English - Nooteboom Giants on the Road Magazine English - Nr. 6 - 2019 | Page 24

GIANTS ON THE ROAD Nooteboom Iberica SALES AND SERVICE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL NOOTEBOOM HAS HAD A VERY LOYAL CUSTOMER BASE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL FOR MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS. IN 1997 NOOTEBOOM STARTED THE COOPERATION WITH TRAINAR AS DEALER FOR THE SALES OF NOOTEBOOM VEHICLES. IN ORDER TO MEET THE EVER-GROWING DEMAND FOR NOOTEBOOM TRAILERS AND TO SERVE THE CUSTOMERS ON THE IBERIAN PENINSULA EVEN BETTER, NOOTEBOOM OPENED THEIR OWN BRANCH IN MADRID IN 2002. Johan Nieuwenhuis, manager of Nooteboom Iberica, is responsible for Spain and Portugal and supports Trainar in their activities in northern Spain. Johan is the point of contact for sales trailers, parts and service for all other regions. He is assisted by Mercedes Esteban, who operates from the Nooteboom office in Madrid. Over the years Nooteboom has built a network for their customers of six service centres, of which Trainar in Durruma - San Román de San Millán (Basque country) and Talleres Hnos. Parada in Albacete (south-eastern Spain between Madrid and Murcia) have been the most important ones from the start. ■  24 THE HISTORY Luis Macias of Trainar remembers well how Nooteboom started in Spain. Luis: “Years ago my father worked for a cooperative that built trailers for the Spanish market. All the employees had a stake in the company and this often created a few problems. Due to the slow decision-making the technical developments took much longer than at the competition abroad. My father did not agree with the management and in 1988 he began to build trailers himself. Within five years he was convinced that in the long term he would not be able to compete In the heaviest segment of the market Nooteboom is the market leader in Spain