Trade Centre Wales to open Europe’s largest used car showroom
TRADE Centre Wales’ ambitious plans for future growth will see the firm open Europe’s largest used car showroom.
The dealership, which will accommodate 1,000 cars, with 400 housed inside, will open on the site of the former Leekes furniture store in Coventry.
Leekes, the 120-year-old independent business, which is headquartered in south Wales, only opened the store in 2012.
Headquartered in Neath, Trade Centre Wales originally had showrooms in Merthyr and Cardiff North before taking the decision to branch out into the rest of the UK, opening the first Trade Centre UK site in Wednesbury, last April.
The Coventry dealership, which will employ around 140 members of staff from the local area, is the first of two showroom openings planned for the Midlands this year, where across the border it is known as Trade Centre UK.
Trade Centre UK will look to expand further next year, branching out from the regions of south Wales and the east Midlands.
Andy Coulthurst, chief exectuive officer of Trade Centre Wales, said: “As a proud Welsh business, we’re so pleased to be able to expand into the rest of the UK on such a large scale.
“Our continued success in Wales has allowed us to take the leap and, along with expansion plans, we’re committed to maintaining the same level of service and value our customers expect across the group.
“The rapid growth we’ve experienced in such a short space of time is down to the hard work and commitment of the team, and we’re thrilled to open Europe’s largest ever used car showroom.
“We’re a recognised name in Wales, having been established here for almost 20 years but as we expand into new territories we’re investing in increasing our brand awareness to make sure we’re as well regarded in England as we are in Wales, working hard to establish a UK brand.
“After our success in Wednesbury where the 12-acre store sold more than 300 cars a week since launch, Coventry was a clear choice to expand our footprint in the region, which will naturally deliver efficiencies for the business.”
Compared to 2015 the business will more than treble its revenue from £70m to £250m.
Mr Coulthurst said: “As we move into new regions outside of Wales we want to ensure our values remain.
“Similar to the sites in Wales, we’ll continue to engage in community projects such as grassroots sports teams and local initiatives.”
Earlier this year the company defended itself to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over complaints about its Cardiff North brand. The ASA had complaints that Cardiff North was misleading as the office was in Abercynon.
The complaints over the TV and radio adverts were that they were misleading in that Abercynon is more than 10 miles north of the city.
Trade Centre Wales said “The Trade Centre Wales – Cardiff North” was the trading name of its business north of Cardiff in Abercynon. It added that it was within the Cardiff postcode of CF45 4XA and was on the A470 that ran directly from Cardiff city centre.
The ASA didn’t uphold the complaints, saying it concluded that the branch name wasn’t misleading and didn’t breach any advertising codes.