The team at Blue Bell BMW Crewe celebrated December with a toast to its 20th birthday as the Fourth Avenue, Weston Road based dealership reflected on its massive growth to date.
The Crewe dealership had sales of £40 million in the last full financial year, and it has seen a massive expansion from 11 in the original team at the start of 1991, including Barry Holt, Dealer Principal, to the impressive team of 90 staff today.
Barry Holt, Dealer Principal adds: “We opened for business at the end of 1990 with the official launch in March 1991 to celebrate the new BMW E36 3 Series. In our first year we sold 195 new and used BMW models. If you compare this with our last annual total of 1,592 cars, you can see the extent to which we have come over the past 20 years. During this period we have sold a total of over 16,000 cars.”
In 1996 Blue Bell BMW Crewe began selling the range of BMW Motorcycles, until 2007 when, due to the pressures of the expanding car range and site capacity, the dealership deleted Motorcycles from their portfolio.
In 2001 when the new MINI was launched Blue Bell BMW Crewe incorporated MINI into their existing showroom, and, such was the success they opened a completely stand alone MINI dealership in 2006 - one of the first in the UK with a full Aftersales facility for the MINI owner.
In 2000 Blue Bell BMW Crewe opened their own Bodyshop and merged this into their new enlarged Group Bodyshop in 2010. The dealership also opened a Smart Repair Centre on the site of the main dealership in 2010, offering repairs to interior trim, alloy wheels, minor scratches and dents.
Blue Bell Crewe has sponsorship arrangements with Crewe Alexandra Football Club, DeVere Wychwood Park and Simon Wakefield the European Tour Golfer, who successfully regained his tour card by winning the 2010 Tour School Final in Spain.
The dealership has firmly embedded themselves into the local community by becoming involved with many charity and Mayoral functions, and are members of the South Cheshire and East Cheshire Chamber of Commerce’s.
Moreover, the dealership is not without its celebrity supporters, who have attended many showroom events in the past. These include Charlie Boorman, and Simon Pavey who both have taken part in the Dakar Rallies, Gary Wolstenholme, the highest awarded amateur in the world of golf and Simon Wakefield of the European Tour. Russ Swift has been to the MINI dealership demonstrating his precision driving in a MINI and there have been a host of football celebrities, many of whom are their customers.