Type Motor retail group Number of locations 50 (2015) Headquarters Bradford, United Kingdom Founded 1946 | Industry Automotive Revenue GB£1.025bn (2014) Founder Jack Tordoff | |
 | ||
Area served Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Key people John Tordoff, CEO (2002-present) Subsidiaries Heron Newark Limited, Gilder Group Ltd. Profiles | ||
JCT600 Ltd is a privately owned franchise motor firm that operates primarily in the north of England, with 50 dealerships between Boston and Newcastle. The company represents 19 car marques, and in 2014 achieved a turnover of over GB£1billion.
Contents
Company history
The company was established in 1946 as Tordoff Motors, with one showroom that housed Standard and Triumph vehicles. Founder Jack Tordoff, a successful rally driver in the 1960s and 70s and winner of the Circuit of Ireland Rally in 1973, built the business over 44 years before his son and current CEO, John Tordoff, took over in 2002. The elder Tordoff remains chairman.
The JCT600 company name came from the personal number plate of a Mercedes-Benz 600 that Jack Tordoff owned.
The company began to acquire Gilder Group dealer sites came in 2009, with York and Hull Audi joining the JCT600 group. In 2013, Gilder CEO Garry Scotting agreed to sell all but three Honda dealerships to John Tordoff thanks to an earlier agreement that JCT600 had first refusal should Scotting decide to sell.
The Office of Fair Trading investigated the acquisition under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002, to establish whether the merger would result in a substantial lessening of competition. Following a six-month investigation, OFT cleared JCT600 in September 2013, with the company acquiring nine sites housing SEAT, Audi, Volkswagen and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. The move also saw the number of employees increase from 1,350 to over 1,800 across the group, and annual turnover exceed £800m.
The company had 47 sites in the north-east of England by 2013, rising to 50 in 2015.
Manufacturers
The group currently represents: