Arnold gets another one
Discussion
cas20 said:
EH Coatrbridge and Motherwell Ford have just been refurbed (think may be to do with Transit centres)
Yeah I think that's happening at quite a lot of Ford dealers, EH Van Centre and Bodyshop on Provan Road round the corner from their main Ford place on Cumbernauld Road has just had a van showroom built on to the building and Arnold Clark Ford at the retail park In Kilmarnock have just converted the small standalone building at the edge of the forecourt into a van showroom too. On an unrelated note, I was over at Linwood at the weekend and Arnies former Nissan place which was supposed to have became a Citroen dealership after Nissan went, I think its just a Citroen service centre, there's a billboard trailer type thing on the grass at the front which says "Citroen Service Centre now open" the only Citroen sign is a very small hardly noticeable one not the usual large corporate logo and all the cars in the showroom were 14 plates.
Another non Arnold related expansion, Parks in Irvine have now built and opened a standalone Honda showroom, standalone in the sense that its still on the same site as their Renault, Dacia, Suzuki, Fiat and Nissan building but it is a totally separate building to them, and stands by itself in part of what used to be their recently extended freshly tarmaced floodlit used car forecourt display.
Don't know if it's been mentioned here before, but Arnie's Hyundai site at Alexandra Parade has been flattened - noticed a couple of excavators on the site along with a lot of rubble over the weekend. There's a sign on the motorway fence saying something like "New Hyundai dealership coming soon" & Arnold's logo.
alangla said:
Don't know if it's been mentioned here before, but Arnie's Hyundai site at Alexandra Parade has been flattened - noticed a couple of excavators on the site along with a lot of rubble over the weekend. There's a sign on the motorway fence saying something like "New Hyundai dealership coming soon" & Arnold's logo.
Rebuilding it to latest Hyundai corporate image standards, I think I theyve also bought over the petrol station next door, closed it down and probably flattened it too, to expand their used car display. I don't think Seat is moving back to the Parade, once Hyundai moves back I think former Nissan site at Royston Road where Hyundai and Seat have moved at the moment will be totally refurbished to Seat corporate standards too.cas20 said:
EasternWestern has lost/given up the Seat franchise in Newcastle with Arnold taking it on at their Ford site.
Not quite. Arnold's Ford site at Scotswood Road in Newcastle has always alsp been a Seat franchise since before they took over Patterson Ford in 2007 and acquired that site plus other Ford sites at Hexham and Shiremoor, just that the Seat franchise was in a standalone showroom further along the road, Arnold moved it to the main Ford showroom to use the Seat one for Ford commercials. What's actually happened is Arnold have bought over Western Seat at Benton in Newcastle (originally Western Saab) so they now have 2 Seat dealerships in Newcastle.
I believe Western are also planning to relocate their Alfa Romeo/Seat/Suzuki site at Colinton Road in Edinburgh to either Newbridge where their luxury franchises are or out to Fort Kinnaird alongside their VW and Honda showrooms.
cas20 said:
Lookers Audi (used/service) in Hamilton is now open,
The other former Shields Toyota in Darnley is also currently undergoing refurbishment by Lookers. I believe the plan is to turn it into another VW Van Centre to complement their existing one in Baillieston so they've now got the whole of Glasgow covered.Vertu/Macklin sells dealership to Eastern Western
"On July 17, the group disposed of its Dunfermline Peugeot dealership, selling the assets to Eastern Western Motor Group Limited. In the year ended February 28, this dealership had revenues of £6million and made an operating loss of £0.2million.The disposal will result in a release of working capital of £0.2million."
"On July 17, the group disposed of its Dunfermline Peugeot dealership, selling the assets to Eastern Western Motor Group Limited. In the year ended February 28, this dealership had revenues of £6million and made an operating loss of £0.2million.The disposal will result in a release of working capital of £0.2million."
cas20 said:
Vertu/Macklin sells dealership to Eastern Western
"On July 17, the group disposed of its Dunfermline Peugeot dealership, selling the assets to Eastern Western Motor Group Limited. In the year ended February 28, this dealership had revenues of £6million and made an operating loss of £0.2million.The disposal will result in a release of working capital of £0.2million."
I saw that earlier too, the way that's worded suggests Western won't be running it as a Peugeot dealership, can only assume they are using it to extend their Toyota and Honda dealership next door."On July 17, the group disposed of its Dunfermline Peugeot dealership, selling the assets to Eastern Western Motor Group Limited. In the year ended February 28, this dealership had revenues of £6million and made an operating loss of £0.2million.The disposal will result in a release of working capital of £0.2million."
Clearly Peugeot in Dunfermline can't be a money maker, I think it was loss making 5 years ago when Macklin bought it from Hardie Motor Group.
It apparently had sales of £3.5m and a small operating profit when Hardie sold it- the reason given was that the Fife Motor Village is all leasehold and Hardie Group did not fancy signing a long lease. The rent is £61k a year with a review in September. The Honda franchise was moved in beside Toyota- although they are technically 2 seperate units they may be moving Honda into a standalone unit to give Toyota back the space it lost? Although with Honda sales as they are, I do not think it would be any more profitable than a Peugeot franchise. Could it be a Nissan franchise for Fife? (my prediction will come true one of these days)
cas20 said:
It apparently had sales of £3.5m and a small operating profit when Hardie sold it- the reason given was that the Fife Motor Village is all leasehold and Hardie Group did not fancy signing a long lease. The rent is £61k a year with a review in September. The Honda franchise was moved in beside Toyota- although they are technically 2 seperate units they may be moving Honda into a standalone unit to give Toyota back the space it lost? Although with Honda sales as they are, I do not think it would be any more profitable than a Peugeot franchise. Could it be a Nissan franchise for Fife? (my prediction will come true one of these days)
Nissan franchise was my other thought tbh. I read somewhere that Eastern Western are planning to invest in relocating their Mazda and Nissan dealership from Corstorphine to Newbridge alongside all their other sites, which would make sense because New sales are currently at one site (Corstorphine) used sales at another (Sighthill, former Western Toyota site before it moved to Newbridge) and after sales at a 3rd site (somewhere in Gorgie) so another Nissan site in Fife would make sense.Edited by HendryG on Thursday 23 July 19:32
cas20 said:
Walker's Citroen in Kirkcaldy now appears to be after sales only with the Mitsubishi franchise from Cupar moving in. Not sure if they still represent Citroen at Cupar. I think it too was after sales only though.
Walkers at Cupar was a Citroen sales outlet so if theyve both gone to after sales only that means no Citroen sales dealer in Fife. Seems to be a thing with Citroen at the minute, the former Arnold Clark Nissan at Linwood was meant to be becoming a Citroen dealer, its only become a Citroen after sales place though despite 15plate Citroens in the showroom (they are all delivered to Armadale, PDi'd plated and registered there then moved across to Linwood), loads of used Citroen on the pitch and Citroen branded sales desks etc.
Re: VW at Gorgie, it was Western, it closed a few months back when it moved to Westerns massive place at Newbridge, I think there were plans submitted to turn the Gorgie VW into a Home Bargains or B&M or something like that.
Wonder if Phoenix have sorted out their MoT situation yet - I tried to book my bike into the Stirling branch last month, but apparently they could only do servicing, not MoTs, they were using an indie elsewhere in Springkerse for their bike MoT work. Bit of a surprise for a Honda main dealer.
cas20 said:
Newmarket Garage Skoda appears to be getting a new look. All Skoda signage down and the facade being painted- either the Skoda refresh or a loss of the franchise I guess!
The former Phoenix Grangemouth site still has a big "to let" board out front.
Probably being done to the new Skoda CI, if they'd lost the franchise they wouldve just removed the Skoda signs. Theres quite a lot of Skoda dealers getting done up, Arnold Clark at Linwood has new signage, and more to come I think, and Parks in Hamilton has had the old petrol station canopy removed, was partially taken down last time I passed, and the used car showroom on the site is to be demolished as well, pretty major works. Also Thomson & Potter Skoda has now moved from Blairgowrie to the ex Western Saab site in Perth, and I think there's plans in place to move the Arnold Clark Skoda at Seafield which is a currently next to their Renault showroom to further along the road into the same showroom as the Peugeot and Seat Arnold Clark at Seafield now that Kia has vacated that showroom to share with Fiat and Abarth elsewhere in Seafield. And West End Skoda at Sighthill has been refurbished as well. The former Phoenix Grangemouth site still has a big "to let" board out front.
I had heard Arnie Clark were going to reopen the Phoenix site in Grangemouth, not sure on the truth of that though.
EDIT: just found this:
http://www.westendskoda.com/locations/stirling
It would appear the refurbishment at Newmarket Skoda is because West End have taken them over, which means a wee small independent company actually has a bigger group of a particular franchise than Arnie Clark.
Edited by HendryG on Tuesday 28th July 18:23
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