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MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - _

The lovely Kerridges has gone into administration 18 months after stopping selling the chinese Mg range and becoming a used specialist sports car dealer.

Sad days for all.

Edited by _ORB_ on 11/10/2022 at 17:25

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - nellyjak

Sad indeed...though I doubt they'll be the last.

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - Engineer Andy

The lovely Kerridges has gone into administration 18 months after stopping selling the chineses Mg range and becoming a used specialist sports car dealer.

Sad days for all.

Strange change of tack for them to go from selling Chinese MGs to second hand sports cars. Given you said MGs sales have been on the up over the past 2-3 years, I wonder why they left teh franchise?

I suspect the market for second hand sports cars (presumably those in 'reasonable' condition) is only viable in really good economic times, especially with the hot hatch / modded market via back alley outfits competing for the 25-40yo boyz market. The well off will be just buying new sports cars or Teslas.

The 'tinkerers' tend to buy cars in poor shape for (relative) buttons and spend years and lots of time and £££ doing them up, as a former colleague did with his DB5.

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - Xileno

"I wonder why they left teh franchise?"

Not sure in this case but sometimes the company starts placing increasing demands on their franchisees. A motorbike shop I used to get my bike serviced went independent as the company wanted them to start stocking one example of each model and the showroom wasn't big enough. The owners were towards the end of their working lives and didn't want to take on a big investment to expand so just went independent.

Same thing happened to what was the Rover garage in town, when BMW took over (1994?) they started making garages upgrade to the new corporate image, it wasn't worth them doing so and became an independent Rover centre.

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - pd

MG have been cancelling many of the franchises over the last 18 months and getting rid of the smaller independents because they are expecting to become a major selling brand so are moving "up" to the larger corporate dealers.

Not many franchised dealers survive the transition to the sharp end of used car dealing. They don't know how to do it and don't have the skills to source the right stock.

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - Chris M

I read an article a few weeks ago backing up what pd says. Can't recall where it was, otherwise I'd post a link.

I had to Google where my local MG dealer is. Back in 2019 when I took my son to collect his Berlingo van after a main dealer service, MGs were being sold from what was a posh tent in the car park. Now been relocated into what was Citroen's glass palace. Not clear where Citroen have moved to - perhaps the tent!

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - _

EMG who are a midsized chain with multiple franchises in the east of england got the Mg franchise and they are in central ipswich in a "Glass Palace" . Kerridges are literally out in the sticks and could just sqeeze 3 cars into the showroom. The area at the back was I doubt up to modern MG standards.

Other supportive early smaller Mg dealers are also disappearing.

Edited by _ORB_ on 11/10/2022 at 18:43

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - Brit_in_Germany

Sounds like it was no great loss then.

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - badbusdriver

Sounds like it was no great loss then.

If you place image over customer service maybe

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - paul 1963

Sounds like it was no great loss then.

If you place image over customer service maybe

Exactly! My local suzuki dealer also can only get 3 cars in there showroom but they more than make up for it by superb customer service and apparently suzuki like there franchises to be family owned and customer satisfaction oriented.

Suspect with MG it is all about moving stock quickly?

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - pd

I suspect MG will very shortly be an all-EV brand.

The ZS EV and 5 seem to have done well and I think they are expecting great things of the new 4.

My guess is they are/hope to be a "disruptor" in the lower end EV market the same way Tesla are in the upper.

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - Nick J Wye

Kerridges were a great dealer very honest gave outstanding service and will be sadly missed. Another great dealer gone as they had lost MG franchise to some glass fronted dealer. I am personally fed up with large dealers that are rubbish. Kerridges was great and part of motoring history to this area so so sad they have gone an era has ended.

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - Random

Sounds like it was no great loss then.

They had a brilliant reputaion for customer service. Not really a surprise with regard to their change of direction. Expect MG wanted them to upgrade or build a new, larger showroom.

There's a dealership in Diss, Bury St Edmunds and Halesworth, so the area is well covered.

