Global expansion plan for green carwash service

Sarah Stowe

Waterless carwash franchise, ecowash, is set to operate in 10 countries over the next two months with a rapid global expansion plan in place. Last year saw the launch of master franchises in France, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan and the USA. Now the eco-friendly enterprise will become a household name in Greece, Turkey and Dubai in the next two months, followed by Sudan in March and Switzerland in April.

Managing director Jim Cornish began the company in 2004 with just two mobile carwash vehicles. Now with 50 mobile units on the road, he aims to have 80 domestically by the end of 2008 and 200 overseas.

“Our overseas markets continue to grow dramatically. There is a shift in volume happening now, which I expect to become even more pronounced,” said Cornish. “At the moment it is probably 80 per cent Australia and 20 per cent the rest of the world. But I expect it to be more like 50/50 by the end of December, and that is taking into account Australia continuing to expand. So our overseas markets are really set to accelerate.”

On top of international expansion, ecowash is launching two new services to further cement its place in the market. Firstly, the Ôextreme ecowashÕ, which puts the gleam into already clean cars. Car showrooms such as Melbourne City Lexus already use this service, but it will now be open to the public as well. The second is due to launch later in the year, providing a yearly protection treatment on top of the normal ecowash service.