Jardine Motors Group

Jardine Motors Group, is a multi-national operator of franchised motorcar dealerships in the United Kingdom with international outlets in Hong Kong, Macau and China.^[1] Jardine Motors Group market their vehicles under a series of brands worldwide including Zung Fu, Lancaster and Scotthall, and the worldwide group net profit, for the year ended 30 April 2012, was US$61 Million,^[2] based on revenue of US$4.282 Billion.^[3]

The company is a part of Jardine Matheson and is headquartered at Quarry Bay, Hong Kong.^[2]

Jardine Motors UK

Jardine Motors UK was created in 1981 when Jardine Matheson acquired a stake in the East Anglian motor company; Lancaster Group, from its founders Ronald and Nicholas Lancaster.^[4]

Jardine Motors UK was at one stage the largest UK automotive group by turnover,^[5] but today has fallen behind rivals such as Pendragon^[6] and Sytner^[6] and is now one of the top 10. In 2011, Jardine Motors UK turned over £1.3 billion^[6]

History

Lancaster Group was established in 1969 when Ronald and Nicholas Lancaster took control of a Ford Dealership in Ongar, Essex, where Nick had been working.^[7] By 1981 Lancaster were running Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Ferrari and Volvo dealerships in East Anglia, and Hong Kong-based Jardine Matheson purchased a 76% holding in the company.^[4] The company was floated on the stock market as Lancaster plc in 1986.^[8] Jardine took total ownership of Lancaster plc in 1992. Nicholas Lancaster left the business to run Malaya Group plc, which would purchase H.R. Owen in 1994.^[7]

During the 1990s the company made a series of acquisitions including the purchase of a Land Rover/Rover Dealership in Stratford, London from Malaya Group in 1994,^[9] Wiggins BMW Winchester in January 1995,^[10] Polar Motors in February 1995,^[9] Kent-based Loxley KJ in October 1995,^[9] BPW Group in April 1997^[11] and Appleyard Group in October 1997.^[12] The merger with Appleyard resulted in Jardine becoming the largest UK dealer group that year.^[5]

By the end of 1998, Jardine announced a joint venture with the manufacturer for its Ford dealerships,^[13] a venture which by the end of January the following year had purchased Dagenham Motors.^[14] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Jardine struggled to integrate the Appleyard businesses and saw profits slide,^[15][16] but acquisitions soon resumed. Polar Ford purchased three North London dealerships from Stripestar in May 2002^[17] and Alperton Ford in February 2003,^[18] before Jardine sold their 51% stake in the joint venture to Ford Retail Group in March 2004.^[19]

Jardine posted strong results for 2005^[20] and continued its expansion with new dealership openings such as Lamborghini in Reading^[21] and McLaren in One Hyde Park in London^[22] and by purchase of existing dealers from others; e.g. Milcars BMW in 2003,^[23] Marshall Honda in Reading in 2006,^[24] Pilling Land Rover in Welwyn Garden City,^[25] Merritts Jaguar in Amersham^[26] in 2010, the Wayside Group in 2011^[27] and five Toyota and Lexus sites in 2012.^[28][29]

Today

Jardine Motors UK today have 83 sales and service locations across the UK^[30] representing Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Chrysler Jeep, Ferrari, Honda, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Lexus, Maserati, McLaren, Mercedes Benz, MINI, Porsche, SEAT, Skoda, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Volvo.^[31]

These dealerships operate under the following brands:^[31]

• Lancaster
• Scotthall
• Wayside
• Appleyard
• Minories
• Abridge
• Clover Leaf Cars

Zung Fu Company

Zung Fu Company Limited was acquired by Jardine's in the 1970s,^[32] having originally been established in Hong Kong in the early 1950s.^[33]

Hong Kong

Zung Fu brought the first Mercedes Benz vehicle to Hong Kong in 1954^[34] and opened their first showroom the following year.^[33] Since then Zung Fu have operated as the exclusive retailer for the brand in the region.^[33]

Zung Fu operations in Hong Kong now include three sales dealerships^[35] and six Service Centres^[36] representing Mercedes Benz, Smart^[1] and, through Hyundai Hong Kong Co. Ltd;^[37] two Hyundai showrooms^[38] and a service centre.^[39]

Macau

Through Zung Fu Motors (Macau) Ltd.^[40] the group operate a Mercedes Benz showroom^[41] and Mercedes Benz Service Centre,^[42] both in Taipa.

China

Zung Fu (China) set up its first repair workshops in mainland China in 1986,^[34] at a time when the country was not seen as a market for luxury vehicles and when the operations of foreign companies, such as Zung Fu, were restricted by the government.^[34] Building on the existing Mercedes Benz relationship, an authorised Service Centre was opened in Shenzen in 1993,^[34] but government restrictions still prevented from operating sales dealerships in the country.

China joined the World Trade Organisation in November 2001,^[43] one of the conditions of which was that foreign companies would be treated the same as Chinese companies.^[43] This paved the way for Zung Fu to open their first sales dealership in Guangzhou in 2001,^[34] quickly followed by the first dealership in Sichuan province, located in Chengdu.^[34]

As of 2012, Zung Fu Mercedes Benz operations total fourteen dealerships, ten further showrooms and a service centre, with the group also operating two Smart dealerships.^[1] Between 2008 and 2010, Zung Fu’s car sales grew from 5,448 to 16,292, and net profit increased by US$19.9 million to US$37.5 million.^[44]

See also

• Jardine Matheson
• History of Jardine, Matheson & Co.

References

Further reading

• Jardine Matheson - The Group - History - Summary