Sherwoods managing director Alasdair MacConachie, left, and his son Simon who is general manager of the new site in Stockton.
Sherwoods expands into Teesside
FAMILY car business Sherwoods has expanded into Teesside buying a premier site in the heart of Preston Farm.
The major acquisition of the former Patrick’s Vauxhall dealership, for an undisclosed sum, transforms the Sherwoods brand into a mini group. The move is expected to lift the family firm’s £55m annual turnover to £70m. As well as its headquarters in Chesnut Street, Darlington, Sherwoods runs Chevrolet and used car operations on adjacent sites as well as a Vauxhall dealership in Standard Way, Northallerton.
The Stockton deal secures 43 jobs in sales, aftersales and a hi-tech bodyshop swelling the company’s workforce to more than 200. Sherwoods was founded in Darlington in 1928 and was taken over by Alasdair MacConachie 25 years ago.
Mr MacConachie said: “The deal made a lot of sense. We are a particularly healthy dealership and adding Stockton to our family certainly won’t do us any harm. “I believe the site is yet to fulfil its full potential and I am convinced we have the right management team to move it in the right direction.”
Existing staff at the 2.5-acre site will be retrained and Sherwoods’ management are expecting to boost the workforce as trade grows. Eventually it is hoped to also sell Chevrolets from the site. The dealership will be run by Mr MacConachie’s son Simon as general manager. He has worked for the family business since leaving school, at the Darlington and Northallerton dealerships.
He said: “There has never been a better time to expand the family business. The current Vauxhall range is tremendous being of the highest quality and exciting to drive. The Stockton site is perfect for us to maximise passing trade as it is on a main road from the A66 to Ingleby Barwick, Europe’s biggest private housing estate. We are all tremendously excited by the new challenge that lies ahead.”
