England: Gordon Lamb refinances to fund growth; Gordon Lamb has announced a new partnership with Barclays Corporate. The company recently transferred all day-to-day banking to Barclays, and has refinanced to assist with its growth plans. The motor dealer group headed by Stephen Lamb, with a turnover of £72.3m and pre tax profits of £1.6m in the year to December 2010, sells 6000 around cars and vans a year. Gordon Lamb has dealerships in Chesterfield, Sheffield (and Derby to follow shortly) and has franchises for Range Rover, Land Rover, Nissan, Skoda, and Toyota.
China: Jaguar Land Rover plans to partner with Chery Automobile Co. to build vehicles in China. The companies have applied for regulatory clearance to establish the joint venture although the deal has not been finalised. The partnership may be officially announced as early as April at the Beijing auto show. Tata Motors said, in May 2011, that it had shortlisted unidentified partners in China to fuel expansion in the world’s largest auto market. China requires overseas carmakers to work with local manufacturers, who must own at least 50 percent of joint ventures, to set up production. Locally built vehicles are cheaper because they’re not subject to import duties. Chery, the sixth-largest automaker in China, was founded in 1997 and began making cars in 1999, according to the company’s website. Chery assembles passenger cars, commercial vehicles and minivans. Luxury carmakers are turning to China to boost growth.
USA, California and Colorado: MD Johnson, Inc. has announced the completion of the sale of the Pioneer Centres dealerships in San Diego, California, as well as the Pioneer Centre dealerships in Denver, Colorado. Pioneer owned and operated an Audi dealership, Porsche dealership and Land Rover dealership in San Diego on Miramar Blvd. next to the Miramar Marine Corps Air Base, formerly the Miramar Naval Air Station, home of the Top Gun fighter pilot school. Pioneer Centres also owned and operated two Land Rover dealerships in the suburban Denver, Colorado, market.
The dealerships have been acquired by Kuni Automotive. Kuni owns and operates dealerships in Oregon, Washington, California and Colorado and employs more than 800 team members. Kuni owns and operates Audi, Lexus, BMW, Land Rover, Porsche, Infiniti, Honda, Volkswagen, Cadillac, Buick and GMC dealerships in four US states. Greg Goodwin is CEO of Kuni Automotive. The dealerships have been renamed Land Rover Denver East, Land Rover Highlands Ranch, Land Rover San Diego, Audi San Diego and Porsche of San Diego.
MD Johnson, Inc. is the premier US provider of automotive dealership buy/sell financial advisory services. The firm advises dealers, both public and private on the purchase, sale, analysis, succession and valuation of automobile dealerships, dealership platforms as well as dealership real estate through their wholly owned real estate entity, MDJ Realty Inc.
USA, Virginia: Dominion Dealer Solutions, industry leader in equity data mining, automotive marketing, lead generation, reputation and inventory management has announced that its equity alert tool, DealActivator, has been chosen by Jaguar North America as a premier provider of equity mining solutions to its retailers nationwide. DealActivator mines the retailer's database for highly-qualified equity customers from sales and service, delivering data to the dealer daily. DealActivator also provides customized support email and direct mail campaigns from each retailer to these customers. Jaguar North America has included this programme as part of its nationwide retailer-sponsored opportunities. DealActivator improves sales and customer loyalty through previously untapped equity customers.
'We are delighted by Jaguar North America's selection of our equity lead generation tool for their retailers. We look forward to a collaborative relationship where we can fine-tune our products to enhance their retailers' performance,' said Robert Berndt, president of Dominion Dealer Solutions.
DealActivator provides competitive advantages to local retailers by harvesting current customers from the DMS, creating a new sales initiative in the service drive, and then delivering the best possible prospects by pushing customers into the market early. DealActivator also makes contact with a retailer's best customers by utilizing automated multi-channel messaging that sends pre-qualified buyers directly to the showroom, thus driving significant revenue and ROI.
'We are pleased that the new partnership between Jaguar and Dominion will lead to greater lead generation for our retailers, and therefore positions the brand for sales growth in the coming year,' said David Pryor, brand vice president, Jaguar North America.
