Quarter 1 Update
Everyone,
I just wanted to give you a quick update on some business information about Quarter one performance and ensure everyone had a chance to see the key actions we are undertaking to strengthen the business following my earlier Town Hall Meetings in 2025.
Q1 Highlights:
In a challenging trading period Drayton Motors had several outstanding performances during Quarter one and particularly in March.
The Group outperformed new car orders take by more than 339 units versus the same period in 2025.
The Group hit all Manufacturer New car targets for Q1.
The Stellantis businesses (Wilson & Co) beat most large Groups on renewals (selling cars to Customers who bought before) and also performed in the upper quartile on lead management and handling.
The Kia businesses came No.1 in the region for all Kia Dealerships and Grantham put in an outstanding performance to take the High Flyers prize for 2026 and win a trip to the World Cup! This was done through a truly exceptional team performance with 146 cars registered, a 32% EV mix and the site taking No.1 spot in both the Region and League. Well done to Lee Jones and the whole Grantham Team.
Both Service and Parts hit budget in March, and we look forward to further growth in aftersales as we improve the mix of work during the year and strengthen our red upsell, Service Plan and product sales.
Of course, a couple of other significant changes occurred during Q1.
Most notably our name alignment to Drayton Motors. This will give us the benefit of some huge economies in terms of simplification, not only on the Customer journey, but also in our back of house activities when setting up campaigns. It will also give our marketing spend much more impact and improve the performance of our overall ‘go to market’ strategy.
Our RJTK Academy also launched in Q1 and as we speak, we are delivering our 1st Sales Training programme at our Wakefield facility. We plan to turn this into a fully functioning Academy Centre to allow us to deliver the best training programmes across all aspects of our business. This aligns our Core Values and the integration of a CPD (continual professional development) and PDP (personal development plan) framework for all roles.
We will also soon launch our new website, which will go live in May. This will simplify the Customer journey and make it much easier to navigate the platform and get to your requirements quicker and easier. Along with the name change, we will see a big impact in activity across this platform.
Finally, on the 28th April, we will be having our Ryan Featherstone Charity Football Match at Boston United in memory of our colleague Ryan who passed away last year. We have a number of sponsors and tickets are on sale to attend the match. We are fielding two teams going head to head and all proceeds will be split between charities close to Ryan and his family. We hope to see you there.
Please accept a word of thanks from me and the Board of Directors for your commitment and dedication during Q1. We very much appreciate your efforts and hard work.
Kind regards
Chris Roberts
Group Managing Director
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