Imperial Commercials starts a new journey

Imperial Commercials Ltd is the new name for the company formerly called Lex Commercials.

The country’s leading independent distributor and dealer group for commercial vehicles has been acquired by the Imperial Holdings Group of South Africa, a company listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange employing over 39,000 people and with a turnover of more than £3.8 billion.

Ian Oakes, managing director of Imperial Commercials said: “It’s business as usual, but with a renewed sense of purpose and a can-do attitude throughout the company. Being part of Imperial Holdings means substantial backing and support from a well-established and successful international company with solid financial and commercial vehicle credentials. This allows us to strengthen existing customer relationships and there will be synergies that directly benefit our customers.”

Imperial Commercials operates 23 dealership locations around the country and has franchise partnerships with DAF Trucks, Foden, Isuzu Trucks, MAN ERF and LDV vans. The company sells around 3,800 new trucks and vans a year and offers a complete range of solutions to meet truck and van users’ operational needs including a £6 million parts stock.

“Customers will gradually notice that all of our locations are being re-branded as Imperial Commercials, along with our 200-strong fleet of service vans, parts vans and courtesy vehicles,” added Ian Oakes. “Our prime objective is to provide vehicles and service that allow customers to get on with efficiently running their businesses, and we’re now in an even better position to do that.”

Imperial Holdings Group was founded in 1948 and operates in eight core business sectors: logistics; vehicle leasing; aviation leasing; car rental and tourism; vehicle distribution and dealerships; insurance; and banking. Crucially, Imperial Holdings has considerable experience of commercial vehicles and is the importer for DAF as well as for International and Renault trucks in South Africa. The company supplied more than 4,500 medium and heavy trucks last year through its own dealers, and a significant proportion of the heavy truck volume was locally assembled by Imperial Holdings.

Imperial Commercials employs over 1,000 people in the UK and has a turnover of £200 million.