Member Article

Stafford Land Rover rebuild up & running by November

Stafford Land Rover’s state of the art new dealership will be up and running by November this year.

Plans for the move to a three acre site just off junction 14 of the M6 were unveiled 18 months ago by family firm Swansway, with a pledge to generate new jobs in the area and drive awareness of the Land Rover brand.

This week Darren Poole, Dealer Principal at Stafford Land Rover, confirmed that ground had been broken at what will be the first of the new concept Land rover dealerships.

And he said that confidence in the market and the brand had led Swansway to invest in the project to the tune of £6m. Darren said: “This is the biggest investment ever by Swansway and demonstrates the excellent working relationship we have with Land Rover.

“We started on the land last month and with a 36 to 40 week build and fit out that means we should be up and running by November.

“This is such an exciting time for Stafford Land Rover. Our new premises will be a state of the art, modern dealership with a bigger showroom and high tech workshop.”

He added that jobs would be created at the new site, as the business looked to take on new apprentice technicians and strengthen its sales team.

Darren has led the team at the Astonfields Road dealership since Swansway bought Stafford Land Rover in July 2012. Since then he has grown the business by being pro-active and asking his loyal customers what was good – and bad – about the dealership.

“Our customer forum was probably the most worthwhile thing I’ve done; it was incredibly helpful to see what customers actually thought about us. They said our aftersales were brilliant, that we offered a great service, but that our reputation for sales was poor. The forum said the sales department lacked a willingness to sell, that there was no follow up, no desire, just apathy.

“We asked our customers what they wanted, and it was so simple – they just wanted to be looked after.”

Since then, Stafford Land Rover’s reputation has gone from strength to strength. Out of 125 dealers nationally, the business has climbed from the bottom to seventh overall in the national Land Rover ranking criteria.

And Darren has turned things around to such a degree that the business now has more customers than cars.

“There is a massive demand for Land Rover cars,” said Darren, “and we have a very loyal customer base. But in order to grow the business we need to grow the number of Land Rovers we sell in our area. We need to concentrate on getting the name of Stafford Land Rover out into that local area.”

Prime Point 14 lies immediately next to the M6 at Junction 14 and forms part of a strategic greenfield site of 128 acres (51.82ha) with mixed use consent.

Crewe based Swansway is a family owned and run business that has been in the motor trade for more than 45 years, and currently represents seven different brands.

Darren said: “This is a huge show of confidence by Swansway in Land Rover and in Stafford itself. We’ve changed here at the dealership and I want people to come in and see that we are caring, honest and proud.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Taylor .