Auto Sales marks 80 years in business

Auto Sales Ltd tomorrow celebrates 80 years in business, 60 years of co-operation with Renault and Mercedes, and 50 with tyre manufacturers Michelin.

Officials from all three brand houses will be in Malta tomorrow to attend the anniversary event at the recently inaugurated €4 million showrooms and service centre in Lija. Several hundred guests will attend.

Auto Sales Ltd was set up in 1929 by the late Edward Vincenti Kind, trading in a range of products including cosmetics, shoes, household goods, radios and cars, namely Packard and Austin. After a short suspension in business during the war years, Mr Vincenti Kind made business contacts with Renault and later with Daimler-Chrysler of Germany. In 1953, Edward's son, the late Richard Vincenti Kind, took over the business from his father, and in 1963 Auto Sales Ltd was formally registered.

Between 1953 and 1978, Auto Sales Ltd operated from premises in Gzira. The company moved to new premises in Lija in 1979. After Richard Vincenti Kind's demise in 1983, Anne Vincenti Kind and her four daughters took over the management of the company with the assistance of Victor Soler who had been Mr Kind's assistant for over 20 years.

The company today employs 79 people.