Automotive Financial Group

Automotive Financial Group (normally styled as AFG) was a British company specialising in automotive retailing, and the sale of associated products and services. The company was founded by the Austro Hungarian businessman Octav Botnar, as an extension of his successful Nissan import and distribution company Nissan UK.

Automotive Financial Group (AFG)
IndustryAutomotive retailing
FateSold to Barclay Brothers in 1995
PredecessorDatsun UK/Nissan UK
Founded1985
FounderOctav Botnar
DefunctBrand disappeared by 1997
Headquarters
Worthing
,
East Sussex, England
Number of locations
200+ dealerships across the United Kingdom

History and background

Botnar had successfully built up a successful business since 1970, importing and marketing cars of the Datsun/Nissan within Britain, eventually attaining a 6% overall market share by 1980, to the point where the United Kingdom was the only export market where Nissan outsold its arch rival Toyota.

Botnar had achieved this by appointing a network of small, family owned dealers (many of whom were former British Motor Corporation and British Leyland franchisees) to sell Datsun and placing an emphasis on customer service. However, by the 1980s, it had become clear that many of these businesses were too small to handle the vast amount of extra used stock and servicing/repair work which was now being generated.

The solution was to buy out many of these smaller businesses to create a large conglomerate which would allow larger, more profitable sites to be developed. The company, at its peak operated, over two hundred car dealerships in the United Kingdom, specialising in primarily vehicles of Nissan, approximately 160 of the 220 sites held Nissan franchises.

However, by the end of the 1980s, Nissan had established the assembly plant in Sunderland, and was considering taking the existing Japanese import and distribution business in house, and negotiations with Botnar over a possible takeover of Nissan UK began in June 1988.

After disputes between Nissan's executives in Japan, and Botnar over pricing of the then new Nissan Primera in 1990, coupled to controversies surrounding alleged tax fraud implying certain AFG and Nissan UK executives (including Botnar himself), Nissan set up its own import and distribution business within the United Kingdom, appointing a new network of dealers, and effective in 1991, Nissan terminated the supply of new vehicles to Nissan UK and AFG.[1]

The company was sold in 1994 to the Barclay Brothers for £200 million.[2] As parts of the company were sold off, the remaining operations, under the name Caledonia Motor Group, refocused on sales of Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot and Renault in the northwest of England. In November 1999, a management buyout was effected.[3] In January 2008, the company was placed in receivership. The remaining sites were acquired by Cambria Automobiles, and became part of its chain known as the Motor Parks.[4]

Blackburn Motor Park closed down in June 2018.[5] Caledonia dropped their franchise of Renault in August 2003, selling the dealerships to Sunwin, Renault Retail Group and Arnold Clark.[6] The two firms announced they were to part company in March 2003.[7]

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References
  1. John E. Walsh, "Nissan United Kingdom, Ltd.", in Robert T. Moran, David O. Braaten, John Walsh, eds., International Business Case Studies For the Multicultural Marketplace (Routledge, 2013), ISBN 978-1136012655, pp. 44-57. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  2. Richard Fletcher, "'The Barclay brothers do things other people would not dare to do'", The Daily Telegraph, 25 January 2004.
  3. "Buyout at Caledonia marks new strategy", Motor Trader, 8 November 1999.
  4. "Cambria swoops on Caledonia Motor Group", Motor Trader, 22 January 2008.
  5. "Motor Park set to close". lancashiretelegraph.co.uk. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  6. "Sunwin takes on former Caledonia franchises". www.am-online.com. 22 August 2002. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  7. "Caledonia gives up Renault business". www.motortrader.com. 17 March 2003. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
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