7:27 am, May 26, 2020
The founder and owner of a dealership group that has gone into receivership after nearly 14 years has made an appeal to others in the industry to help him find work for his employees.
Terence Byrne, who established Progress Bedford in October 2006, issued the plea via LinkedIn after the group, which had a Suzuki dealership each in Kettering and Milton Keynes, folded, as reported by Car Dealer on May 21.
With just days to go before dealerships nationwide are poised to reopen, Kettering-based Progress Suzuki became an economic victim of the coronavirus pandemic, having had to pull down the shutters in March along with all other dealerships in the UK.
In an announcement on Progress Suzuki’s Facebook page, the company says: ‘The necessary, justified and forced closure of the dealerships at the end of March has ultimately led to the reopening being untenable and just too much for the business to bear.
‘This is despite our working relentlessly and tirelessly to continue to find a way forward amid these incredibly difficult times.’
Highlighting the human toll of the Covid-19 pandemic ‘which has devastatingly swept in and … taken lives’, it also tells of the destruction caused to livelihoods and companies, saying: ‘Very upsettingly, after many years of operation we are one of those casualties.
‘We are certain, hopeful and pray that soon again the sun will shine on us all and the motor Industry will again flourish.’
But it adds: ‘We are saddened that we will not be able to play our part in that future.
‘To not be able to look after our precious customers is the most painful and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their generous and much-appreciated business over the years.
‘We are very sad that we will not be able to serve them in the future as we wanted to do.’
In his LinkedIn post, Byrne, 49, says: ‘The impact of Covid-19 has hit all of our lives hard.
‘I really would like to reach out to any motor retailers in the Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire and surrounding areas to say please make contact with me and I can play my part in helping these great people find their next role. They really are absolute world beaters, and some of the best I have worked with in my career.’
It is unknown how many people have been affected by the closure, but roles are being sought for technicians, master technicians, sales executives, administration and accounts teams, as well as managers.
Progress also used to have four Skoda dealerships but it offloaded them to Marshall Motor Group in early 2019.
People concerned about warranties and servicing on their Suzuki vehicles are being told to phone the customer service team.
More: Progress Suzuki parent company believed to have gone into receivership
More: Marshall completes dealership acquisitions for £3.5m to become UK’s largest Skoda retailer
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