Cobham Dealership which franchise?

[DarkHorseTerence]

Can anyone confirm which franchise operated the Cobham dealership during the period 2003-2006?

Trying to piece together some history on my E46….

Cheers!

[bennno]

DarkHorseTerence said:

Can anyone confirm which franchise operated the Cobham dealership during the period 2003-2006?

Trying to piece together some history on my E46 .

Cheers!

Pretty sure it was Cooper, if not it’d have been Sytner.

[DarkHorseTerence]

Hmm, I’m not sure how to find out for certain? BMW didn’t even seem to know, they suggested it might have been Inchcape???

[DarkHorseTerence]

Chat GPT says William Jacks to 2003, then Inchcape 2003-2021, then Berry’s. But I thought Cooper had it? Or was Cooper and or Sytner actually part of Inchcape??? I have not got a clue….

[DarkHorseTerence]

Just found an article confirming Cooper Group was a trading name of Inchcape. Used on the Cobham Dealership. So it was Cooper Cobham, and owned by Inchcape……

[okgo]

Inchape owned it when I worked there in 2008 but it was Cooper above the door.

Streetview tells me it’s Berry now who are family owned.

Edited by okgo on Monday 3rd November 22:21

[helix403]

Used to be New Central Cobham-in the 90s I think.

[maura]

Yes New Central then Coopers. Used both, was an event going down there when younger.

[Tazar]

The Cooper branding belonged to Jonathan Sieff of the Marks and Spencer family. He took it on when he was racing in the early mid 60s. He then became a director of TKM who imported BMWs into the UK under licence. I think it was 1978 or so when BMW themselves took over the importation of vehicles into the UK. But before then whilst under the ownership of TKM the Cooper branding was applied to BMW Leicester, Thames Dutton and Park Lane. I worked in sales in Park Lane.

[Mr Tidy]

There was also Cooper Croydon. I collected a car from them in 2008 (it was a woeful experience though).