Arnold gets another one
Discussion
As far as I understand Mercedes dictated that Arnold didnt get the commercial franchises as no track record in Commercial Vehicle Sales and Repair, and that meaning heavy commercials rather than just vans I would imagine. Have TOM Airdrie taken on all the commercial franchises, I knew they took on Inverness but didnt know about the rest, are they that big a company or just rapidly expanding.
imagineifyeswill said:
As far as I understand Mercedes dictated that Arnold didnt get the commercial franchises as no track record in Commercial Vehicle Sales and Repair, and that meaning heavy commercials rather than just vans I would imagine. Have TOM Airdrie taken on all the commercial franchises, I knew they took on Inverness but didnt know about the rest, are they that big a company or just rapidly expanding.
Not a masssive company but fairly big, I believe TOM took on Merc commercials in Aberdeen as well as Inverness.They started out as a small van hire place in Airdrie about 20 years ago and expanded from there to a big site in Airdrie and got a Ford Commercials Authorised Repairer franchise, they also have a car servicing and repairs garage at another Airdrie location, they took over the land of Arch Suzuki in Airdrie, they have a coachworks division called JMR Coachworks, They run a van sales site in Newmains formerly Van Monster who moved to Tollcross in Glasgow, Their main franchise foray however came in 2012 when Glen Henderson retired, Border Cars bought the cars side of it, Mazda franchise, showrooms, etc and also kept the Merc commercials showroom but TOM took over the Merc commercials operation at Whitfield drive which was Glen Henderson Caledonian Trucks aftersales side, workshops, repairs, Merc truck and van authorised repairer franchise etc but I believe they also do new Merc commercials sales there too, and just recently they've taken over Flemings Citroen Ayr, Kilmarnock and Dundee, so yeah a fairly big operation as well as rapidly expanding.
cas20 said:
It may be temporary until a showroom for New Cars is ready? Lomond Audi are opening a used/service centre in Hamilton. Lanarkshire would be ideal territory for a new Audi dealership and perhaps both Lomond and EW will get their full dealerships eventually.
Yeah I heard about the Lomond Audi Blantyre at the former Shields Toyota site a few months ago, I wonder if they have any plans for the other vacant Shields Toyota site they now own in Darnley. cas20 said:
Interesting, would their parent company John Clark be able to use the existing showroom for another dealership- Nissan for example?
I'm not sure here as ive only ever saw pictures but is Thomson and Potters current Blairgowrie site not a very small site, so not very suitable for a Nissan franchise. cas20 said:
Was through at Phoenix retail park today. Arnold Clark will have 2 showrooms empty right next to each other- Nissan and the former Chevrolet showroom which I think is now used for Vauxhall. Anything missing from Phoenix that AV could add to those sites?
That's what I was saying a few posts back, Arnold's Nissan is going to be lying without a franchise and there's not much not represented in Linwood that it would be worthwhile to bring in.The "Chevrolet" showroom has never actually housed Chevrolet and its not used for Vauxhall either, Vauxhall is all in the massive showroom next to it, its used for thr Vauxhall dealerships "prestige" used cars sales. When it was still Daewoo the main Vauxhall showroom shared with Daewoo, then when it became Chevrolet what is now the Seat showroom was converted from the old valet bays to a Chevrolet showroom, then in 2007 when VW moved into the Citroen showroom from its former site at Rowan Street and Citroen moved to Renfrew Road the Chevrolet showroom became the Seat showroom and Chevrolet moved back into the Vauxhall showroom to share, the "Chevrolet" showroom was a used car canopy until 2013 when it was made into a full showroom for Chevrolet, likewise Arnold did the same converting the old John R Weir Honda motorbikes showroom in Perth into a Chevrolet one then GM announced they were pulling Chevrolet out of Europe and both Linwood and Perth just stayed used car showrooms.
On another note, after Arnold dropping Nissan at Livingston and acquiring the Vauxhall franchise meaning Woods West Calder was going to be a non franchise used car dealer stripped of the Vauxhall franchise then Arnold took over Woods anyway and reinstated the Vauxhall franchise, according to Vauxhall websites, both the full Vauxhall site and the Scottish regional Vauxhall website the West Calder site hasn't actually become a full Vauxhall dealer again, seemingly its just a "service/after sales/authorised repairer" as in a Vauxhall dealership in every way except doesn't sell new Vauxhall, Arnold's own site bills it as a full Vauxhall dealership, although it also bills the ex Halley's of Milngavie site as a full Vauxhall dealership when it too is listed on Vauxhall site as an after sales dealer only, there's no proper Vauxhall signage on the showroom and its got a load of pre reg ones in the showroom, very odd.
PS the new Hillington site which is being built on the Makro land which is going to house the new HQ, plus the Paisley Renault site relocating to there and the current Paisley Renault site closing, apparently its not just the Paisley one, seemingly there's 2 of Arnold's Renault dealerships relocating to there to make the 1 massive Renault *superdealer" so that means another of Arnold's Renault sites in the West closing, so either its closing completely or going to be refranchised, obviously we already know Paisley is 1 of the 2 but I'm not sure who the other might be, can't see it being the one on Pollokshaws Road or Bishopbriggs as both are already big, up to date busy sites. Dumbarton wouldn't close as they will want to keep a presence in that area so that maybe leaves Bearsden Renault?
I always think there are too many Renault/Dacia dealerships around... in Lanarkshire for example there are dealerships in Motherwell, East Kilbride and Coatbridge. Renault has already reduced the number of dealers as part of a restructuring a few years back. I guess in Renfrewshire you have an excellent choice on your doorstep from Arnold, Phoenix or Macklin Peugeot
cas20 said:
I always think there are too many Renault/Dacia dealerships around... in Lanarkshire for example there are dealerships in Motherwell, East Kilbride and Coatbridge. Renault has already reduced the number of dealers as part of a restructuring a few years back. I guess in Renfrewshire you have an excellent choice on your doorstep from Arnold, Phoenix or Macklin Peugeot
I would agree with that, I remember a few years ago as well as EK, Motherwell and Coatbridge Parks also had a Renault dealership in Hamilton, (where Douglas Park Mini and Parks Maserati now is) one showroom was Renault and the other Kia (before it went to EK) Its Ford I've always thought had too many dealers, even compared with Vauxhall, I know their cars are normally the biggest sellers and they have a big market share but it really was at one point a dealer on every street corner and even now they have dealers in far flung places and quiet places, I'm talking Garnock Valley Ford, Shearer of Balfron, W & J Duncan in Rothesay, Old Street Garage in Girvan etc and the likes of Thomson of Beith when they were open.
HendryG said:
PS the new Hillington site which is being built on the Makro land which is going to house the new HQ, plus the Paisley Renault site relocating to there and the current Paisley Renault site closing, apparently its not just the Paisley one, seemingly there's 2 of Arnold's Renault dealerships relocating to there to make the 1 massive Renault *superdealer" so that means another of Arnold's Renault sites in the West closing, so either its closing completely or going to be refranchised, obviously we already know Paisley is 1 of the 2 but I'm not sure who the other might be, can't see it being the one on Pollokshaws Road or Bishopbriggs as both are already big, up to date busy sites. Dumbarton wouldn't close as they will want to keep a presence in that area so that maybe leaves Bearsden Renault?
I can confirm that the other Renault branch moving is pollokshaws road, vw Kilmarnock road is moving to the pollokshaws site and used mini is moving to the old vw site.Gassing Station | Scotland | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff