Growth Engine

Penske Australia & New Zealand Managing Director, Hamish Christie-Johnston, says the business has “effectively tripled in size” over the past five years, even as it narrowly missed its ambitious $2 billion revenue target.

“Our goal was $2 billion by 2025, and we reached $1.9 billion,” he says. “We started that journey at around $640 million, so while we fell slightly short, we still consider that a strong result.”

That milestone marks the end of one strategic chapter and the beginning of another, with the company now launching its “2030 Vision”. Rather than focusing purely on revenue, Christie-Johnston says the business is shifting its attention to profitability.

“We’ve moved to an earnings-before-tax target of $200 million by 2030,” he says. “We’re already among the top 600 companies in Australia, but we want to climb higher and increase our contribution to Penske Automotive Group globally.”

While parts of the transport market are cooling, Christie-Johnston says Penske’s diversified structure is insulating it from volatility.

“You might think transport is slowing, but other parts of our business are red hot,” he says. “Our energy division is now the fastest-growing segment – we delivered 850 megawatts of standby power to data centres last year and generated about $600 million in revenue.”

This diversification is also strengthening Penske’s footprint in regional Australia. Christie-Johnston points to Kalgoorlie as a prime example, where the company’s presence across multiple sectors provides a competitive edge.

“We’ve got a strong mining and power generation presence there, and because we’re on the ground, we’re supporting a wide range of customers – even across different truck brands,” he says. “That’s the benefit of having a broad business with depth.”

Strategic investment has also played a key role in recent growth, including the acquisition of Porsche dealerships in Melbourne in 2024.

“That added close to $500 million in revenue, but more importantly it demonstrated strong confidence from our parent company in the Australian market,” Christie-Johnston says. “We’re absolutely here to stay and continuing to invest.”

Looking ahead, defence is emerging as a major growth pillar. Christie-Johnston says increased government spending and large-scale projects such as nuclear-powered submarines are creating significant opportunities.

“Defence is already a big part of our business and it’s growing,” he says. “We’re involved in most of the current build programs for land and sea, including repowering the Collins Class submarines, and we’re positioning ourselves to support future programs.”

Mining is another area of innovation, particularly through a hybridisation project aimed at reducing emissions and fuel consumption.

“We’re converting a large haul truck into a hybrid system, capturing energy during downhill operation and reusing it,” Christie-Johnston says. “We expect about a 20 to 30 per cent reduction in fuel use, with a payback period of around three years.”

Despite these advancements, Christie-Johnston believes the biggest challenge facing the transport sector is not technology, but energy supply.

“The technology is largely there – battery electric, hydrogen, hybrid – but the real question is how we generate the energy and at what cost,” he says. “If you want to electrify heavy vehicles, you need vastly more electricity than we currently produce.”

He warns that fully electrifying Australia’s road transport fleet would require a massive expansion of the national grid.

“Petrol and diesel consumption today represents about three times the energy of the national electricity market,” he says. “So you’re talking about scaling the grid up three or four times – that’s the real challenge.”

Christie-Johnston says this shifts the conversation from engineering to economics.

“This is no longer just a technology discussion – it’s an economic one,” he says. “Electricity prices, infrastructure and supply chains will ultimately determine how quickly the transition happens.”

In the meantime, Penske is exploring integrated energy solutions, combining gas, renewables and battery storage to support both industrial customers and future vehicle electrification.

“We’re working on projects that generate power behind the meter using a mix of gas, wind, solar and storage,” he says. “Those kinds of solutions could also support charging for electric fleets.”

For Christie-Johnston, the long-term outlook for road transport remains strong, even amid uncertainty.

“Transport is fundamentally tied to GDP, so it will continue to grow,” he says. “There will be change, particularly around fuels and emissions, but the need to move goods isn’t going away.”

And with multiple growth engines now firing, he is confident Penske is well positioned for the decade ahead.

“We’re very bullish about the future,” he says. “Across all our key segments, we see strong opportunity—and we’re investing to capture it.