MT Dealer Profiles

While many dealers describe themselves as family businesses, Milton Keynes-based Delgarth Motor Group has more claim than most. Dave Turney set up the business in the new town in 1981, initially selling Reliant and Lada. A Hyundai franchise was secured in 1986, followed a decade later by Kia, by which time Dave’s son Steve was working his way up through ...

As one of Renault Group’s longest serving partners it was only fitting that Arnold Clark opened the brand’s largest site in the UK and locate its alongside its new head office development in Hillington, on the outskirts of Glasgow. Arnold Clark, the biggest privately owned dealer group in Europe, employs more than 10,000 staff across 200 dealerships and 24 franchises, ...

Only four dealers across the UK have achieved Vauxhall’s Customer Service Award in four consecutive years, and one of them is a small rural outlet on the south west coast of Wales. Celebrating 65 years on the same site, just outside Pembroke Dock, WP Lewis & Son is on track to exceed CI scores of 93.7% for both sales and ...

HR Owen’s Bentley Berkshire is showcasing the luxury brand’s CI ahead of the debut of the Bentayga SUV The launch of the Bentayga SUV in early 2016 will be the most significant event for Bentley since the luxury carmaker was acquired by the Volkswagen Group in 1998. With this car Bentley moves into a new era and so a new, ...

The September plate-change is an important one for dealers, typically accounting for around 400,000 new car sales compared to between 150,000 and 200,000 registrations in an average month. But while big numbers are important, so is the quality of business. We asked dealers how their sales performed during the month, taking a close look at retail business and focusing on ...

The rebuilding of the Renault dealer network has continued apace, the latest opening being the RMB Automotive outlet in Northallerton, North Yorkshire. For RMB managing director and owner Robert Bennett, the opening brings him back to a brand he knows well having spent 32 years with Renault, eventually running the Renault Retail Group, before leaving to set up his own ...

Neil Simpson started working in car retailing as a boy, assisting his father at the used car business and petrol station in Colne, Lancashire, founded by his grandfather in 1945. He sold his first car at the age of 16 and has never looked back. Before taking over the family business in 2001 he carved out a career as a ...

Shropshire group Shukers has a very long history, under the umbrella of an even older name. Engineering firm Rubery Owen was founded in the 19th century and counts among its achievements building 1960s F1 World Championship-winning BRNs for Graham Hill and Donald Campbell’s Bluebird world land speed record car. These days Shukers is best known as a Land Rover dealer ...

Dorset-based Ocean Automotive is one of the latest recruits to the growing Volvo  network with its decision to represent the brand in Poole neatly coinciding with the brand rolling out its plush new Swedish-style corporate identity. The result is a brand-new 5,500 sq ft Volvo centre, with showroom space for six new cars and a display area for over 25 ...

Seat is on the up. The Volkswagen Group brand has ambitious growth plans with the arrival of the new Leon beginning a major range revitalisation programme which will see the brand debut its first SUV next year. Sales volumes are already on the rise, up 18% in 2014. The brand is also rolling out a new corporate identity across the ...