It’s that time of the year again when the majority of us take that extrememly well earned break and head off to the seaside. Of course, the vast majority of us will already be aware of Scarborough’s position as the UKs first seaside resort and will be heading off to the beautiful North Yorkshire coast but some of you will be trying out different resorts.
And yet, not all holidays will be the same. Some of you will enjoy the beach, some the pier and others just being away from home and relaxing. Then we get to choosing gifts, postcards and keepsakes to remind us all of our time away. Now most of us will just bring a stick of rock back from our holidays but arriving on the newsdesk up here at the top of MotorMartin Towers was the following story of tourists visiting Devon that are taking larger souvenirs home – MG cars!
MG Motor Uk have informed MotorMartin that the well regarded Blights MG in Bideford, north Devon, is developing a thriving business in selling the latest MG cars to visitors to the holiday resort who find the dealership by chance. General Manager, Dave Chumbley, shared with MotorMartin that: “It’s amazing really, we’ve had three sales in the past week alone and all of the customers live miles away from us.”
The latest holidaying customer was Coral Taylor from Thatcham – 170 miles away from Bideford. She bought one of MG’s top-selling MG3 superminis. Coral explained to MotorMartin that: “I was in Bideford for a long weekend and fancied a test drive, which Dave kindly arranged for me on the Saturday afternoon.
“I loved it and spotted a bright yellow used one when we got back to the showroom and that was it – I just fell in love with it and signed up there and then.”
The Hello Yellow MG3 had in fact only just been part-exchanged by a couple who had ordered one of MG’s latest models, the MG GS sports utility vehicle, and that customer was another summer holiday buyer!
Dave Chumbley explained: “While we were servicing their MG3, they took our new MG GS demonstrator for a spin, they loved it so much they ordered one on the spot.
“Last week we took the MG GS to the North Devon Show which was packed with holiday makers and blow me, we took another order from a chap who was on his summer break down here.”
“There were other cars on show, but the MG GS was certainly the biggest attraction and it wouldn’t surprise me if we get more orders from tourists. It’s a trend that’s now building our sales very nicely!”
Meanwhile, MotorMartin is pleased to be able to report that MG’s summertime sales boom continues to accelerate with dealers up and down the country reporting record requests for MG3 and GS test drives and I’m not surprised as MG Motor UK have been working extremely hard to expand both their dealer network and brand awareness.
The UK marque is one of the fastest growing brands in Britain and is on target to set a new sales record in 2016, backed by an ever increasing dealer network. While the UK car industry is currently increasing by an average of 2.8 per cent, MG growth is more than five times that level with official figures showing the brand is up more than 15 per cent so far this year.
It’s more good news then for MG Motor UK and further evidence that MG is most definitely here to stay.
Where will you go?