Queen’s Jag dealer is driven off the road
WHEN Indian company Tata bought Jaguar Land Rover for £1.15billion in 2008, it pledged to ‘preserve and build’ on the heritage of the historic car maker.
Try telling that to the Queen. I can disclose that Her Majesty’s Jaguar garage is to close down after supplying and repairing her cars for more than 40 years because of new demands imposed by the firm.
R.A. Creamer & Son, a gemstone’s throw from Kensington Palace, is Jaguar’s oldest dealership but will sever its ties with the firm next month and hand back its two royal warrants.
‘We will continue to operate outside the Jaguar network as an independent garage for a period,’ says boss Michael Quinn in a sad note sent to the garage’s hundreds of well-heeled clients, who include ambassadors and leading showbusiness figures. ‘It is unlikely to be beyond the end of 2016 and could well be earlier than that.’
The garage, which also supplies cars for Prince Charles, has been used as a location in several films, including one about George Best, where the football legend was seen buying his E-Type.
Quinn’s connection to the British marque is personal — he is the grandson of Sir William Lyons, the founder of Jaguar. He says: ‘This decision has not been taken lightly as our history here is a long and proud one. But the future course of this business is now challenged in a way we feel that we cannot sustain the current business model, nor can we rationalise the level of
investment required to meet the requisite standards to remain a Jaguar main dealer.’
The news will sadden the Queen, who still enjoys driving Jaguars on her private estates.
R.A. Creamer was established in 1927 and became synonymous with Jaguar and Daimler, sending cars to be raced at Le Mans.
The premises, spread over 16 properties in quaint, cobbled Drayson Mews, could be sold for tens of millions of pounds.
A Jaguar spokesman says: ‘Jaguar has totally overhauled its range of cars and we are asking all authorised Jaguar centres to upgrade their facilities to cope with increased customer interest.’