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] |
 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, which is now owned by Ford of Europe. In addition to selling new and used Ford & Iveco cars and commercial vehicles, Ford Retail Group dealerships also operate a full garage workship, repair and service centre.[5]
History
At the end of 1998, Jardine Motors Group announced a joint venture with the manufacturer for its Ford dealerships,[6] the merged firm was known as Polar Ford.[7] In January of the following year Polar Ford had purchased Dagenham Motors.[8] Polar Ford purchased three North London dealerships from Stripestar in May 2002[9] and Alperton Ford in February 2003,[10] 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.[11]
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,[12]
References
- ↑ Motor Trader
- ↑ Automotive News Online
- ↑ The Boardroom Magazine
- 1 2 Bennett, Jeremy. "Ford Retail to rebrand network as TrustFord". AM-Online. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
- ↑ The Boardroom Magazine
- ↑ Barkas, Eric (1998) Ford Poised to Become a Retailer with Jardine-Polar Joint Firm. Yorkshire Post, 1 October 1998, p.14
- ↑ Lancaster and Polar Ford cause headaches for Jardine, MotorTrader.com.
- ↑ Dagenham Accepts Polar Bid, MotorTrader.com.
- ↑ London Ford Dealers Join Polar Expansion, MotorTrader.com.
- ↑ Polar Buys Alperton Ford in North West London, MotorTrader.com.
- ↑ Ford acquires Polar Motor Group, MotorTrader.com.
- ↑ Bennett, Jeremy (2014) Ford Retail to rebrand network as TrustFord, AMOnline
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