In the Financial Times today. Pendragon runs Stratstone among others

Pendragon, one of Britain’s biggest car dealerships, will sell its entire US operation and offload several UK new car forecourts as it shifts focus to used cars.

The company, which saw its shares slide over the summer after warning investors that profits will fall by a fifth this year because of poor car sales, plans to double its used car business by 2021.

The group said that “early indications” suggest the sale of its American motor unit, which has nine sites covering Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin brands, will fetch more than £100m in proceeds before tax, although the company has not yet decided whether to sell the business as a whole or break it up.

Pendragon expects to claim another £100m by selling several sites in the UK, from a mixture of proceeds from the disposals and also from savings on investments it would have had to make.

Typically, franchised dealerships work with car manufacturers to agree spending plans for showrooms in order to promote the brands in a certain way.
One example is Jaguar Land Rover, which is pushing dealers to consolidate Jaguar and Land Rover sites in larger facilities to sell vehicles from both brands, leading some dealerships to reduce the number of outlets they need.

Pendragon declined to comment on which specific brands would be affected by its plans, or how many sites it would sell.

“There is a broader consolidation of ownership going on, and an appetite for people to grow outlets,” Trevor Finn, Pendragon chief executive, said.

The company will spend £75m opening 30 used car sites by 2021, as it seeks to increase its share of a market that is performing better than new cars.

While new car sales in the UK have been falling every month since April, following years of strong growth, the market for used cars is flat over the first three quarters of the year, and Pendragon expects it to keep on rising over the next two years.

Selling more used cars also allows dealerships greater freedom from controls placed on them by manufacturers.

 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

I maintain 'manufacture-Direct' is the way ahead.

Whilst manufactures are at fault for placing huge demands on dealers, dealers are more than at fault for apathy towards manufactures.

Times are, and will, change. This change is what we are seeing now.


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What it is saying is the crap is about to hit the fan. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

..... and its long overdue ......

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That’s what you get when your business is overselling cars to people who can’t afford to buy them . No doubt they hope to get a second bite of the cherry when all the lease cars go back in and the buyer of last years Satsuma World Cruiser STD gets fed up of pumping out £600 a month and wants to trade down to a four year old 3 series . 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

Nothing new, they’ve been selling dealerships off for a while. They flogged all its Scottish Stratstone branches to the John Clark Group a few years back. Now trade as Pentland. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

..... the dominos are falling ........

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j77, see they still use ' Pen' in the name, coincidence or reading too much into companies changing but remaining the same if you know what I mean.
 If it wasn't so bad it'd be funny.

🐑
Freelander 2 HSE auto 2014 ( Florrie ) ..... Try again.
Freelander 2 GS 2012...... Gone.

Largered wrote:

I maintain 'manufacture-Direct' is the way ahead.
Times are, and will, change. This change is what we are seeing now.
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JulesK wrote:

j77, see they still use ' Pen' in the name, coincidence or reading too much into companies changing but remaining the same if you know what I mean.

Overthinking it

John Clark had the Pentland dealer in Edinburgh (Pentland hills) so once the take over happened all went under the Pentland name. I think the stratstone LR branch was nearby but I think struggled to with Pentland. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

dorsetfreelander wrote:

Largered wrote:

I maintain 'manufacture-Direct' is the way ahead.
Times are, and will, change. This change is what we are seeing now.
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It's been done before. Are you old enough to know what a "Rolls Rapide" washing machine is?

dorsetfreelander wrote:

Largered wrote:

I maintain 'manufacture-Direct' is the way ahead.
Times are, and will, change. This change is what we are seeing now.
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It's been done before. Are you old enough to know what a "Rolls Rapide" washing machine is?

My mother had a Rolls Rapide .... with mangle accessory ....... thank you

Just because things have been tried in the past ........ time changes ....... re-visitng the past is not always a bad thing.

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Quote:

Tenet asked :- Mum had a twin tub - beat the old copper boiler hands down and certainly made the likes of Hoover sit up and take notice. What ever happened to John Bloom.

Largered wrote:

dorsetfreelander wrote:

Largered wrote:

I maintain 'manufacture-Direct' is the way ahead.
Times are, and will, change. This change is what we are seeing now.
.

It's been done before. Are you old enough to know what a "Rolls Rapide" washing machine is?

My mother had a Rolls Rapide .... with mangle accessory ....... thank you

Just because things have been tried in the past ........ time changes ....... re-visitng the past is not always a bad thing.

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True! Look at the Coop , back to the cloverleaf logo and enjoying a new found success 👍🏼

 32 years / 25 Vehicles

10 Land Rovers inc 7 Freelanders

Who was the Brentwood Nylons guy? You know the frictionless nylon sheets where you would jump in bed and slide out the other side. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE