Jardine Motors UK was created in 1981 when Jardine Matheson acquired a stake in the East Anglian motor company;
Lancaster Group, from its founders Ronald and Nicholas Lancaster. Jardine Motors UK was at one stage the largest UK automotive group by turnover,
History Lancaster Group was established in 1969 when Ronald and Nicholas Lancaster took control of a
Ford dealership in
Ongar, Essex, where Nick had been working. By 1981 Lancaster were running
Mercedes-Benz,
Porsche,
Ferrari and
Volvo dealerships in
East Anglia, and Hong Kong–based
Jardine Matheson purchased a 76% holding in the company. Jardine took total ownership of Lancaster plc in 1992. Nicholas Lancaster left the business to run Malaya Group plc, which would purchase
HR Owen in 1994. Wiggins BMW,
Winchester in January 1995, Polar Motors in February 1995, and Appleyard Group in October 1997. The merger with Appleyard resulted in Jardine becoming the largest UK dealer group that year. By the end of 1998, Jardine announced a joint venture with the manufacturer for its Ford dealerships, a venture which by the end of January the following year had purchased Dagenham Motors. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Jardine struggled to integrate the Appleyard businesses and saw profits slide, but acquisitions soon resumed. Polar Ford purchased three North London dealerships from Stripestar in May 2002 and Alperton Ford in February 2003, before Jardine sold their 51% stake in the joint venture to
Ford Retail Group in March 2004. Jardine posted strong results for 2005 and continued its expansion with new dealership openings such as
Lamborghini in
Reading and McLaren in
One Hyde Park in London and by purchase of existing dealers from others; e.g. Milcars BMW in 2003, Marshall Honda in Reading in 2006, Pilling Land Rover in Welwyn Garden City, Merritts Jaguar in
Amersham in 2010, the Wayside Group in 2011 and five Toyota and Lexus sites in 2012.
Today Jardine Motors UK today have 70 sales and service locations across the UK representing
Aston Martin,
Audi,
BMW,
Ferrari,
Jaguar,
INEOS,
Land Rover,
Maserati,
McLaren,
Mercedes-Benz,
MINI,
Porsche,
Smart and Jardine Select. Although some dealerships historically operated under a variety of brands including Scotthall, Appleyard, Minories, Abridge and Clover Leaf Cars, all dealerships now operate under the Jardine brand. ==Zung Fu Company==