Arnold gets another one
Discussion
What's the future of the Hyundai / Jeep place in Shields Road? On my latest conversation with AC customer services they said the Hyundai was closing. I assume this will be when Alex Parade reopens?
The Shields Road site really isn't fit for purpose and the workshop is like a step back in time! ( handy when your dashcam records everything while ignition is on )
The Shields Road site really isn't fit for purpose and the workshop is like a step back in time! ( handy when your dashcam records everything while ignition is on )
cas20 said:
I think that Vardy purchased the land from the administrators of InStyle. I wonder if Arnold is feeling any pressure, I know of three people who have purchased from Macklin recently. Cannot seem to switch on the radio without a Macklin advert.
Yeah ive heard a few Macklin radio ads and seen their Ads on tv, we quite often deal with Macklin Nissan at Balmore at work and one of my drivers was saying the Macklin employee he spoke to last time he was in was saying the new build Nissan dealership in the city centre is going to be massive and pretty spectacular, however the same driver was saying him and his wife went to Macklin Nissan in Darnley to look at trading in their Note for a Pulsar and werent impressed with the service like they werent interested and couldnt be bothered trying to sell him a car. Macklin as i see it have 2 issues, all their sites seem to be very small with not a huge selection of used, cars, I think Ford at Darnley have about 50 tops, same with Nissan Darnley, Peugeot Linwood and Ford/Mazda at Hamilton, whereas go to almost any Arnold Clark dealership and theres usually at least double, maybe even treble the amount of used cars on sale. Macklin being ran by a lot of people high up in Reg Vardy have adopted their tactic of gimmicky sales tactics like we pay your payments for the first 3 months, or half your payments for 6months, these "beat the clock" weekends where between 9 and 11 its free servicing, 11 - 1 free warranty, 1 -3 500quid off screen price etc. but all linked to high interest rate 4 or 5 year repayment plans. Peter Vardy are very similar too, for obvious reasons. Pollokshaws Road Renault AC now has no cars in the showroom and signs everywhere saying theyve moved to Hillington but the forecourt it still full of used cars, although im sure someone said before in this very topic that VW Kilmarnock Road was relocating to there. I dropped my car for a service at Pollokshaws Vauxhall AC this morning and the service girl said they were staying where they were (Head Office building is part of the service department building for Pollokshaws Vauxhall on Nithsdale Drive) so when head office moves the Vauxhall aftersales site would be refurbished and extended.
As for Shields Road Hyundai/Jeep, i wasnt aware Hyundai was closing but i suppose it would make sense when the huge Hyundai site at Alex Parade reopens and the other AC Hyundai franchise moves back from its temp location at Royston Road,Seat which also moved from Alex Parade to Royston Road will stay at Royston and the site will be refurbed. I cant think where Jeep from Shields Road would go though, theres no other AC site with any space for it or that would be a good fit and I doubt they would bin off Jeep after adding it recently to a lot of other sites so just a wild guess here could they replace Hyundai with Alfa Romeo, since they seem to have the Alfa sales franchise back and Fiat have said the plan is to group Jeep/Alfa together in dual franchise showrooms from now on.
750turbo said:
neelyp said:
I noticed that, Perth Motorcycles are now Scotland's MV Agusta dealer.
Leaves Honda dealerships a bit sparse with Two Wheels in Edinburgh, the one in Dundee your talking about and two I think in Glasgow.
there is a long established Honda Dealer in Ayr neelyp.Leaves Honda dealerships a bit sparse with Two Wheels in Edinburgh, the one in Dundee your talking about and two I think in Glasgow.
North Harbour Motorcycles.
Doesn't affect me - I'm a Triumph man.
Phoenix Mazda at Linwood is now authorised repairer only. Must be hard being so close to the huge AC Mazda at South St and all those pre-reg Mazdas. This time last year they closed their Honda Grangemouth and in Nov/Dec 2013 they sold their Edinburgh Hyundai. This on top of losing Glasgow Kia and selling their BMW/MINI dealership has left them a much slimmed down Phoenix these days.
cas20 said:
Phoenix Mazda at Linwood is now authorised repairer only. Must be hard being so close to the huge AC Mazda at South St and all those pre-reg Mazdas. This time last year they closed their Honda Grangemouth and in Nov/Dec 2013 they sold their Edinburgh Hyundai. This on top of losing Glasgow Kia and selling their BMW/MINI dealership has left them a much slimmed down Phoenix these days.
Yeah there's a few times I've had thoughts they may sell up/be acquired by another group, I'm wondering if long term Arnold Clark may be eyeing up their Kia and possibly dealership at Linwood, but unless Parks fancy a move into Renfrewshire I can't see Phoenix actually ceasing to exist, none of the major players fancy their franchises (Hyundai/Kia aside) except Parks who are the only big group in Scotland now to run Honda, Mitsubishi and Suzuki franchises. I think the Mazda sales franchise being dropped was only a matter of time ever since they got moved out of their own separate showroom and into a corner of the Mitsubishi showroom in a swap with the Hyundai franchise.
cas20 said:
Arnold owns two of their sites so might fancy it and just drop what they do not want. Vertu might fancy it as well although they did ditch Mitsuibishi after Shields acquisition.
Which ones does Arnie own? You are right Vertu may fancy it, I've just remembered they own quite a few Honda dealerships in the North East of England, they have Hyundai and Mazda showrooms as well, and I imagine would be happy to acquire a Kia franchise.
