Discontinued

The north-east based Hodgson group, which expects to grow its turnover to £70m this year, started life as a rural Mazda dealership in 1987.

Jeremy Hicks, who became managing director of Audi UK in August 2005, finds himself at the helm at an exciting period in the brand's development.

The TG Holdcroft name in Stoke is as synonymous with car retailing as the town itself is with the pottery industry.

Call into a business park west of the Kent town of Maidstone and you will not be surprised to find it dominated by car retailers. Three of the several brands there are owned by one company, Beadles, established across Kent as a major retailer of Toyota, Nissan, Land Rover and Volkswagen. In the latter's large Maidstone centre the aftersales department is helping to set standards across the network.

The group's former van sales and marketing director took the helm just as the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands were embarking on an unprecedented product offensive, which has driven up sales and initiated an ongoing beefing up of the dealer network.

Mitsubishi is set to extend its factory owned network following last month's opening of a site in Chertsey

As British car brands continue their inexorable decline, the iconic Morgan brand stands alone as a throwback to the halcyon days of a strong indigenous car industry and today it is one of the world's oldest motor manufacturers.