Page 14 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Mar-Apr 2021

NEWS
14
PAINT&PANEL
MARCH / APRIL 2021
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
RICH GOLD SEAM
BRIEFS
THE NUMBER OF I-CAR GOLD ACCREDITED
shops continues to swell with announce- ments for six repair businesses
Abbotsford Body Repairs Victoria joins the ranks, along with four New South Wales businesses. In Byron Bay, Simmos Accident Repair Centre has achieved Gold Class.
Along with participating in various on- line courses, Simmos also took advan- tage of I-CAR’s training alliance with Ax- alta and have had their structural technicians complete both the steel and aluminium welding certifications as part of their Tesla-Approved requirements.
Status Paint & Panel in Wetherill Park, Sydney has achieved Gold Class along with Impact Smash Repairs in Moss Vale.
"Quality, safe repairs with the right equipment is the order of the day, and also knowing other like-minded shops
are doing the same thing to set an industry standard for motor vehicle re- pairs,” said Impact’s Karen Milbourne.
Two collision repairers in Queensland will be hanging up the Gold plaque.
“We strive to provide Gold Class ser- vice and quality repairs for all our cli- ents, and this new accreditation makes it official,” said Iain Kippen from Bis- sell’s Paint & Panel in Noosaville.
“This journey to achieving Gold Class has been a long one, but well worth it,” he said. Two firsts for an area are Douglas & Mill-
er Motor Body Repairs, the first in Towns- ville to achieve Gold and Darwin Crash Re- pairs the first in NT. Darwin Crash Repairs. Director Vincent Grass said: "We want to see our customers leaving in a safe to drive vehicle and I-CAR will contribute to this with their excellent training for our staff.”
Award-winning Simmos Accident Repair Centre are among the latest crop
of I-CAR Gold recipients.
SUNCORP ENJOYS
FIRST HALF PROFITS
SUNCORP GROUP CEO STEVE JOHNSTON
said the 1H21 result demonstrates that the focus on the core businesses and digitisation is yielding positive share- holder results.
"Over the past year, we have refo- cused our strategy, continued to im- plement the ongoing regulatory pro- gram of work, improved our customer service, reinvigorated our brands,
further digitised our business and be- come more efficient,” Johnston said.
“We are seeing improved momentum in our Australian and New Zealand in- surance businesses as evidenced by strong top-line growth, while our Bank is also delivering improved performance.”
Insurance Australia profit jumped to $258 million from $123 million, while gross written premium rose 4% to $4.3 billion.
VACC NAME CHANGE
VACC has formally changed its name to the Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce.
For over 100 years, VACC operated as the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce but now, through member input, the name has been altered to better reflect a modern automotive industry.
“The change of name to Automotive better embodies the many sectors of the industry and reflects a more contemporary member organisation,” said VACC CEO Geoff Gwilym.
TOYOTA BACK ON TOP
Toyota overtook Volkswagen Group in vehicle sales last year, regaining pole position as the world's top-selling automaker for the first time in five years.
Toyota said its group-wide global sales fell 11.3% to 9.528 million vehicles in 2020. That compared with a 15.2 percent drop at Volkswagen to 9.305 million vehicles.
Toyota, however, has weathered the pandemic better in part because its home market Japan, and the Asian region in general, have been less affected by the outbreak than Europe and the United States.
SPIRIT SUPER
Super funds MTAA Super and Tasplan have announced they will be known as Spirit Super after completion of their merger on 1 April 2021.
Spirit Super will be Australia’s newest Industry Super Fund and will have approximately $23 billion funds under management and approximately 326,000 members across Australia.