I think they did have Suzuki down south but got rid of it, however, re Mitsubishi franchise, I'm 99% certain they didn't ditch it after Shields acquisition, if my memory serves right, Shields took on Mitsubishi briefly (for less than 2 years IIRC) when they were making losses with the Peugeot franchise at Darnley and Hamilton and changed to Mitsubishi, but kept Peugeot after sales. I think they then acquired the Ford franchise at both sites and ran Ford and Mitsubishi alongside each other very briefly (a few months) before binning Mitsubishi completely. Macklin then bought the Ford/Mazda side of things at Darnley and Hamilton I think July 2010, Macklin then took on the Mitsubishi franchise in Hamilton again possibly September 2010 and ran it for 3 years before dropping it again roundabout late 2013.
Killiefocus said:
JEEP is relocating to Linwood to be joined with Alfa in a joint showroom . The showroom that was built for Chevrolet next to Vauxhall is currently being rebranded & refurbished .
Yeah noticed it being refurbished and a load of Jeeps in the showroom last time I was in at Vauxhall as I mentioned a few posts back.Is the Glasgow Shields Road Hyundai/Jeep dealership closing altogether then or is it changing to another franchise?
cas20 said:
Ingram have opened Hyundai at their site in Kilmarnock. Think Verve may have been the last to operate the franchise in Kilmarnock. Not sure the site in Dean St site is big enough for both Seat and Hyundai long term.
I knew this was happening but I'm not sure if Ingram still represent Hyundai in Ayr, or if they have transferred the franchise lock stock and barrel to Kilmarnock because it used to share the Ingram Skoda site, which was being refurbished to latest Skoda CI standards. Dispells the myth Hyundai were moving away from dual/multi franchise sites though although it is an odd move as Seat and Skoda seem to be dual franchised together in an increasing number of sites and are obviously part of the same group. I wouldve thought the better idea was to move Seat in with Skoda in Ayr and give Hyundai the whole Kilmarnock site to itself or move Skoda to the Seat place in Kilmarnock and give Hyundai the whole Ayr site to itself.
As you say though Kilmarnock site is pretty small (or at least doesn't have a lot of used car stock anyway, from when I last looked when I was buying a new car back in March)
The only other Scottish groups who could have taken Macrae and Dick are John Clark and Easter Western. Arnold Clark and Honda do not seem to get on and I am not sure about their relationship with Jag/LR.
Which group could be next to sell up? Smaller groups include.... Phoenix? Hawco? Belmont? Barnetts? Strauns? Ingrams? There are of course some other smaller firms some of which hold desirable sites/franchises.... Henry's, Walker Motors etc
Which group could be next to sell up? Smaller groups include.... Phoenix? Hawco? Belmont? Barnetts? Strauns? Ingrams? There are of course some other smaller firms some of which hold desirable sites/franchises.... Henry's, Walker Motors etc
cas20 said:
The only other Scottish groups who could have taken Macrae and Dick are John Clark and Easter Western. Arnold Clark and Honda do not seem to get on and I am not sure about their relationship with Jag/LR.
Which group could be next to sell up? Smaller groups include.... Phoenix? Hawco? Belmont? Barnetts? Strauns? Ingrams? There are of course some other smaller firms some of which hold desirable sites/franchises.... Henry's, Walker Motors etc
This is a huge step for Parks and not one I was expecting, although I did expect them to keep growing after years of not much growth when they rebuilt their Irvine dealership, added Peugeot in East Kilbride, Mitsubishi in Coatbridge, the ex Verve sites in Coatbridge/Bathgate and Maserwti/McLaren in Hamilton etc.Which group could be next to sell up? Smaller groups include.... Phoenix? Hawco? Belmont? Barnetts? Strauns? Ingrams? There are of course some other smaller firms some of which hold desirable sites/franchises.... Henry's, Walker Motors etc
They really did need a volume franchise though and now they've got it with Ford although I'm wondering how long their relationship with Mazda and Toyota will last as they operated those franchises in Lanarkshire for a long time and lost/gave them up around 12years ago.
I always seen Parks as being the ones to take over Henry's and Phoenix if they were up for grabs as their franchises would be a good fit for Parks and give them representation in areas primarily dominated by Arnold Clark and Halshaws but without having competing franchises (for example Honda, Suzuki and Mitsubishi which none of the other big groups represent)
On an unrelated note but mentioned earlier in this topic, regarding Arnold Clark adding Jeep/Alfa Romeo to the Chevrolet showroom at Linwood Vauxhall and the closure of Shields Road Hyundai/Jeep. Linwood now has brand new Jeeps and Alfas in the showroom and Shields Road has all the Chrysler/Jeep signs taken down and Hyundai's in the Chrysler/Jeep side of the showroom although whether it is only staying open as Hyundai until the other Hyundai branch moves from Royston Road I'm not sure, anyway I called Shields Road to book in a Jeep Renegade for warranty work yesterday and was told they no longer do it as franchise has transferred completely to Linwood, call Linwood to be told they cannot do any Jeep/Alfa warranty work, repairs, parts or after sales yet as at present they just have the showroom/new car sales side and that Shields Road are still the ones to go to for aftersaales, call them back up and get messed about until they agree if Linwood say they can't do it then it must still be them until such times as Linwood are allowed to do it, although nobody I spoke to seems to have a clue so I'm expecting hassle when my drivers take the car in next week to Shields Road for repair.
Edited by HendryG on Wednesday 20th January 18:39
imagineifyeswill said:
The MacRae and Dick deal was kept very quite, no one in the local motor trade had even heard any rumours before yesterdays announcement. While discussing it with an ex colleauge this morning, he tells me John Clark are looking at Hawcos.
It would be a natural expansion for John Clark because they are primarily based in the North of Scotland and Hawcos VW/Audi/VW Commercials franchises would compliment JCs existing dealerships of these brands which they have strong links with. Gassing Station | Scotland | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff