A famous Bradford retail name is to disappear within months as part of the UK’s biggest-ever corporate rebranding exercise.

All 19 showrooms of Bradford-based Sunwin Motors Ltd are to become known as The Co-operative Motor Group as part of the Co-op’s £1.5 billion re-branding.

The first dealership to change its name will be in Preston, Lancashire, next week, with the Bradford dealership on Sunbridge Road expected to change early next year.

The name, thought to be an amalgam of Sunbridge Road and Godwin Street, where the Co-op ran a department store, has been familiar to shoppers and car buyers in Bradford for decades.

The former Sunwin House, originally known as Sunbridge Road Emporium and once managed by Bradford-born Co-operative Group supremo Peter Marks, was sold to discount retailer T J Hughes in 2005.

The Co-operative Group has unveiled the latest phase in the rebranding of its businesses, including the £250 million motor retailing operation which trades in the North of England and Midlands and as far south as Leicestershire..

The Sunwin Motors dealerships will be renamed in a move which the Co-op said marked their “formal induction” to the family of businesses, including food, funerals, travel, pharmacy, financial and legal services. More than two-thirds of the group’s 5,000 retail outlets have been rebranded over the last two years.

Mike Austin, managing director of The Co-operative Motor Group, said: “Sunwin has worked hard to establish a trusted reputation in the Midlands and the North and we intend to build on that by adopting The Co-operative’s strong brand.

“The relaunch of the Co-operative has been a major success and the strong financial performance of the group shows real trust in our brand.”

The Co-operative Motor Group includes ten major dealers selling Renault, Nissan, Mazda, Peugeot, Fiat, Land Rover, Suzuki, Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep. They reported sales of more than £250m for the last financial year.

In a foretaste of the Sunwin name’s demise, the main stand at Bradford City’s Valley Parade ground was renamed the Co-operative stand at the start of the current football season.