Author: Tim Rose
Group 1 Automotive has accomplished its £346 million takeover of Inchcape Retail, adding 54 automotive and van dealerships in a “monumental transaction” that can put it into the highest five of the AM100 rankings of UK’s largest motor retailers. Doing so expands Group 1 Automotive UK’s trading area into the Midlands and the North West of England, and into Wales, plus adds more sites in its existing geographic footprint within the East and South East of England. It also broadens its brand portfolio with Audi, BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Porsche, Smart, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volkswagen Business Vehicles. Group 1…
Peugeot dealer group Simon Bailes has hired a brand new head of operations for the three-site company. Sheldon Cockburn has rejoined the dealer group he left in 2021 after two and a half years with Lookers, as a divisional performance manager, and JCT600, as head of its Newcastle Ferrari and Bentley dealerships. Simon Bailes Peugeot said Cockburn brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of delivering exceptional results. His latest role returns him to overseeing the three Peugeot retail locations and a big body shop operation. He’ll proceed to oversee the 4 businesses with an increased deal with constructing…
The Seat Leon has now been on the brand’s front line for 25 years in various forms, and the present fourth generation automotive is probably the most technologically advanced Leon yet. Ever for the reason that first Seat Leon arrived, the motoring media and enlightened motorists have agreed that this can be a hatchback that provides superb value and is a reputable alternative to the mainstream Golf, Astra etc. The truth is the fourth generation Seat Leon has won five awards within the UK, including 2024’s Best Family Automobile for Value from What Automobile? Magazine. It’s an ideal proposition because…
Efforts to get the owners of British sports automobile brand TVR to base a brand new factory in Wales could have wasted hundreds of thousands of kilos. In 2021 the Welsh Government spent £4.75 million buying a brownfield site, home to an abandoned Techboard factory, plus one other £7.6m on refurbishment able to welcome TVR Automotive’s automobile production facility, and it also gave TVR a £2m loan and invested £500,000 in a stake within the business. The aim was for the automobile factory to create 150 jobs locally and produce as much as 2,000 sports cars. But TVR Automotive has…
Investors including Peter Vardy have pumped 10 million euros (£8.4m) into AI video tech firm Phyron in its latest fundraising round. Austria-based Round2 Capital, which made an initial revenue-based financing investment in Phyron in June 2023, has expanded its relationship by becoming a Phyron shareholder. And Phyron has also secured the financial backing of other investors, including AM100 motor retailer Peter Vardy, an investment which Phyron says demonstrates its strategic give attention to the UK automobile market. The Series B funding will enable Phyron, which has grown its revenue rapidly and recently opened a UK head office, to speed up development of its AI and…