Swansway gears up with new Land Rover dealership

CREWE-based Swansway Group is investing £6m in a new Land Rover dealership in Staffordshire.

The family-owned new and used car dealership chain acquired the business in June 2012, and has focused on improving its performance, ahead of investment in the new location in the town.

It has handed the £3.4m contract to build the Stafford Land Rover Centre to Lancashire-based Conlon Construction.

Dealer Principal, Darren Poole explains, “We were delighted to acquire a Land Rover centre, but we knew we had some very hard work ahead of us, as at the time Stafford Land Rover was ranked bottom in the UK.

“With hard work, determination and by sticking to the Swansway values of caring, honest and proud, we were able to deliver our customers a genuine, family feeling and we ended 2013, our first full year of trading, at number 7 in the Land Rover rankings, something of which we are extremely proud.”

Swansway direcor David Smyth, added, “This will be the first of the new concept Land Rover dealerships and represents a £6m investment by Swansway, which illustrates our commitment to both the area and to the brand.”

The development is due to be finished in November 2014.

Conlon hosted a ground breaking ceremony to officially mark the start of construction work on site.

The project will see Conlon construct a contemporary ground floor car showroom, a repair and servicing workshop and first floor administration offices. The premises will accommodate around 20 employees when the dealership is fully open.

Spanning 2,350 sqm, the two-storey space will feature a specialist rain water harvesting system, enabling all water to be reused within the valeting area of the dealership.

Michael Conlon, chairman at Conlon Construction, added: “Land Rover already has an excellent reputation within the industry and these new facilities will add to its current offering whilst extending its reach as a leading global dealership.”