He does not like talking about key staff in the US for fear they will be poached.Ĭhicago aside, Joe Jaffe believes the company’s strength lies in London. Joe Jaffe has working stints there five times a year and spends an hour a day on the phone to US colleagues. Along with some finance business, the turnover in 1997 was £87.3m or 39.2 per cent of total turnover for Currie Motors.Īnd while operating profits before tax for Currie Motors’ total UK and US operations were £6.4m in 1997, the US operation accounted for 37.5 per cent or £2.4m. Currie Motors has Lincoln Mercury in Chicago, Chrysler in Forest Park and Countryside, Oldsmobile in Westchester, Ford in Frankfurt, and Pontiac, Mazda and GMC in Elgin. The contribution from the US Chicago-based business is substantial. Pre tax profits for the company have risen over the past four years from £2.2m in 1994 to £2.9m in 1995 and £3.3m in 1996. The 1996 figures put Currie Motors in 31st position in the Motor Trader Top 200 by turnover if the US interests are included. In the year to April 1997 turnover was up 10.9 per cent to £222.9m compared to the previous year with pre tax profits up 38 per cent to £4.5m. The oil company Shell has a tie on the site for 25 years which is up in November, when Jaffe intends to develop the site and put in a new franchise.Ĭurrie Motors is doing fine although both Abe Jaffe and managing director Joe Jaffe never pull back from a lament over the small margins which apply in the motor trade. The office in Twickenham remains without a franchise. It’s a diverse selection in marked contrast to the solus Ford operation prior to 1992. Its most recent acquisition was Clockhouse Toyota in East Barnet, part of the Ferney Engineering Group. The company’s sites now include Lexus in Reading, Vauxhall in Stamford Hill and Finchley, Toyota in Kingston-upon-Thames and Molesey, Honda in Hounslow and Edmonton, Peugeot in Surbiton and Southend, Saab in Wimbledon, Renault in Twickenham, and Suzuki and Mazda in Wimbledon. Currie is back where it was in the boom 1980s, albeit on a lower margin.įollowing the split in 1992, all 12 sites, with the exception of the Twickenham headquarters, were refranchised. This performance gradually tailed off to £3.6m in 1992, the last year it was with Ford, and, while declining marginally in 1993 to £3.57m, it has since grown to £6.36m in 1997. At its height, Currie made profits before interest charges of £6.4m in 1988. The big question was whether Currie Motors could successfully switch to other brands without damaging profitability. This contravened the Ford dealer agreement. Ford pulled all the franchises because the new ones competed directly with Ford products from premises within Ford territories and close to Ford outlets. The Currie Motors name had become synonymous with the Ford franchise and once Currie said it was to take on Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Peugeot and Vauxhall, the gloves were off. It did not represent any other manufacturer at that time so the departure was a step into the relative unknown. In 1992 it split with Ford, giving up all 12 of its franchises in the capital. It’s a company that is prepared to take the big risk. In the last Sunday Times Rich List, Currie Motors chairman Abe Jaffe was estimated to be worth more than £60m. It has also built up a large motor dealer business in the US over the past 17 years, which is reflected in the wealth of its owner. The company now owns most of the 20 properties it operates from in London.
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