March 27, 2018
A large crowd of South Burnett businesspeople gathered on Monday mark to mark the official opening of two new car dealerships in Kingaroy.
Ken Mills – from Ken Mills Toyota and Bob Jane T-Mart – has taken on the local dealerships for Isuzu Ute Australia and Kia.
As well, he has expanded the footprint of his existing Mahindra and Kubota dealerships.
New buildings to house the expanded business have been constructed over the past 12 months in River Road, adjacent to Ken Mills’ Toyota premises.
South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell officially declared the new building open before a large crowd which included suppliers, tradespeople and representatives from Isuzu, Kia, Mahindra and Toyota Finance.
A large shed has also been constructed in the complex, which Ken plans to use as a pre-delivery area for the moment, but aims to develop in future as a dedicated service department for Isuzu, Kia and Mahindra.
The celebration also marked Ken’s 25th anniversary in Kingaroy, and his 45th year in the automotive industry.
He originally started as a mechanic.
Since Ken and Sheryl set up in the old Toyota dealership building in Haly Street in 1993 (now Anderson’s Carpets), the business has grown to have 60 full-time employees.
In 1997, they moved to new premises in River Road, which previously had been a chicken farm.
Not long afterwards, they purchased the adjacent Kingaroy Storage facility business, which ensured they had land available for any future expansion.
In 2000, they added the Toyota dealership at Mundubbera to their portfolio, and in 2002 “went off on a tangent” – according to Ken – by purchasing dealerships on the Sunshine Coast.
However, it was this expansion which had allowed him to expand the Kingaroy business.
Mayor Campbell said the new dealerships were a “signal of great confidence in the whole region”, urging people not to judge the state of the local economy by a few shops in town.