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - Engineer Andy

EMG who are a midsized chain with multiple franchises in the east of england got the Mg franchise and they are in central ipswich in a "Glass Palace" . Kerridges are literally out in the sticks and could just sqeeze 3 cars into the showroom. The area at the back was I doubt up to modern MG standards.

Other supportive early smaller Mg dealers are also disappearing.

EMG you say? I know them - they run a combined KIA / Mazda dealership in Cambridge and have recently (the last year or so) took over the premises (including the tied filling station next door) of the former Vauxhall main dealership in my home town that ended its franchise a year earlier but didn't prosper as a second hand dealer and Vauxhall repair shop.

The new outlet only sells second hand cars again, and they only have about a third of the stock of the previous firm! Occasionally they've (to me, anyway) 'tried' to pretend that they have more stock by presumably temporarily transferring newer second hand KIA stock from their nearby Cambridge dealership. Somehow I doubt this went down well with the local KIA main dealer, whose showroom is literally round the corner!

Ironically that dealership used to sell/service MGs (as a side business, though ran out of the same facility, no 'tent') until about 5-7 years ago when they too gave up and concentrated solely on KIAs.

This dealership seems (apart from a fire a couple of years ago) to be doing well, the other one round the corner does not appear to be.

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - Falkirk Bairn

My local Subaru dealer used to sell bundles 25 years ago - they took on Isuzu, then Jeep, then Suzuki + Fiat commercial???- all in a showroom takes about 6 /7 cars.

However Subaru dealers seem to sell roughly 1 or 2 new cars per outlet per month and obviously not really viable on it's own (IMHO)

Jeep, Isuzu & Fiat Commercial are likewise small beer (in this area at any rate)

I would have thought Suzuki might merit a "bigger footprint"

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - Engineer Andy

My local Subaru dealer used to sell bundles 25 years ago - they took on Isuzu, then Jeep, then Suzuki + Fiat commercial???- all in a showroom takes about 6 /7 cars.

However Subaru dealers seem to sell roughly 1 or 2 new cars per outlet per month and obviously not really viable on it's own (IMHO)

Jeep, Isuzu & Fiat Commercial are likewise small beer (in this area at any rate)

I would have thought Suzuki might merit a "bigger footprint"

It might depend upon whether they also sell Suzuki motorbikes as well as the cars, which appear to be a bit more limited in the range than many other well-known brands.

They also aren't what you'd call 'upmarket' in terms of the styling and interior trim either, so the area the dealership serves will also be very important.

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - _

Just to add, John Daniel Kerridge died in June 2020 at the tender age of 86.

I met him a couple of times and he was a lovely old school gentleman.

The accounts for 2021 make ineresting reading...

Edited by _ORB_ on 13/10/2022 at 07:24

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - groaver

Just to add, John Daniel Kerridge died in June 2020 at the tender age of 86.

I met him a couple of times and he was a lovely old school gentleman.

The accounts for 2021 make ineresting reading...

If they were anything like his age above, there was some serious miscounting going on... ;-)

ORB's error. edited OOPS !

Edited by _ORB_ on 13/10/2022 at 07:25

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - Random

died at 86!

Thanks, my error, ORB

Edited by _ORB_ on 13/10/2022 at 07:26

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - Nick J Wye

I met him a number of times when I bought a car from Kerridges and when car came back for servicing or repairs. He was real old school a very nice man and he had a first class dealership. The service department was second to none.

MG motors ex dealer - Kerridges Needham market administration. - 72 dudes

Kerridges were selling used premium sports cars long before Chinese MGs were ever a thing.

They were also TVR and Noble dealers so had many new cars too.

I first dealt with them in the early Naughties when they also had the franchise for MG/Rover. Good people.

Took part in the Kerridges MG run in 2004 when I had my 1969 MGC GT. Fun day with about 40 classic MGs travelling in convoy around Suffolk!

Sorry to hear this news ORB.