Ward Lye | Century Yuasa Batteries | Joined 1997

The Members are great people to deal with and, that makes it a lot more fun when you're actually enjoying each other's support

Ward Lye: We go all the way back to, yeah ‘97 with Capricorn. And, we've enjoyed a lot of growth, I think ever since. We were certainly on a very upward trajectory and Capricorn first came to New Zealand in 1997, and we were already well entrenched with national distribution and we really saw the benefits in partnering with what was a very new society. Century Yuasa is the main supplier of batteries into the Capricorn network.

That means we're supporting Members right throughout the country. It's really great that we were the first battery wholesaler to sign on with Capricorn. We are part of the start of history, so to speak, and that's pretty special in itself. One of the great things I love about Capricorn is that it's the independent style customer base that buffer us from big change.

It’s the smaller businesses that are, very large in numbers that actually give you a lot of buffering. So it really does give you a great underpinning in terms of diversity within your customer base and the Members are great people to deal with, too. And, that makes it a lot more fun when you're, you're actually enjoying each other's support. As a society you have engagement not only with the staff of Capricorn, but also other suppliers and importantly, the Members.

And there was a lot of camaraderie because you're all shooting for the same end goal. It's just nice to have that sort of three-way community between membership, Capricorn staff and suppliers. The fraternity that you build by seeing the same people regularly throughout the year, it becomes a lot wider than just a, just a business relationship. You actually develop friendships and that along the way you get to know wives, husbands, family, you actually care about the people that you're dealing with.

We've seen a lot of businesses, a lot of membership, thrive over time, that’s nice to see the journey along the way. 50 years is one hell of a milestone. The growth that New Zealand Capricorn has had along the way, in the same period that we've been a supplier to Capricorn has been pretty meteoric. I think it really does show the strength of the society There’s a lot of good people in this industry that we operate in.

So well done Capricorn on 50 years and here's to many, many more decades to come.



  • Craig Magill and Steve Drummy | Bapcor

    We don't spend a lot of time looking in the rear vision mirror together. We're looking at how we can grow the industry and how we can look after our customers and your Members.

  • Moira D'Cruz | Wembley Autocare | Joined 2014

    It was just really lovely to see that I had a community, to see that there was a community that I didn't have to build that was done for me, that I could just literally walk into a room and make friends.