Ford Retail Group

Ford Retail Group
Industry Motor industry
Founded 1998
Headquarters Colchester, Essex, United Kingdom
Key people
 Steve Hood
(Chief Executive & Chairman)
John Leeman
(Director of Dealer Operations)
Products Motor vehicles
Revenue UK £827 million (2006)[1]
Increase UK £3 million (2006)[2]
Number of employees
 2958 (2007) [3]
Website www.fordretail.com

Ford Retail Group, operating as TrustFord,[4] is an operator of franchised motorcar dealerships in the United Kingdom and Europe that is now owned by Ford of Europe. In addition to selling new and used Ford and Iveco cars and commercial vehicles, Ford Retail Group dealerships also operate a full garage workshop, repair and service centre.[3]

History

In October 1998, Jardine Motors Group announced a joint venture with the manufacturer for its Ford dealerships,[5] the merged firm was known as Polar Ford.[6] In January of the following year, Polar Ford had purchased Dagenham Motors.[7]

Polar Ford purchased three North London dealerships from Stripestar in May 2002[8] and Alperton Ford in February 2003,[9] before Jardine sold their 51% stake in the joint venture to Ford in March 2004, at which point the company became known as Ford Retail Group.[10]

By 2014, Ford Retail Group operated under a variety of names;[4]

  • Dagenham Ford – primarily located in London and the surrounding counties
  • Polar Ford – primarily located in Yorkshire and North West England
  • Brunel Ford – located in South West England
  • Heartlands Ford – Birmingham and surrounding area
  • Lindsay Ford – Northern Ireland
  • Bougourd Ford – Guernsey
  • La Motte Ford – Jersey
  • Ford Online
  • Ford Online Parts

In February 2014, the company stated their intention to rebrand all their activities as TrustFord.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Motor Trader
  2. ↑ Automotive News Online
  3. 1 2 The Boardroom Magazine
  4. 1 2 Bennett, Jeremy. "Ford Retail to rebrand network as TrustFord". AM-Online. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  5. ↑ Barkas, Eric (1998) Ford Poised to Become a Retailer with Jardine-Polar Joint Firm. Yorkshire Post, 1 October 1998, p.14
  6. ↑ Lancaster and Polar Ford cause headaches for Jardine, MotorTrader.com.
  7. ↑ Dagenham Accepts Polar Bid, MotorTrader.com.
  8. ↑ London Ford Dealers Join Polar Expansion, MotorTrader.com.
  9. ↑ Polar Buys Alperton Ford in North West London, MotorTrader.com.
  10. ↑ Ford acquires Polar Motor Group, MotorTrader.com.
  11. ↑ Bennett, Jeremy (2014) Ford Retail to rebrand network as TrustFord, AMOnline
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