Bright future

With dealerships from Newcastle to Chesterfield and a multi-million-pound new head office now up and running in Bradford, things are looking bright for JCT600. Business Reporter MARK CASCI paid a visit to Tordoff House in Apperley Bridge.

When JCT600 decided to move to a new head office Jack Tordoff had one stipulation - it had to have a Bradford postcode.

His loyalty to the city where his father founded the firm meant he could think of moving nowhere else.

After years of searching, planning and building, the renowned motor dealership officially opened its new state-of-the-art headquarters at Apperley Bridge late last year.

The historic building is well known in the area, having been home over the years to General Accident insurance and the Apperley Manor Hotel.

The company set about the laborious task of modernising the building into custom-made offices, including the adding a new wing. The task took 20 months and £3 million.

The relocation, however, does not spell the end for the old headquarters on Sticker Lane. The site, once home to the Tordoff family and base of the company for 50 years, is undergoing development back into a showroom ready for summer.

The history of the company though is evident at the newly-named Tordoff House. Behind reception is a montage of photographs from JCT600's past, including one of Jack in front of the distinctive Mercedes Benz 600 whose licence plate gave the firm its name.

Today his son John Tordoff is at the helm of the company his grandfather Edward started shortly after the Second World War.

The car sales firm Edward Tordoff went on to become a vast enterprise, with franchises and dealerships across the north of England.

From his office, adorned with pictures of the JCT600-sponsored Bradford Bulls, John Tordoff told how pleased he was that the company had received such a warm welcome to its new premises.

"I had a letter from a woman who said she had had her wedding reception in this building when it was still a hotel," he said. "She said she was really pleased we as a company had developed the building and relocated here and welcomed us to the area."

The company he heads has performed progressively well and shares much with another Bradford business success story. Displaying typical Yorkshire grit, Morrisons, like the Tordoffs, has run its business its way and enjoyed strong growth.

However, unlike Morrisons, John says that JCT600 has no intention of becoming a public company.

"We see ourselves very much as a Yorkshire company and want to continue to develop and grow in the north," he said. "We have no ambition to become a national company or to become a PLC."

Mr Tordoff said the company's progress has been deliberately measured to ensure lasting success.

"The motor trade as an industry is very fragmented," he said. "You see a lot of companies grow and fall very quickly and history is full of motoring groups who have built something up quickly but not had the infrastructure to handle it.

"We just want to be able to grow the business and enjoy it. We want to continue at a strong pace but so that we still feel in control of the business."

But JCT600 still has a taste for big deals. As well as the new Saab/Chevrolet dealership on Sticker Lane at its former headquarters, it expects to open a new one in Newcastle by the summer.

Most impressively, it will this year open the second-largest Porsche dealership in Europe. The site in Leeds is a massive investment and cements a long-standing relationship with the sports car maker that dates back to 1967.

In the last five years it has spent more than £40 million on new dealerships as it implements Mr Tordoff's plan of working at its expansion in a measured and efficient way.

Despite the big investments and shining new premises, he said that the company's approach to selling cars remained at the heart of the business.

"In the past the motor trade has had a bit of a negative reputation and the stereotype of the silver-tongued, pushy salesman to a certain extent still exists," he said.

"However today you simply cannot get away with that. Customers are too savvy and knowledgeable to be fooled in that way and with the advent of the internet it has never been easier to do your research.

"We spend thousands of pounds each year training our sales executives and always give them the same message - that people buy from people. If you treat people with warmth and respect they will buy from you."

It is an ethos that has lasted in the company for more than 60 years and one that seems set to keep people coming back for decades to come.