JCT600 creates a home fit for three kings
The ultimate luxury-car destination fully opened for business this week and, for JCT600 chief executive John Tordoff, the event marked a poignant, coming-full-circle moment.
The Bradford-based automotive retailer has made its largest single investment in a site in its 78-year history with the transformation of JCT600 Brooklands in Leeds to create new homes for three of the world’s leading luxury car brands: Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce and Bentley. It is the only dealership in the UK to have all three under one roof.
For the Tordoff family, the state-of-the-art multisensory showrooms, housing 40 of the most sort-after cars in the world, represent a special moment because the original Brooklands, located on Sticker Lane, was the company’s first showroom. Built in 1960, the current chief executive was born in a room above the forecourt, yards from where his father Jack was selling cars.
John Tordoff said: “I think my dad would have been blown away with it and incredibly proud and also very humble about how it started and where it come to.
“The original Sticker Lane showroom, which was built in 1960 or 61, had some iconic British brands in it, in the form of Standard and Triumph, which obviously have long since gone, and now, here we are, 60 years later in Brooklands in Leeds with Rolls Royce, Aston Martin and Bentley.”
The new Brooklands has been carefully designed using the latest digital and AV technologies to provide customers with a full sensory and immersive experience. Marking a huge step forward in the use of large-format LED screens and surround sound, a theatre-like experience has been created which appeals to the senses, including changing images and sounds, and even featuring bespoke fragrances within some of the showrooms.
Tordoff added: “The brands we are representing here I think they see themselves as being more than just a car maker. They are very much a lifestyle brand. You drive the car but it is the lifestyle that you are buying into. These showrooms certainly represent the image of the brand and everything that they stand for.”
The redevelopment also focused on making the building ultra-efficient in terms of energy usage, with substantial improvements to its insulation, heating and cooling systems, and to the building energy management system.
Mark Taylor, property director at JCT600, added: “Taking four years from design concept to completion, this is one of the largest and most complex redevelopment projects we have undertaken. The challenge of creating a home worthy of three world-leading brands in a convenient location was no mean feat, but one we relished.”
JCT600 has more than 50 dealerships in Yorkshire and the North East and Tordoff explained how pivotal creating engaging and accessible showrooms was central to the company’s long-term plans.
He added: “Post Covid we created a system which enables people to buy cars completely online because everyone was lulled into a sense of that’s where it was going to go.
“The reality is probably 1-2% of our sales are completely online. 98-99% of our customers might do their shopping online now but they still want to come into a showroom, they want to be met by a human being who treats them with respect and dignity, deals with their enquiry properly and professionally, they want to test drive the car and they want to touch it, smell it, feel it and do all the things that they used to do.
“A car purchase is still the second biggest purchase after your house and we don’t really see that changing.”