The Opportunity, with Premcar CEO Bernie Quinn

The Australian automotive marketplace has never been more dynamic. The next three years will see significant change as brands navigate the monumental multi-faceted challenges of increased competition, electrification, autonomy and connectivity. This environment presents opportunities, as author, journalist and automotive authority Mike Sinclair’s enthralling interview series with key automotive decision-makers reveals. – Glenn Butler, AutoExec Founder 

Psst… Australia still designs, engineers, and builds cars… And Premcar wants to do more

The common belief is that Australia stopped building cars almost a decade ago. That belief is the quickest way to get Bernie Quinn on edge.

As CEO and Engineering Director at Premcar, Quinn is passionate about the capabilities of his organisation and the Australian automotive industry as a whole. This expertise, he argues, is something the global auto industry risks consigning to the past – something he’s determined to prevent.

“A hundred percent. It’s something we need to tell the world about,” Quinn tells TheAutoExec from his modest office at Premcar’s Nissan Warrior production facility in Epping, in Melbourne’s north.

“I’ve got a slide in my Premcar [presentation] deck showing all the facilities that still exist to assist in automotive product development, even just in Victoria. I spend a lot of time catching [international] flights to sell the message for Premcar, and the reaction is invariably surprise when we tell them what we [the Australian industry] have done.”

Quinn believes Australian automotive consumers have unique needs and wants – a perspective shaped by his history at Ford and Tickford, the company that eventually became Premcar.

He sees the opportunity for Premcar to fulfill these wants, whether through local production with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) like Nissan or by tuning global products to better suit the local market.

Premcar’s unique selling point is its origin story, Quinn says.

“The first thing for me is looking at where we came from, which points to our strengths – 20-plus years in a strong relationship with Ford, developing niche vehicles suited to the Australian market. Now we look at our strengths and the opportunities to leverage them,” he explains.

“Australian consumers haven’t changed much since the 1980s, ’90s, and early 2000s – they know what they want. After local production ceased, they lost the ability to customise their vehicles at the dealership. They took generic global models and modified them in the aftermarket, creating growth for companies like ARB, TJM, and Ironman.

“We looked at all that and thought, ‘Australian consumers are discerning and willing to pay for modifications’. We took that knowledge and, through an OEM lens, made it [ADR] legal, offering a seamless purchasing and servicing experience through OEM dealers. That model has proven successful.

“I’ve made it sound simple, but it’s complex. This business has a very strong engineering team capable of understanding Australian customers and tailoring vehicles to their tastes. And, of course, we leverage the manufacturing capabilities developed by Ford, Toyota, and Holden.”

Quinn says Premcar’s ability to understand OEM requirements, not just consumer needs, is also key to its value and potential. OEMs consider Premcar’s expertise in integrating with internal systems “a hygiene factor,” he notes.

“You’ve got to meet those standards and expectations from an OEM perspective. But we also bring agility. OEMs are often bureaucratic and slow because they operate in conservative environments.

“We can act much more quickly while still meeting those [OEM] standards. We have clever ways to do this, and that’s the IP [intellectual property] we bring,” Quinn stated.

While he speaks highly of the collaboration with Nissan, Quinn says this skill-set is something Premcar intends to expand beyond the existing, successful partnership – a partnership that has delivered over 10,000 Navara and Patrol Warriors to Australian customers.

“You never put all your eggs in one basket – that’s Business 101.

“The landscape in Australia is growing more competitive. The opportunity for us is to help brands create a point of difference. The ones with a unique offering will thrive.

“We’re receiving a lot of inquiries. Many relationships are forming around, ‘Help me make my product successful. Help me make my global product successful in Australia.’”

Quinn describes Premcar as a “one-stop shop”.

“We can define what Australian consumers want in their vehicles, then create a product specification in an agile, low-cost, and low-investment way to meet that demand. Then, we handle product development, manufacturing, and after-sales. It’s like having a mini-OEM that caters specifically to the Australian market.

“OEMs increasingly understand this. But it’s a complex message to convey because you’re dealing not only with Australian MDs, marketers, and sales directors but also with corporations headquartered in other countries that don’t necessarily prioritise the Australian market.”

Given the complexities of OEM product investment requirements, Quinn envisions Premcar’s next step as self-funding Australian-specific projects from the ground up.

“The next step for us is raising enough capital to do the [product development and production] investment ourselves. Then the ‘one-stop shop’ model isn’t just a matter of feeding in money and getting a product out; it’s approaching us with a product request and us recovering our investment through the vehicle’s transfer price as we build it.”

In such a scenario, OEMs might learn from Premcar and eventually handle projects themselves. Quinn isn’t concerned.

“If I look at FPV – our most high-profile client besides Nissan – we did XR6 as Tickford as a secondary-manufactured vehicle. Once it reached a certain level, it went inside the [Ford Broadmeadows] plant. We did XR6 Turbo, then XR8, and then GT. Eventually, it made sense [for Ford] to bring them in-house. We just have to keep moving the needle forward.

“The second critical aspect is maintaining quality. Building trust and reputation [with an OEM] takes years, but only a few slip-ups can ruin it. Robust processes, systems, and a strong culture are essential.”

Premcar recently completed a pure engineering project for a Chinese OEM, designing an EV platform from scratch.

More such projects are in the pipeline. They are, says Quinn, essential for retaining talent and developing new engineers.

Quinn says the Warrior model with Nissan remains “compelling,” but Premcar’s next growth phase may include proactive, on-spec projects that aren’t limited to tough trucks.

“We’re ready to launch into that space. We have specific financial targets – significant growth in both revenue and EBIT. We’ve broken down those targets into employee numbers, markets, and other metrics.”

Ironically, massive OEM investments in EVs and connected vehicles could provide Premcar with The Opportunity.

“Product development investment used to be structured, with defined cycles where each vehicle evolved naturally from the last. But now there’s a shift. Most global OEM development budgets are going into next-generation vehicles.

“Meanwhile, there are ageing product lines that need refreshing. If we can enhance these models quickly to be more appealing today, we can maximise revenue from older product lines to bridge the gap until new models arrive.”

Quinn is confident that Premcar has the expertise to do this – and the political savvy to manage a wide range of stakeholders.

“I come from a big family, so I grew up managing relationships,” he quips.

“But ultimately, I think the proof is in the results. We’ve had success with Nissan’s Warrior program, and we’ve delivered engineering programs for various customers. You can extrapolate that opportunity to what companies like Ford have achieved with the Everest and Ranger.

“I’m not taking credit for that, of course, but it’s indicative of what’s possible in this country with our engineering expertise.”