About Us

 The Kingland Group of Companies originated as a single company, King’s Repair, in 1966.  King’s Repair, owned by Russell and Mary King, did welding and mechanical repairs out of a home-based workshop in Hay River.  In the fall of 1967, Hay River Esso began as a two-bay garage and gas station.  In 1969, they added Mercury, Lund, and Arctic Cat dealerships to the Esso operation.  In 1971, two more bays were added to the garage.

In August of 1976, the Kings established Kingland Ford Mercury Sales Ltd in Hay River.  The operation included a service, parts and welding facilities, with a new car showroom and administration facilities. 

In 1981, auto body repair work was added to the Hay River Esso operation.  By 1983, this service was in enough demand to warrant the establishment of a new company, Klassic Auto Body Specialists Ltd., to provide full-time auto body services in the Hay River area.  Kingland secured a franchise arrangement with Budget Rent a Car in 1983. An independent tire sales company, Tire North Ltd., was added in 1986 and a heavy truck operation, Kingland Truck and Welding Shop, was added in 1987.

Kingland Ford Sales Ltd. established a retail sales branch in Yellowknife in 1991 and expanded this service to a full dealership, Kingland Ford Yellowknife Ltd, in 1995.  By this time, Kingland was a dealer for Ford/Mercury, Ski-doo, Lund, and Honda products.

Due to increased heavy-equipment manufacturing opportunities relating to mining development, King Manufacturing was established in 1992.  In 1997, again due to mine-related opportunities, both Tire North and Kingland Ford established branch operations at the BHP Billiton mine site. 

The Kingland Truck and Welding Shop expanded to include Freightliner heavy trucks and was renamed Kingland Freightliner.  In 1999 the Heavy Truck Division grew to include the Sterling Heavy trucks.

In 2000, Kingland Ford expanded branch operations at Diavik Diamond Mines to provide on site parts and service.  In 2005 the Western Star Franchise was added to Kingland Freightliner.  This makes Kingland Freightliner a full service dealer for Western Star and Sterling, and a parts and service dealer for Freightliner.

Over a period of 30 years, the King family operation has grown from a single, family-owned and operated company to a number of successfully integrated sales, service, and manufacturing businesses.

At present, the Kingland Group of Companies consists of nine businesses.  It continues to provide long-term employment opportunities, training, and a comprehensive range of employee benefits to approximately 220 northerners in the Hay River and Yellowknife areas. With the strong dedication to the north Kingland continually offers apprentice opportunities to northerners.

As the Kingland Group of companies continue to grow with the North, they enjoy the opportunity to serve the people who live and work here, and are also long time supporters of many non-profit and fundraising activities in the Northwest Territories.