About Sytner Group

Sytner Group History

Sytner Group was founded in the 1960s by Frank Sytner and his brother Alan, owner of the famous Cavern Club. Established in Nottingham in 1968, Sytner became famous for selling BMWs as well as Specialist Used cars. Frank has always been renowned for his passion for cars, having won the British Touring Car Championship in 1988 driving a Prodrive BMW M3 and continuing a subsequent successful racing career. Following his racing success, Frank decided to devote his energies to developing the Sytner business.

Steady Growth

Expansion began slowly and steadily in 1993 with the acquisition of two midlands based BMW businesses and two years later diversification into other prestige marques began in earnest with the addition of Mercedes Benz, Ferrari and Audi. A year later Land Rover and Chrysler Jeep were added to the stable, with Porsche following shortly afterwards. By 1997, the prestige marques represented by Sytner were in double figures and the company decided to float on the stock market.

In 1998 a family-owned Jaguar and Land Rover business in Thames Ditton was purchased from Mr Guy Salmon. Mr Salmon had built a successful business based on providing outstanding customer service and today all Sytner Jaguar and Land Rover businesses bear his name.

The largest single acquisition in the Group’s history was made during August 1999 in the form of the Ixion Group. Overnight this almost doubled the number of dealerships in the Group and saw the addition of new brands; Saab, Volvo and Lexus.

From then on the Group continued to grow steadily, adding the Toyota brand to the Sytner portfolio. Sytner were conscious that the growth of the Group should be built on a culture of ‘Best Company’ and that the values and commitments of the business had to be robust when integrating new businesses. The Sytner Board firmly believed that if they recruited the best staff and provided the best training and working environment for them, they would in turn look after Sytner customers to the best of their ability. It made sound, simple business sense.

PAG acquisition

A landmark in Sytner’s history came in 2002, when Roger Penske, controlling owner of the USA’s second largest car retail Group (Penske Automotive Group) approached Sytner with an interest in purchasing the Group. With complimentary business values and a shared motor racing background it provided an ideal opportunity for PAG to expand their operations in the UK and on 12 February 2002 an agreement was reached. With 129 dealerships in 19 States, PAG employ more than 11,000 people and support the Group’s ambitious growth plans. Being part of a global organisation provided Sytner Group with the opportunity to continually improve customer service, create some of the UK’s most outstanding dealership facilities and offer unrivalled choice by sharing best practice with their American counterparts.

Following the PAG acquisition, former Sytner Group Chief Executive Laurence Vaughan took up the position of Chairman and Gerard Nieuwenhuys became Managing Director. The majority of the senior Sytner management team, along with the Sytner Group mission statement remain unchanged. Today Frank Sytner is retained as an advisor to the board, whilst continuing his motorsport career racing Historic sports cars on famous circuits such as Goodwood and Silverstone.

With opportunities for further investment and the backing of PAG, Sytner grew from strength to strength and in 2004 two multi-dealership acquisitions were made - Aston Green Ltd and Glenvarigill Ltd. Aston Green more than doubled the number of Audi dealerships in the group with a cluster of locations including in the South. Glenvarigill enabled Sytner to expand North of the border into Scotland with additions to the specialist division including Bentley, Ferrari and Maserati.

New head office building

To keep pace with the growth of the company  - now standing at nearly 100 dealerships and representing  almost 20 brands - a new head office building was purchased which brought the majority of the group's central services under one roof, including a new training centre, customer contact centre and IT support - the balance of Sytner's head office moved into this new facility just off junction 21 of the M1 during 2006.
In the same year the William Jacks Group Plc, consisting of 15 franchises representing BMW, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, MINI, Rolls-Royce and Volvo was acquired by Sytner and expansion continued with Chrysler Jeep in Bristol acquired from the Dick Lovett group.
The Sytner Group continued to grow at an impressive rate, whilst demonstrating an excellent performance within the prestige and specialist market. In 2007, acquisition continued apace with the purchase of nine Ryland businesses; these included the DaimlerChrysler Dealerships in the North East together with the BMW and MINI Dealerships in the west Midlands and South West.
Later in 2007 Sytner added to the year’s acquisitions with the Nottingham and Leicester Audi Businesses, previously owned by the John Fox Group plus the exciting acquisition of the historical Maranello Egham, further adding to Sytner's Ferrari and Maserati portfolio.

Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For

In late 2008 Sytner once again brought VW under their banner and also introduced Seat through the acquisition of the Richard Alexander Group. The success of Sytner and its growth lies squarely with its people. There is a strong ‘One Team’ culture underpinned by a daily framework and supported through a variety of ways for staff to have a voice; through the bi-annual Viewpoint survey, Dealer Principals’ Forum and regular Managers’ Conferences. During its expansion, Sytner are proud to have twice been named in the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For list (ranking 4th in the 20 best Big Companies to Work For) along with winning Automotive Management’s ‘Employer of the Year’ award in 2008.

Simply 'click here' to find your local Sytner dealership from the full range of manufacturers that we proudly represent.

We look forward to seeing you soon.