Spartan Motors Inc., a specialty vehicle manufacturer based outside of Lansing in Charlotte, has acquired the assets of Montebello, Calif.’s General Truck Body and will manufacture a variety of commercial and retail vehicles at that location. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The facility will be used to produce custom aluminum and composite-side truck bodies, refrigerated trucks, stake body trucks, curtain side and moving vans, last mile delivery vehicles and upfits, and other vehicles. GTB joins Spartan’s Fleet Vehicles and Services (FVS) business unit and will go-to-market under the Utilimaster brand.
“This facility effectively provides Spartan and Utilimaster with a West Coast truck body operation that expands our footprint to better serve current and prospective customers in the region,” says Daryl Adams, president and CEO of Spartan Motors. “We’ve bolstered our East Coast presence over the past several months, and this West Coast facility means we can now competitively sell and service commercial and retail vehicles across the entire U.S. We expect the transaction to be accretive on an annualized basis in 2020.”
The purchase of General Truck Body immediately expands Spartan’s truck body manufacturing operations into California while enhancing refrigerated vehicle production capabilities and grants customers access to additional truck and van body types. Augmenting Spartan’s recent East Coast expansion, the addition of this southern California manufacturing and assembly facility increases Spartan and Utilimaster’s product portfolio and offers customers efficient, cost-competitive build-and-ship capabilities from coast-to-coast.
“As we welcome GTB to the Spartan and Utilimaster family, it’s my hope that Spartan’s size, stability, and commitment to long-term sustainable profitable growth will reassure customers and employees alike,” says Adams. “We are committed to the location and to providing our customers with an even broader portfolio of solutions so that Spartan and Utilimaster can effectively become a one-stop shop for commercial and retail vehicle customers.”
