Simon Lukas: Battling the odds by rebuilding Toyota landcruisers

Mr. Lukas owns Mala Autoparts, a small automotive parts shop in Lae City.

While talking to him about his difficulties, we also found that he has been rebuilding old Toyota Landcruisers for a living.

This is slowing becoming an income stream for him with no shortage of customers willing to pay up to K80,000 for a rebuilt vehicle.

Battling the impacts of a difficult economy and unpaid paid invoices by the Lae City Council, Mr. Lukas has focused on rebuilding that rugged, much loved workhorse.

“I started this business in 2009. I started with K8000. I asked my dad and my older sister to help out with the initial capital.”

“There is a huge market for landcruisers. We have no difficulty selling vehicles which we have rebuilt.”

In recent years, Simon Lukas has had to contend with new challenges. Predominantly Chinese owned spare parts operators who order in bulk and sell cheaper versions of landcruiser parts. This has made have made selling Australian sourced parts difficult.

“It’s something the government needs to look at to protect local businesses. Because if we try to sell at the prices that they are offering, we will be making a loss.”

The inability to sell left him with an oversupply of landcruiser parts. So he came up with the idea of using the parts to rebuild cruisers that nobody wanted any more.

“We thought, why not take our parts and rebuild vehicles? We go to vehicle owners and buy their wrecks. Sometimes, if the engine is still good, we pay up to K10,000.”

In his shed, stands a blue Landcruiser utility. The parts of this blue single cab came from two different vehicles that were involved in separate accidents.

His team, bought in a new engine and gearbox from Australia and rebuilt it. This is now going to be sold to a buyer for K70,000.

Lukas says, there is an ever present demand for landcruisers. Each rebuilt cruiser has been presold before completion.