As part of our BUSINESS LIFE with REYNOLDS feature, Tom Mylott, one of our Senior Account Managers, got together with Eric and Jason Hadwin from the J F & E Hadwin Family Group.
From repairing vehicles on their family farm to winning multiple awards including 'Land Rover Group of the Year' two years in a row, Tom asked Eric and Jason some questions about the rise of their business and their views about the future of automotive retailing.
As part of our BUSINESS LIFE with REYNOLDS feature, Tom Mylott, one of our Senior Account Managers, got together with Eric and Jason Hadwin from the J F & E Hadwin Family Group.
From repairing vehicles on their family farm to winning multiple awards including 'Land Rover Group of the Year' two years in a row, Tom asked Eric and Jason some questions about the rise of their business and their views about the future of automotive retailing.
1) The J F & E Hadwin Family Group started out by repairing vehicles on your family farm, how did the idea to scale the business come about?
When Dutton Forshaw decided to relocate further south, Eric made a call to Land Rover UK to see if they would be interested in us becoming their retailer and that was the start of our partnership with Land Rover. We followed a similar growth path to that of Land Rover with the addition of Range Rover, Discovery, Freelander (now replaced with Discovery Sport) Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Evoque and finally the Range Rover Velar. The addition of each model brought a new group of clients.
Another large decision was which DMS provider should we choose. Well, we chose KDMS, a system run by Kalamazoo at that time and as the business grew so did the demands on the system and it became apparent after twenty years that we needed to change our DMS again. After reviewing the market, we decided on continuing the relationship with Kalamazoo, now Reynolds and Reynolds and have the POWER DMS, which we still rely on today and we could not manage without it.
Jason and Toby (Eric’s sons) joined the business and our next expansion was a service centre in Kendal, followed by becoming a full retailer on the site we occupy today. Then the owner of Ribblesdale Land Rover contacted us, as they were planning to retire and asked if we would be interested in buying their business. So before too long Ribblesdale was added to our business portfolio and we became a group.
The next change was a surprise to the whole JLR network as JLR announced their vision of the future was with one partner for both Jaguar and Land Rover per market area. As Jaguar is another iconic brand, we could hardly resist. After some negotiating with the team at Dobson’s - the then Jaguar retailer - we became a partner with Jaguar too. Along with Jaguar came JLR's vision of the Arch facility - one modern look for the whole network - and this is what you can see today at our Kentdale site.
We are still investing in the future as we have outgrown the original site at Torver and are planning a move down to Greenodd, where we will have a lot more space so we can continue to deliver our award-winning service to a growing customer base. The motor trade is always evolving and we hopefully will keep evolving with it on into the future.
Jack and Eric looked at all the alternatives, the Austin Champ and others and nothing came near to the Land Rover so we stuck it out until we did secure the agency.
1) The J F & E Hadwin Family Group started out by repairing vehicles on your family farm, how did the idea to scale the business come about?
When Dutton Forshaw decided to relocate further south, Eric made a call to Land Rover UK to see if they would be interested in us becoming their retailer and that was the start of our partnership with Land Rover. We followed a similar growth path to that of Land Rover with the addition of Range Rover, Discovery, Freelander (now replaced with Discovery Sport) Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Evoque and finally the Range Rover Velar. The addition of each model brought a new group of clients.
Another large decision was which DMS provider should we choose. Well, we chose KDMS, a system run by Kalamazoo at that time and as the business grew so did the demands on the system and it became apparent after twenty years that we needed to change our DMS again. After reviewing the market, we decided on continuing the relationship with Kalamazoo, now Reynolds and Reynolds and have the POWER DMS, which we still rely on today and we could not manage without it.
Jason and Toby (Eric’s sons) joined the business and our next expansion was a service centre in Kendal, followed by becoming a full retailer on the site we occupy today. Then the owner of Ribblesdale Land Rover contacted us, as they were planning to retire and asked if we would be interested in buying their business. So before too long Ribblesdale was added to our business portfolio and we became a group.
The next change was a surprise to the whole JLR network as JLR announced their vision of the future was with one partner for both Jaguar and Land Rover per market area. As Jaguar is another iconic brand, we could hardly resist. After some negotiating with the team at Dobson’s - the then Jaguar retailer - we became a partner with Jaguar too. Along with Jaguar came JLR's vision of the Arch facility - one modern look for the whole network - and this is what you can see today at our Kentdale site.
We are still investing in the future as we have outgrown the original site at Torver and are planning a move down to Greenodd, where we will have a lot more space so we can continue to deliver our award-winning service to a growing customer base. The motor trade is always evolving and we hopefully will keep evolving with it on into the future.
Jack and Eric looked at all the alternatives, the Austin Champ and others and nothing came near to the Land Rover so we stuck it out until we did secure the agency.