Ullswater Road Garage in Penrith becomes the 65th MG sales dealership in the UK and owner Mark Windle is determined to make it the best. And looking at his track record, there would be few who would doubt him!
Mark Windle opened the family business when he was still in his teens. He started as a body repairer but soon spotted a gap in the market for a specialist 24-hour breakdown recovery operation as the M6 in Cumbria began to get busier and busier.
Now 35 years on, Mark is the company's Managing Director. He said: "With the recovery business going flat out we started to branch out and bought land to expand our operations. We now have a business site covering four acres just off the M6 in Penrith and we have another site 27 miles down the motorway in Kendal."
As well as car showrooms and work bays, the Penrith site houses the Cumbria Mini Centre, selling Minis and customised parts; retail units, a car hire business and the breakdown operation as well as a leased out restaurant, petrol forecourt and convenience store.
Ullswater Road Garage now employs 40 people and the MG business has created a new post – the firm is now searching for an MG sales specialist and Mark has plans to expand the MG business further.
They have already invested in a new dedicated showroom at their Ullswater Road site and have planned a summer programme of events, starting on Saturday by taking new MGs to the Skelton Horticultural Show.
Mark said: "As soon as people knew we had won the MG franchise we started to get enquiries, and that was before we had cars or MG signage. So it just shows you the huge support and passion there is for MG.
"We know the latest MGs will be a success because both MG3 and the new MG6 offer such great value-for-money. Everyone in our business has been impressed, so we know our customers will be too."
We have a great team here and I know our new MG business will just make us stronger and better. Working with such a fantastically strong brand as MG is going to be great fun and good for business for us and our customers.
Matthew Cheyne, MG's Head of Sales and Marketing, said: “Mark's drive and ambition is matched by ours and we welcome Ullswater Road Garage to our rapidly expanding dealer network.
"Last year MG was the fastest growing brand in Britain and our sales, so far this year, are way ahead of last year. As more people take test drives, they realise what great products we have with the MG3 and the new MG6."
