Reg Vardy motors on upmarket drive

NORTHERNERS are moving into the specialist car market like never before, as more punters flash the cash and plug for a brand new Beamer over the more traditional Mondeo.

Sunderland-based car dealer Reg Vardy said the demand for aspirational brands such as Mercedes and Land-Rover was encouraging manufacturers to push through higher volumes.

'There's been a change in the dynamics and we are having to refurbish some of our premises to cope with the higher sales,' finance director Robert Forrester said.

'These are aspirational brands and if you look at the BMW 3 Series, it's now the seventh most popular new car in the country and up there with the Focuses and the Clios.'

Vardy said greater volumes are putting pressure on margins for specialist models, but predicted it should meet profit expectations for the recent financial year to 30 April.

Car sales are expected to be close to 200,000 and Vardy said: 'Market conditions for new and used vehicle sales have remained favourable since the interim results were announced in January.'

Analysts are expecting pretax profits to be between £40m and £41m, against £35.8m for 2002-2003.

Vardy has 90 dealerships and plans to hit 100 by the end of the current financial year in April 2005. It has no presence within the M25 and its closest branch to London is Milton Keynes.