Green light for Perron’s Toyota plan

Perron Group's application to build a new Toyota WA headquarters has been approved after a swift 10-minute meeting by a development assessment panel today.

The Metro Inner-South Joint Development Assessment Panel unanimously approved the group's proposal to build a Toyota centre on a 33,831 square metre lot on Miles Road, Kewdale.

Perron Group is proposing to build a logistics centre, comprising of a 20,000sqm warehouse, a two-storey office, and an upper level alfresco area for the office.

The application was lodged with a $42 million price tag, but Toyota WA has confirmed the total investment for the project was closer to $100 million.

Toyota WA Parts Distribution executive director Gary Nettle said the new facility would be about three times larger than the current site.

“This project is the result of significant work over the past couple of years, which has highlighted the fact that the current site is simply not big enough to accommodate a building of the size and scale we will need moving into the mid-21st century,” he said after the meeting.

“Our analysis shows that the demand for both parts and accessories will continue to grow year-on-year, and we now face a pressing need to not only increase the size but also the technical capability of our site to handle much larger volumes of product."

A render of the proposed new Toyota WA HQ. Image: Toyota WA

Toyota WA said the new distribution and logistics centre was expected to start operating in early 2025.

"I’m very happy with this... we appreciate that they are developing in Miles Road again," City of Belmont mayor Phil Marks said at the meeting.

A report prepared by Rowe Group on behalf of Perron said the autoparts distribution facility, in the Kewdale Industrial Estate, would replace the existing Toyota freight handling facility on Miles Road.

"The proposed development will accommodate Toyota WA’s Autoparts Distribution Centre responsible for the distribution of Toyota parts and materials throughout metropolitan and regional Western Australia," the application said.

"The facility will be designed to support the existing 500,000+ vehicles already on the road and allow flexibility to accommodate transition to electric vehicles and other mobility solutions over time."

Mr Nettle said the project represented the largest single investment in the history of Toyota WA Parts Distribution.

"We are at an exciting time in the history of the automotive industry with the introduction of hybrid and other alternate fuels including fully-electric and hydrogen variants, but the current fleet of conventional cars and commercials is going to be on the road for at least the next 20 to 30 years,” he said.

“This, combined with a growing population, is going to increase the requirement for both parts and accessories well into this century, and we need to ensure Toyota WA is as well positioned as possible to meet this rising wave of demand.”

WA billionaire Stan Perron, who passed away in 2018, established a relationship with Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan in the 1960s.

Perron Group has exclusive Toyota distribution rights within the state.