Australian venture Autogroup looking to boost operations in SL despite challenges

Wednesday, 25 October 2023 00:25 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Autogroup International Sri Lanka Co-Chairman and CEO Rob Hill flanked by Director Procurement Lakshman Balasooriya, Director-General Manager Moditha Vidyarathna, Director Production and Engineering Chamitha Guruge, Chief Financial Officer Dhanoja Jayasekara and Director – Human Resources Buddhika Gunasekara

Autogroup International Sri Lanka Co-Chairman and CEO Rob Hill at the Autogroup International Sri Lanka world-class facility in Kaduwela

Autogroup International Sri Lanka (AGI), a 100% Australian-owned company specialising in the conversion of vehicles from left-hand drive to right-hand drive and then re-exporting worldwide, is considering a significant new factory expansion despite the challenging economic environment and Government bureaucracy in Sri Lanka.

AGI was founded by Chairman Peter Hill over 30 years ago when he commenced his left to right-hand vehicle conversion business in Australia. Having faced numerous challenges in meeting the significant demand for right-hand drive American SUVs, muscle cars and pickup trucks, he established Autogroup in Sri Lanka as a Board of Investment (BOI) business over 20 years ago.

Over the past two decades, the company has grown steadily from its humble beginnings and overcome many challenges as a foreign investor trying to grow a business in Sri Lanka, to build a successful venture that employs a highly-talented and well-trained team of experts on par with any found internationally. Having survived the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst of the economic crisis during the past three years, thanks to the inspirational leadership of the Co-Chairman and CEO Rob Hill, AGI has focused on investing in the business by hiring new team members while enhancing the knowledge and skill levels of the team. It now boasts of a dynamic senior leadership team, a workplace culture focused on its people, and a generosity in its community values.

Autogroup International is an ISO 9001:2015-compliant manufacturer that specialises in converting vehicles to ADR (Australian Design Rules) standards. The company possesses a highly talented team of over 170 people including over 30 engineers and a well-experienced production team, all supported by advanced 3D design, reverse engineering, and 3D printing technologies. It specialises in conversion of all types of American vehicles including luxury SUVs such as the GMC Yukon Denali, Hummer EV, Lincoln Navigator and Toyota Sequoia, classic American pickup trucks including the GMC Sierra, Ford F-Series, Toyota Tundra, and RAM, and a range of muscle cars such as the Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger and Chevrolet Camaro.

Rob Hill said, “I am proud of our incredible, world-class Sri Lankan team that has delivered thousands of high-quality, safe, and legally compliant right-hand drive conversions to vehicles over the past 20 years and has helped build our global reputation as the best left-hand to right-hand conversion company in the world.”

Looking into the future, he added that AGI needs to expand to meet its ever-increasing global demand for vehicles. “We have exciting ‘secret plans’ to expand our capability further and build a huge new factory. We sincerely hope our new factory will be in Sri Lanka despite the challenging bureaucracy and lack of support we often face as a foreign investor.”