literally had three Teslas yesterday, but Black- burn do more than us - over there, we’ve got twelve on-site at the mo- ment.” explained David. “Both stores are approved bodyshops, but we’re a structurally approved here, which
is where all the heavy work is done.” “We actually got approached by other OEMs all within a month-and-a-half,” said Clarissa. “We hadn’t travelled the OEM route at all, so we did an analysis on all three brands. We decided that for what we’re doing here, Tesla was proba- bly the best fit. That definitely turned
out to be the case.”
DSI Panels is looking to the future
with its embrace of EV and a possible other location in the South East. Its in- surance partners include Suncorp, AAMI and Shannons. Even Melbourne’s Ring of Steel didn’t stop DSI over the course of lockdown: “It’s not been too bad; we coped a lot better than most,” said Clarissa. “At Blackburn, we didn’t notice any change at all, and at Croydon we dropped a little bit.
And, now that lockdown is over, DSI Panels is returning to something like normal. What we like about the work- shop (apart from the awesome polished concrete floors) is the feeling of space – and that’s no accident.
When designing the Croydon outlet, DSI installed air curtains around the prep area. Not only does this keep the
WORKSHOP: 1000m2
STAFF: 14
TYPE OF REPAIR: Mostly driveable
OTHER SERVICES: Tyres, glass, suspension, cooling
APPROX CARS PER WEEK: 40 OEM APPROVALS: Tesla