RAY VINCENT LTD……WHO WE ARE

Long established and founded by Cedric Raymond Vincent early 1930 – 1934 near Auckland Railway Station.

Early customers included Charles Edwards – Edwards Motors, private bus and coach operator and George Dale, heavy haulage contractor, based also in that area.

No doubt the two would have played a huge part on the transport industry.    During the wars business slowed to a crawl and there was a huge impact afterwards, particularly after the 2nd  WW, when large numbers of ex- Military vehicles became available.

There were a number of surplus dealers operating throughout New Zealand, including Ray Vincent.  Eventually most disappeared, as supplies dried up, but Ray Vincent carried on, becoming involved in dismantling and parts sales, as well as trailer manufacturing and importing.   The business had moved to Newmarket where it was quite prominent for many years.   Vincent Motors Ltd was established at Greenlane with other shareholders, reconditioning and specialising in engines.

The operation was moved to new premises in Penrose with engineering and trailer building and the engineering was absorbed into the parent company.   Together with vehicle sales and other activities in bus sales.   Around this time RVL became an importer and distributor of Seddon Diesel vehicles.  These were imported CKD and assembled at Penrose.  Hundreds were sold , most as bus chassis and were interesting, as the component parts were common, popular parts, such as Perkins engines, Eaton axles etc, that we already sold and we made sure that our customers would always have any service parts required.

It was not quite the same when Vincent’s also acquired the Atkinson heavy truck business, when Seddon took over Atkinson in the U.K.  Atkinson were another story, as there were substantial problems that required considerable investment of resources to rectify and overcome.

While Vincent’s can be proud of their achievements, the situation in the U.K. changed when Seddon and Atkinson were sold to the IHC group and these brands were relinquished.

These days, after seeing many companies come and go, RVL is still in a very strong position, having built up valuable relationships all around the world.  While it is not company policy to seek exclusive agencies, we have very good access to virtually any product that our customers require.