Eye on Motor Trade The Roadmap To Success

Shelbourne Motors has been operating for 50 years this year. It is one of few family-run car sales businesses here yet one of the most forward-thinking. Directors Caroline Willis and Paul and Richard Ward talk to Business Eye.

The first ever car to be sold at family-run Shelbourne Motors in 1973 was a Corolla second-generation model from the Japanese brand, Toyota.

Today, the Ward family behind the firm proudly showcase that very same car to mark the business’ 50th anniversary.

The model, known for its ‘Coke bottle design’ by some enthusiasts tells a story of evolution in the car industry but it’s also something of a Shelbourne Motors mascot that depicts the mileage the Ward family has travelled over the years.

That very Corolla has retained its original tyres and brake pads from all those years back and flaunts the old-school workings of a solid motor pre-digitalisation in what is a point of interest for Shelbourne’s younger technicians. That alone tells a story.

“So much has changed over the years,” Paul Ward begins. “We’ve come such a long way since our father launched his forecourt in Portadown and it’s an incredibly proud moment to reach 50 years in business.”

Caroline Willis, who works alongside siblings Paul and Richard Ward, leading the Shelbourne Motors group, recalls the very early days when Fred Ward would sell cars with a young Caroline on his hip.

She says: “In January 1973 our father moved us from Newry to Portadown, opening a forecourt which was a blue wooden hut and just two petrol pumps. It became our home from home, and my father was the one-man band operating things. He then moved into car sales, and it’s been an incredible journey since.”

Today Shelbourne employs 175 staff who serve a customer base from across Northern Ireland, some of whom have been loyal to the family since Fred and his wife Barbara lived and breathed the business with their three young children in tow.

The Ward’s first forecourt would become the three children’s playground and the very place where they would learn the trade that makes them secondgeneration owners of the business.

Today the blue hut and the humble duo of petrol pumps are a distant memory, and the site is a sophisticated Shelbourne Motors multi-franchise site where it operates the Toyota, Renault, Nissan, and Dacia franchises, as well as a used car supermarket, rental division, and valet centre.

Caroline continues: “From we were no height on Saturdays we would be helping out and cleaning up. We were just integrated into it and lived and breathed the business since a very own age.”

Caroline worked her way up through the business. Paul and Richard began as apprentice technicians then onto sales and eventually management. Richard’s son has recently joined the business.

Success has beckoned for the family under the leadership of their father, but also during their own reign when they opened one of Northern Ireland’s most modern showrooms in 2019 in Newry. That would become the second Shelbourne site.

The £5m investment on Armagh Road is another multi-franchise dealership where it trades the Kia, Renault, Dacia, and Maxus brands as well as featuring a used car supermarket.

“We continually challenge ourselves and we always had plans to offer multiple brands,” Caroline continues. “I think you need to have more strings to your bow and that’s why we’ve expanded manufacturers and added news services and products to our portfolio.

Diversifying and keeping at the forefront of trends in the sector will help safeguard Shelbourne Motors over the next 50 years, Caroline says as it pledges a further £3m investment into the business.

The funding will be used to carry out a “major programme” of renovations and upgrades across its two multi-franchise sites, with the first element of the programme already in progress at the Nissan site where it has adopted the Japanese car manufacturer’s new visual identity.

The investment will continue across the vehicle retailer’s Portadown and Newry sites with the transformation of the Toyota, Renault, Kia, and Dacia dealerships in the pipeline.

The family says renovations will focus on modern, flexible, and sustainablefocused designs that will include updated “state-of-the-art” showrooms with the latest technologically advanced features, new car handover bays, enhanced customer service facilities and electric vehicle (EV) charge points.

Asked where they see the future of the car sales sector, the Ward siblings believe the rise of EV car sales will continue to grow ahead of the 2023 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales.

Richard says “We are really excited about the transition from petrol and diesel to electric cars. All the new electric cars we have launched in our showrooms recently have all had an impressive range of over 300 miles meaning our customers only need to charge once or twice a week.

“We have already seen the Northern Ireland EV charging infrastructure start to improve over the last 6 months so this will have a big impact on consumers decisions to make the switch to EV.

Looking at the Shelbourne roadmap for the years ahead, Richard says growth will continue, whether that’s on its current sites or new ones.

“We have plans to keep expanding. We have a great passion to drive forward and continue to be one of Northern Ireland’s largest family-run vehicle retailers.”