Smeg signs up to four more Mercedes-Benz years

Smeg promotes its premium brand cookers, fridges, dishwashers and washing machines as offering ‘technology with style’ – it’s a phrase that might equally be applied to its UK distribution fleet.

The Italian manufacturer, whose products are highly prized by those for whom a kitchen should be stylish as well as functional, has just taken delivery of seven Mercedes-Benz Atego rigids with high-roofed, air-conditioned sleeper cabs – Smeg’s drivers regularly spend nights on the road.

The trucks – five 13-tonne 1324 models and a pair of 7.5-tonne 816s – were supplied by Fareham dealer Pentagon Commercials, while their smartly liveried box bodies and tail-lifts are the work of its close neighbour Solent Bodybuilders & Repairs; a third Atego 816 is due to enter service in June.

All are the subject of a four-year contract hire deal with Mercedes-Benz CharterWay, the manufacturer’s commercial vehicle finance division.

Smeg set up its own, Portsmouth-based transport operation in 2006, with a similarly-sized fleet of Atego which it also contract-hired through Mercedes-Benz CharterWay.

The company’s decision, when that original contract came to an end, to follow the same vehicle acquisition route once again, underlines its satisfaction with the Mercedes-Benz product, and with the service provided by both the dealer and the finance provider.

“Our first batch of Atego were first class,” confirms Shaun Watford, Smeg UK’s Head of Logistics. “They were well liked by the drivers, fuel-efficient and very reliable, while we also received lots of positive comments from our client base about how good they looked.

“Pentagon’s back-up has also been first class – the dealer services our trucks through the night so we don’t incur any downtime. And I have an excellent relationship with Ian King, our Client Service Manager at Mercedes-Benz CharterWay; if I have an issue, I know that all I have to do is pick up the phone and he’ll deal with it.”

Most Smeg appliances arriving at Portsmouth are distributed to retailers’ regional distribution centres and stores, although others are delivered to builders, for installation in new homes, or direct to customers.

Smeg uses its own trucks to undertake most deliveries but hires additional vehicles from Mercedes-Benz CharterWay and from Ryder to support the distribution operation.

Mr Watford adds: “Smeg offers its customers ‘Technologia che arreda’, which translates as ‘Technology with style’. Like Mercedes-Benz, we’re a premium brand whose products not only do the job but look good as well.”