Edinburgh Honda dealer Chathams is parting company with Honda.
What is remarkable? Chathams is a privately owned company that has been an Edinburgh Honda dealer for 40 years - must have been one of the first Honda dealers in the UK.
2 Branches in Edinburgh and 1 branch in Dunfermline this surely is a parting of the waves for both Honda and Chatham's.
Does anyone know the background?
Chathams has not gone bust will concentrate on Skoda and Great Wall!!
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Only deep background. Father traded in his 21mpg Triumph 2000 in early 70's for a 1340cc Honda Civic (at Chathams , Abbeyhill). Very cramped,slow and not that economical IIRC. Got rid after 9 months or so for an early, new, garish chromed Datsun Bluebird. Much nicer car and he'd a series of Nissans up to his early death. Also bought a 1 yo Mini for me in 1975 from Chathams, as a graduation present. Usual BL quality, or rather not, but fun to drive.
I'm an expatriate Skoda owner nowadays.
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>> and Great Wall
Ditch Honda to go with a chinese crowd? Wow!
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Hope their cars work a bit better than their website - Great Wall Wingle anyone ?
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The new Edinburgh Honda dealer is Eastern Western Group who currently sell
BMW, MB, Mazda, Toyota, Lexus, Smart, Saab, VW, Audi, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep................
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I know many years ago Honda started insisting that the dealerships were huge glass palaces. I was acquainted with the guy who had the Chippenham Honda dealership, and had been offered Bristol, but told me the demands of Honda were such that you could never sell enough units to even cover the overheads.
Subsequent dealership however did build in Bristol went to the wall after a while.
I think Honda's offering is quite slim whereas other manufacturers offer a wider range for example Honda don't have an MPV offering now do they?
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>> I think Honda's offering is quite slim whereas other manufacturers offer a wider range for
>> example Honda don't have an MPV offering now do they?
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If you look @ Honda UK sales they sell Jazz, Civics, CRVs but there are no volumes sellers, there is no sports car, there is no MPV, no competitor to the up and coming Kia/Hyundai Golf sized cars.
The Accord is priced near BMW/MB but is equated to Mondeos (big Ford discounts), Legend failed.
USA Honda have much wider choice but range is mostly large cars/ pickup with Petrol engines.
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They have no MPV - I wonder what % of Ford's sales come from Cmax / Smax / Galaxy?
Quite a bit would be my guess - over 25%?
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The Accord is priced near BMW/MB but is equated to Mondeos (big Ford discounts)
I am attracted to them but not at those silly prices.
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We have two very well renowned independant (I think) Honda dealers near us, Saunders in Chester and Two Mills just a short distance away at Ledsham (on the edge of The Wirral).
I hope nothing happens to them; Hondas are very prevalent around here - we're on our second Jazz and we can find ourselves in convoy's of them driving into town.
It's a pity Jazz has such an old person's image here - in SE Asia it's very much a young lads car.
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Two Mills seem to have a good reputation, neigbour here bought a Jazz from them. N Wales dealers Pentraeth - not really impressed, but there is a very rural dealer north of Harlech, the CRV went there for its last service, seemed thorough enough.
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Honda is losing market in UK because
* their model range is limited
* Kia/Hyundai is perceived as new Honda
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>> Two Mills seem to have a good reputation, neigbour here bought a Jazz from them.
When we bought wifey's current Jazz, the salesman we dealt with (who sold us the previous Jazz and has been there 20 years) had sold 4 new cars that day. They haven't followed up on my interest in the CRV diesel auto though.
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The Honda dealer for the Taunton area was once a family firm that had had the franchise since the early 1970s. They were dumped for a glass palace staffed by people who knew nothing.
Same over here. The franchise in Poitiers was a family firm that went back more than 30 years with Honda and had things like a 1st generation Civic, an NSX and an S800 in the showroom. Not any more.
It's a shame Honda seems to lurch from mistake to mistake these days.
Although I say it as shouldn't, I road tested a Kia Pride in the early 1990s and said its build and perceived quality was nearly Honda-like. I'm glad they didn't stick with the whitewall tyres though.
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The Honda outfit near me changed its name and more recently, apparently, Honda decided to group sales area so it changed its name and the old lot were out.
We too have an out of scale to the surroundings glass palace.
Previously it looked like this and had the likes of NSX on display
tinyurl.com/3ajhlno
Now it has a three story glass front.
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Chathams main Edinburgh site has changed little in 40 years - the new Honda dealership is a Crystal palace about the height of a 3 storey block of flats.
In Falkirk 10 years ago there was a small Vx franchise next to a small VW and a small Honda outlet a few hundred yards away.
VX moved to a tin shed and is still there under new ownership. VW moved to a glass palace and in 3 / 4 yrs and at least 2 owners it folded - nearest VW is Stirling 14 mls away.
The small Honda outlet then took over the VW Glass Palace and it has probably 6-8 times the floor space (Showroom and Workshop) and probably 5 x the external area. Unfortunately, IMHO it does not seem to be 6-8 x busier or even 5 x busier - motorbikes have been added but the overheads of this glass palace must consume £££s in rent/rates, heat not to mention maintenance (window cleaning!!).
I always thought a busy small garage was the one to own but that is only my opinion - maybe there are Motor Gurus who can justify the Glass Car Palaces that abound in the UK today.
Word of warning in an article in the DT, do not hand over cash to builders or garages etc in December to avoid the increase in VAT in January - The banks might see the healthier balances in the firms accounts and decide to pull the rug at the opportune moment (for them!!)
