Sytner Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sytner Group is a car dealership group headquartered in Leicester, United Kingdom. The group comprises over 100 car dealerships located in England, Scotland and Wales. The group is wholly owned by the U.S. firm United Auto Group.
[edit] History
In the 1960’s Frank Sytner founded the Sytner Group with his brother Alan, owner of the famous Cavern Club. The first dealership was Sytner Nottingham in 1968, selling BMW’s. The expansion began in 1993 with the acquisition of a BMW dealership in Leicester, followed by a new BMW dealership in Sheffield.
In 1995 Sytner diversified into other prestige marques with the addition of the Group’s first Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Audi dealerships in Bristol, Loughborough and Leeds respectively. In 1996 the first Sytner-owned PAG franchise was opened in Land Rover Sheffield, followed by Chrysler Jeep Stockport, Land Rover Leeds and Rivervale Porsche in 1997.
As the franchise count approached double figures, the company name changed to Sytner Group PLC as it was floated on the stock market in 1997. In 1998, a family-run Land Rover and Jaguar business in Thames Ditton were purchased from Mr Guy Salmon. This name later became the banner of all Sytner-owned Land Rover and Jaguar franchises.
Additions were made to the BMW and Ferrari brand count in 1999, in the form of BMW City and Ferrari Sheffield. One of the largest single acquisitions in the Group’s history was made during August 1999 in the form of the Ixion Motor Group. This almost doubled the number of franchises in the Group including: BMW Solihull and Gerrards Cross; Jaguar dealerships in Coventry, Northampton and Oxford; Land Rover in Coventry; Chrysler Jeep in Oxford and brand additions Volvo in Coventry with Saab and Lexus in Oxford.
Between 2000 and 2001 the Group opened four new dealerships: Lexus Leicester, Jaguar in Stratford-upon-Avon, Wakefield Audi and Kings Chrysler Jeep in Liverpool. Sytner also acquired Mercedes-Benz of Weston-Super-Mare, Land Rover Stratford-upon-Avon and BMW High Wycombe from independent traders as well as Bentley Manchester and Land Rover Knutsford from the Ron Stratton Group.
In 2002 the Sytner Group opened new Volvo dealerships in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick and Twickenham as well as the first of an array of Toyota franchises in Birmingham. Land Rover Wakefield was acquired by the Group and, due to a dramatic change in manufacturer direction, a total of six Mercedes-Benz dealerships located in Newbury, Milton Keynes, Kettering, Bath, Swindon and Gloucester were added to the Sytner portfolio
During the same year, a major player in the American retail motor industry showed an interest in buying the Sytner Group. On February 12th 2002, UnitedAuto Group (UAG) announced a $135 million offer to purchase Sytner Group PLC. UAG recognised Sytner as an exciting opportunity to expand their operations in the UK through a multi-franchise company who would compliment their brand portfolio. The majority of the Sytner management team along with the Sytner Group mission statement remain unchanged.
With opportunities for further investment and the backing of UAG, Mercedes-Benz Cribbs Causeway kick-started further expansion of a further eighteen Sytner-owned dealerships in the UK. These included six Toyota dealerships, three based in the Bristol area and three in South Wales as well as two Lexus franchises located in Bristol and Cardiff. The BMW dealer count rose higher with acquisitions in Chigwell and Harold Wood.
A new Porsche franchise located near famous racing circuit Silverstone was opened in June 2003. Following this, two Mercedes-Benz dealerships in Bedford and Northampton were purchased from competitors Pendragon. Lexus Birmingham, Land Rover Stockport, Audi Bradford and Bentley Birmingham were also purchased during 2003 running up to a new Chrysler Jeep franchise in Gloucester in 2004.
During 2004 two multi-dealership acquisitions were made - Aston Green Ltd and Glenvarigill Ltd. Aston Green more than doubled the number of Audi dealerships in the group with a cluster of locations including Slough, West London, Reading, Guildford, Victoria and Mayfair. Glenvarigill enabled Sytner to expand North of the border into Scotland with additions to the specialist division. This boasted Porsche, Bentley, Ferrari and Maserati representation in Edinburgh along with a Porsche Centre in Glasgow.
Further developments in 2004 include a brand new Toyota dealership in Tamworth and a new Ferrari and Maserati dealership in Nottingham, merging the two former sites operating from Loughborough and Sheffield. In the north, the acquisition of Harrogate Audi from Massingberd strengthened the existing Sytner-owned Audi presence in the North.
2005 saw further expansion Sytner BMW and MINI with the opening of a new super-site in High Wycombe, merging two smaller sites in High Wycombe and Gerrards Cross, and a new retail outlet in the exclusive Docklands area in London, as well as the acquisition of a further additional Chrysler Jeep franchise in Swindon. Head office operations also expanded with a new corporate head office located in Leicester, located just off junction 21 of the M1.
2005 was concluded with the purchase of William Jack's PLC, consisting of twelve BMW, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo dealerships, taking the total franchise count to one hundred. 2006 will see the completion of multi-million pound Bentley, Lexus and Lamborghini dealerships at Fort Dunlop, as well as the acquisition of Godfrey Hall BMW in Coventry and a new Lamborghini dealerhship in Edinburgh.
