CAR dealer group Glyn Hopkin is celebrating its 25th anniversary, having opened its first car dealership in January 1993.
Founded by local businessman Glyn Hopkin in the early 1990s, it started out as a single Nissan site in Romford, but now represents more than 10 brands across 45 sites within the South East — including 14 Nissan dealerships — and employs more than 800 staff.
Glyn Hopkin has been under the leadership of Managing Director, Fraser Cohen, since 2003. Cohen was Sales Manager when the business first opened, and subsequently progressed to General Sales Manager, Sales Director, then Group Operations Director, before taking up the top position of Managing Director to date.
He said: “After 25 years in business, Glyn Hopkin is still going strong, and 2018 will be packed with numerous celebrations to mark this exceptional achievement. Our continued success is testament to more than 800 caring and hard-working employees, many of whom have been a significant part of the business since we opened the doors of our very first dealership in 1993.
“What began as a single-brand showroom in Romford has evolved into an award-winning privately-owned car dealer group with many sites across the South East, and turnover of more than £450 million. Our focus on unrivalled customer service has been central to our success to date, and remains at the core of our future business strategy.”
Glyn Hopkin’s success has been recognised in recent years with a string of prestigious business awards. For the last seven years, it has been ranked in the Sunday Times Top Track 250 list of the UK’s fastest-growing mid-market companies, finishing 33rd in 2017. On a local level, it was number one in the ‘Essex Limited’ survey of leading businesses across the county for the last two years.
The most significant proportion of Glyn Hopkin’s business is with the Nissan brand, and the Japanese company has also bestowed some of its highest awards on the UK dealer group.
For three consecutive years, its Nissan Chelmsford site was recognised with a Nissan Global Award — the highest honour given to Nissan dealers on a global level. Glyn Hopkin is in fact the only business to have won it for three years in succession. In 2017, Glyn Hopkin became Nissan’s largest independent retail partner, opening its 14th dealership in Stamford Hill, North London.
Employee turnover within the wider UK automotive industry is typically high, but Glyn Hopkin bucks the trend with numerous instances of long service. Six members of staff, including two directors, have been with Glyn Hopkin for 25 years from the first month it opened. Several other current directors — including Ken Birch, Jon Beveridge, Paul Sozzi and Stuart Hodson, now Operations Director — joined the business in its very early days. As of the end of 2017, 108 members of staff had been with the company for between 10 and 20 years, while a further 36 had been employed for more than 20 years – totalling a combined 1,800-plus years of service.
In April 2017, Glyn Hopkin reached a milestone of 2,000 sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles from its dealerships, with the majority being the Nissan LEAF. Its Nissan Waltham Abbey dealership supplied the very first LEAF model sold in the UK in 2011, as well as the very first British-built LEAF in 2013. Last year, Glyn Hopkin Operations Director, Stuart Hodson, collected Nissan’s ‘EV CEO Award’, as one of just 25 representatives in the world from Nissan dealers recognised for their electric vehicle sales performance.
Glyn Hopkin has worked continuously with several suppliers since its inception, reflecting its own commitment to reward quality and service with loyalty. The business has maintained 25-year relationships with suppliers such as Supagard, for car care products; Royal Bank of Scotland, for its corporate accounts; and Admark, for its advertising and marketing.
