22.10.09 A Driving Force in Showroom Expansion

The boss of North East motor dealership has joined forces with Whelan to make and sell towers so hard-pressed car dealers can cheaply expand their showrooms as the beleagured market recovers.

Steve Hodgson, boss of Newcastle based dealership Hodgson, has formed a new business Autopod Solutions UK with Tony Whelan of Newcastle based firm Whelan Construction, which will provide modular units that can be stacked in a tower to allow firms to increase capacity at a fraction of the cost of building an extension.

The pair have launched the venture after Mr Hodgson struggled to find the space investment to open up an additional showroom , a problem that had faced the industry long before the onset of the economic downturn.

With a small tower measuring eight metres high and 10 metres across allowing room for nine cars, the pair believe the new business will prove a big hit among dealerships in the North East. They are looking to provide additional solutions to the motor trade, including mobile fabricated workshops and small scale multi-storey parking systems, which will be manufactured by German firm Nussbaum which are also providing the display units.

Hodgson now plans to install all three structures between its sites in Swalwell, Gateshead, and the Silverlink, Newcastle, with Whelan already completing the groundwork for an eight-storey tower at the Gateshead site, which will create 20 jobs and grow the car dealers profits beyonf £1m.

The tower's eight levels will hold 32 vehicles and will be held together by a central lift and is also being sold as a more environmentally-friendly way of adding extra showroom space.

Although Mr Hodgson said that it would be unlikely that firms would be given the the go-ahead  to build a structure higher than their adjoining showroom, he said that Gateshead Council had said they would give the current tower the green light.

Mr Hodgson said," The new tower will be seen from miles around and will, really set us apart from other dealerships in the area. Much has been made of the scrappage scheme of late, but I do think that providing a good service and not being scared to invest has been far more important to this business. I am now excited to be working with Tony on such an exciting venture and we have already attracted a lot of interested parties who are looking to add extra capacity, but aren't able to achieve it through traditional expansion."

Hodgson, which was founded in 1959, has already added 12 jobs to it's 150- strong workforce, this year, as well as introducing a Mitsubishi franchise to it's existing Mazda, Toyota and Suzuki operations at the Silverlink.

The firm began when Les Hodgson took over a bankrupt filling station in Seghil, Northumberland. He built it up and he attracted the SAAB franchise in the early 1960s' which he ran until 1975, when Mitsubishi Colt was taken on, before switching to Hyundai and Isuzu and then Mazda cars.

After adding Suzuki and Toyota it acquired the vacant Minories Honda site in Swalwell, near the Metrocentre and earmarked it for a massive £4m re-development project, which opened for business in late 2005.

"The plan is to roll out the units across the country and use the Gateshead site as the flagship tower"

Mr Hodgson said, "As for the Hodgson business, we are excited to be bucking the trend at the moment."