| 23 February 2010: Snap-on Tools, world leader in the supply of tools, tool storage and diagnostics solutions for professional users, has unveiled a new vehicle for its 430 UK Franchisee vans aimed at giving its trade customers ‘a better shopping experience’.
Robert Stevens, UK Franchise Manager of Snap-on Tools, investigated vehicles from several manufacturers and finally decided on a Mercedes chassis – the 14ft 6” box, 7.5 ton VARIO and the 18ft box 10 ton ATEGO. Two prototypes were unveiled to Snap-on franchisees at the Annual Conference which took place at the ICC in Birmingham.
Robert – who is pictured (left) with Kurt Hobbs of Kurt Hobbs Coachworks who built the vans – explains: “After using similar van formats for years we made the decision to create something unique to Snap-on. To ensure that it would fulfil the real needs of our franchisees, we arranged for a group of our franchisees to join us in a design session to establish what they would most like a new vehicle to do. The characteristics desired were unanimous and the two Mercedes chassis that we have selected proved to be ideal for our purposes. Our franchisees will now be leasing these direct from Mercedes who will also be providing all the servicing.
“What we are now doing is effectively replicating the specification of the vehicle chosen by Snap-on Tools franchisees in the United States. It has been designed to be very much a welcoming retail space for the customer. Fortune Magazine recently called the Snap-on Tools Franchisee van ‘among the most productive retail spaces in the world’.
“The new Snap-on Franchisee vans include all the latest equipment to allow the franchisee to both demonstrate and repair tools – screwdriver blades, ratchets, driver bits – as well as show the very latest diagnostic equipment and tool boxes. The new vans also include integrated video and audio units – including DVD’s – for the demonstration of our market leading tools, diagnostics and tool storage equipment. They are very modular so that they can easily be reconfigured by the franchisees to focus on specific products in any particular month.”
The first production vehicles will be on the road from April.
ENDS
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