Targa Australia joins Dutton Group

By: Alex Affat, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 07.01.2019

Collectible car dealer takes ownership of CAMS Australian Targa Championship

Targa Australia joins Dutton Group

Hot off the presses, is that Targa Australia has new owners ahead of the 2019 season.

Both Targa Australia and Dutton Group have today announced that the business responsible for the CAMS Australian Targa Championship, including the perennial event Targa Tasmania event, will henceforth become part of the Dutton Group "on an ongoing basis for an undisclosed sum, effective immediately".

Targa Australia Director and new CEO, Mark Perry spoke highly of the deal, saying: "The growth and stability of Targa has always been the number one priority for Les (Les Smith, Targa Australia Director) and myself".

"We have said many times that we saw ourselves as custodians of the Targa business and we would rebuilt the events, after some lean times at the height of the GFC, and we have achieved this through expanding our customer base and event offering".

Perry went on to say that they "would only sell Targa to the right buyer, a buyer that could continue expanding Targa, a buyer that understood its history and a buyer who ultimately had a vision for Targa to be around for many years to come".

Dutton Group clearly met the criteria, with CFO Matt Hanson stating: "we are bery excited to be welcoming the Targa events into the Dutton Group and introducing these iconic events to our large car enthusiast customer base… we have sponsored the events for many years now, so this was a natural step to take".

Duttons themselves are a premiere used car wholesaler with a keen focus on classic and collectible machines both old and new. They’ve held a major partnership with Targa Australia since its beginning in 1992.

Targa too is going from strength to strength, with a new Queensland event being added to last year’s calendar.

The opening round of the 2019 CAMS Australian Targa Championship will be Targa North West, to be held on February 16 and 17 in the North-West region of Tasmania.

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