The Spokane Valley branch of Seattle-based Husky International Trucks Inc. is growing, thanks partly to a rapidly expanding truck-leasing department and a recent expansion into the sale of equipment, some of which it installs on the trucks it sells.


Husky is a 21-year-old company with two branches in Tukwila, Wash., and the one here. Mike McDevitt, of Seattle, bought controlling interest in the company in 1996, and now runs one Tukwila branch. One of his sons, Matt, runs the other Tukwila branch, while another son, Chris, runs the Spokane Valley outlet.


The latter operations revenues have grown 10 percent a year for the last six years, and were $23 million for the companys fiscal year that ended last month.


This is the best year weve ever had, Chris McDevitt says.


One byproduct of that growth was the purchase last year of an 18,500-square-foot building that formerly housed UltraShred LLC, of Spokane, and was located next to Husky Internationals 22,000-square-foot dealership at 824 N. Thierman, says Chris McDevitt. The businesss truck-leasing operations and installation shop now are located in that building, he says.


Another positive wrinkle came last week, when the Husky branch here, which employs 39 people, signed a long-term lease for its property on Theirman, which includes the building and 4 acres of land. Husky has been operating there since 1986, but throughout that time has been on a month-to-month lease with the property owner, International Truck & Engine Corp., of Warrenville, Ill.


With the new lease we can do a lot of improvements here, McDevitt says.


Husky only sells International trucks of all sizes and smaller Isuzu trucks, and $12 million of its revenue this yearor more than halfcame from the sale of new trucks, he says.


I think 2006 is a significant pre-buy year with many buyers purchasing their trucks this year to avoid new federal emission standards that will go into effect in 2007 and increase the cost of trucks, says McDevitt. Im not worried, but I dont think next year is going to be as good as this year.


About 17 percent of the Spokane Valley Husky stores revenue this past year came from the sale of parts, followed by service work and the sale of used trucks, each of which brought in 11 percent of the branchs revenue, and leasing activity at 9 percent, he says.


Yet, our trend is toward leasing, says McDevitt, adding that leasing revenue more than doubled last year, to $2 million from $900,000.


A lot of our customers dont want to be in the truck business, and trucks are becoming more complex, he says. We want our customers to concentrate on what they do best, and not worry about their trucks.


Huskys customers lease trucks both for local-delivery and regional-hauling purposes, and many of them haul goods such as lumber and appliances, he says.


Although Huskys leasing business started slow here, the Valley operation now has a fleet of nearly 50 trucks it leases out with full-service leases, under which Husky maintains the vehicles, and customers can advertise on them. The branch here has 20 more trucks that it rents. The renters of those trucks are responsible for vehicle maintenance and usually dont advertise on the trucks.


We lease and rent everything from 14-foot Isuzu box vans to four-axle International semis, he says. Of the vehicles it sells, he says, We buy directly from manufacturers and sell directly to end users.


About three years ago, Husky began diversifying its product line to include the sale of equipment such as truck bodies, which it also installs, and forklifts.


McDevitt says many of the truck bodies Husky sells and installs here are placed on smaller Isuzu trucks, and range in price from $3,000 to $9,000. Those truck bodies include van bodies, landscape bodies, and small dump bodies. He says that in the last three years revenue from the Valley branchs body division has grown to $400,000 annually from zero.


It was out of necessity that we started selling and installing equipment on trucks, says McDevitt. We were losing too much business where customers would buy our trucks, then go across town to add bodies to meet their needs.


Husky is beginning to work with another Spokane company that fabricates steel to Huskys specifications, allowing the truck company, among other things, to construct mounting kits for truck-mounted forklifts, says Quinn Ennis, the branchs sales manager.


A new variation in truck sales is Internationals line of diesel-electric hybrid trucks, which offer a 20 percent to 60 percent increase in fuel efficiency and up to a 70 percent reduction in emissions, he says.


McDevitt says Husky International Trucks Inc. has been busy selling whats available of that new truck line in Tukwila, but none of those trucks have made it yet to the Husky lot here. He questions, though, whether there is much customer demand for them here, due to their comparatively high price.


In Spokane, its hard to justify $50,000 more for a hybrid vehicle, he says.


Truck prices at the Spokane Valley store range from about $35,000 for a 14-foot Isuzu van truck with a lift gate to about $120,000 for a fully loaded International sleeper truck, not including the trailer, McDevitt says.


Companywide, Husky International had revenue of $99 million in its just completed fiscal year, up from $65 million five years ago, says McDevitt. He says the company employs nearly 120 workers.


Contact Rocky Wilson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at [email protected].