HOUSTON. “No charge?” And with that, Odis Peavy, president of Houston-based PV Rentals, accepted the key to the 1,000th Hino medium-duty truck sold here by Rush Truck Centers of Houston.
Rush Enterprises founder and chairman Marvin Rush, in keeping with the light-hearted celebration held at the facility yesterday before customers , Hino Motor Sales USA representatives, and media, told Peavy, a longtime Rush customer, that, yes, the keys were free.
“And I haven’t had to use your service, which I appreciate,” Peavy said during his remarks marking the occasion. PV has purchased about 100 Hino trucks from Rush over the past five years, accounting for nearly 10% of Hino sales for the dealership.
At the event, Hino representatives recognized the dealership with its Sales Leadership Award. In making the presentation, Glenn Ellis, vp-marketing and dealer operations for Hino, said the Houston dealership has sold more Hino trucks in the past five years than any other U.S. dealership. Rush began selling Hino trucks in 2004.
“What we see here is a partnership between an OEM and dealership, a level of trust, and that is what we are celebrating here today,” Ellis said.
Hino debuted its conventional Class 4-7 medium-duty truck line in the U.S. in 2004. At the same time, Rush became a Hino dealer.
“At the time, we had 84 dealers in the U.S. and they focused on the cabover truck [that Hino had been selling previously],” Ellis said. “But we knew we needed to expand the dealer base to meet the aggressive sales goals we had. We recognized that Rush would represent our products in the Hino tradition.”
Rusty Rush, president & CEO of Rush Enterprises, couldn’t resist his own jab at Ellis, poking fun at the reliability Hino trucks have shown since their debut. “That’s one of our problems, we can’t get enough parts and service business off your trucks,” Rusty Rush said.
Peavy said his business has been around for 47 years, two years more than Rush Truck Centers, which will be celebrating its 45th anniversary on March 3. Medium-duty trucks represent about 25% of his business.
“It’s been fun, enjoyable and we want to continue the good relationship we’ve had,” he said.
With more than 50 centers in 11 states, Rush Truck Centers accounts for about 17% of Hino truck sales nationwide. The Houston dealership covers 13 acres, 100,000 sq. ft. with 72 service bays and over $6 million in parts inventory.