.
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Looks like the Glass Palace that failed VW in Falkirk / Grangemouth has just failed Honda. Drove past there a few weeks ago and it was empty. Has been taken off Honda website too. I live near the Stirling dealership but I struggle to remember ever having seen a 64 plate Honda outside the forecourt.
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Saunders Honda is now "Honda Chester". I don't know if that represents a change of ownership or just re-branding. I have no complaints of the dealership but the comments on the range ring true, plus adverse comments on the Civic are off-putting.
The Jazz was / is a good car but it was certainly a bit tinny compared to the Golf. She had a Lupo prior to the Jazz so if the salesman at Chester VW hadn't been an idiot she may have been driving a Golf or Polo for the last 5 years.
Wife regarded Honda Chester servicing as free parking while she went shopping! Might save a few bob, central Warrington isn't as appealing and it's hell to get into and out of.
BP, I thought you swapped to a Hyundai?
John
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Afraid Honda are the next "Saab" - difficult to survive on their own.
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Honda must have a new policy. Our local Arnold Clark is now Honda Stockport
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>> Honda must have a new policy. Our local Arnold Clark is now Honda Stockport
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Oh dear not another name change coming ?
IIRC Our local was
Guy Salmon Honda & Salmon Honda come up on a search
then Trident , Trident Honda ( still a website )
then Thames Honda,
then The Thames Honda Group
and now I see it is Thames Ditton Honda and the other four in the group are .. place name Honda.
Lots of consistancy around the country :-)
Nearby
Trident Honda Weybridge
Trident Honda Ottershaw
Yeomans Honda Guildford
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Honda has taken the franchise away from Arnold Clark in the Manchester Area Arnold Clark Honda in Manchester & Stockport is now owned by Swansway Group. Arnold Clark Altrincham is now a KIA dealership. All this happened recently
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Is the Honda importing company taking control of some dealers?
Something similar happened with Mercedes a couple of years ago.
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>> Honda has taken the franchise away from Arnold Clark in the Manchester Area Arnold Clark
Lexus took away Aberdeen new car sales from Arnold Clark 2 years ago and again this month they took away Glasgow and gave it to Eastern Western who run Lexus Edinburgh.
Is it musical chairs time or are there real and deep down changes happening in the ructions ?
It seeemed that long relations of outlets and manufacturers are cahnging more rapidly than in the past. Or is it just our imaginations?
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Newish dealership on the outskirts of bristol is now "bristol honda"
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"outskirts of bristol"
Up at Cribbs Causeway just down road from MB?
Talking of glass palaces - Audi W London takes some beating!
www.wejetset.com/magazine/2009/11/5/850/west_london's_audi_sh
But a sales bloke told me that when it was built the pillars were so close together they couldn't get the Q7 (or was it A8?) to the showrooms upstairs or workshops downstairs and it had to be modified at immense cost
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>> Talking of glass palaces - Audi W London takes some beating!
>> www.wejetset.com/magazine/2009/11/5/850/west_london's_audi_sh
Yes - not bad. I went there to look at an A5.
However, I'll see your Audi W London, and I'll raise you "Mercedes-Benz World" (or "Heaven" as some people call it)
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"and I'll raise you "Mercedes-Benz World" 2
I'm out!
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Yup, nothing in the UK beats MB World as car showrooms go.
They do fine cake and coffee too.
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>> Afraid Honda are the next "Saab" - difficult to survive on their own.
Not at all, small in the UK maybe, not so large in parts of Europe, but HUGE in the states.
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>> >> Afraid Honda are the next "Saab" - difficult to survive on their own.
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>> Not at all, small in the UK maybe, not so large in parts of Europe,
>> but HUGE in the states.
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A bit like KIA, small in the UK, (at the moment), but fourth biggest car manufacturer in the world.
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>> A bit like KIA, small in the UK, (at the moment), but fourth biggest car
>> manufacturer in the world.
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Care to qualify that ON ? Fourth biggest by what ? Miles shipped, volume, revenue, pot noodles consumed at lunchtime ???
Last edited by: gmac on Fri 12 Nov 10 at 19:06
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>> Sorry seventh in 2005, still pretty big.
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>> hubpages.com/hub/Top-Car-Manufacturers
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>> Fifth in 2009.
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>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry#By_manufacturer
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...and then when figures are combined with Hyundai. Not pure KIA numbers. Not knocking them by the way classic business case of right place, right time. The challenge now the Government giveaway i10 offer is over is how they keep it up.
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>>when figures are combined with Hyundai. Not pure KIA numbers.>>
Standard industry branding, Like Toyota / Lexus and Nissan / Infinity / Renault.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 12 Nov 10 at 19:29
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Small in the UK but as the others say, way more prevalent in the states. And unlike Saab, they are technically superb.
We've had this thread before, and the general consensus was that Honda just aren't interested in the UK in the way they are in other countries. A Civic estate would do me nicely (like the old aerodeck estate), but they don't do stuff like that anymore, at least not here.
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I'm sure the Accord does well in the USA, as does the Ford Fusion/Mondeo. After downsizing from the huge barges of the previous generation, Americans like the so-called D-segment size of car which has gone out of favour in the UK, where we generally prefer either Golf/Focus size or MPVs/crossovers.
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Honda - Chathams Honda is shortly to be no more - Glaikit Wee Scunner Snr. {P}
