The Motor Trade Rich List

With the recently published Sunday Times Rich List showing more losers than winners this year we thought it would be interesting to see who, where and how much is the worth of the major players in the car business. So here we have a selection of UK motor trade high rollers, who, with one exception, have seen the problems of the badly hit car business hit their own fortunes. 12 of the 13 people featured in our list have seen close to a whopping £1.2 billion wiped of their fortunes compared to this time last year. The one exception being Euro Car Parts founder Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia whose fortune has remained the same at £100m. However, these are, of course only “paper losses” and you won’t see any of these people down your local Job Centre Plus queuing up for income support just yet. But is there proof enough here that there is still money to be made by running a successful motor business properly? What we could be looking at is a rationalisation and maybe there is a bright future in new and used car sales. One thing is for sure, next year will make very interesting reading indeed!

	Jack Petchey worth £495m pos.102 down £445m on 08 Although not as active in the car trade he sold his majority stake in EMH (European motor holdings) to Inchcape in 2007. In 1999, he set up the Jack Petchey Foundation as he wanted to give opportunities to young people in London. Over the last nine years he has donated over £50million to schools, clubs and projects which benefit young people in London. He is by far and away our richest car hero.
	Bob Edmiston, worth £300m pos. 178 down £220m Founder of IM Group, Midlands-based Subaru, Daihatsu and Isuzu importer and boss of IM Properties.
	Sir Arnold Clark worth £265m pos 215 down £100m The Arnold Clark Motor Group are probably Scotland’s biggest dealer group and run several VW franchises; they have just branched into the car supermarket world with a new £12m operation in Stafford. Very volume orientated.
	John Madjeski worth £250m pos 222 down £150m Although not in the business anymore we couldn’t ignore the founder of Autotrader which he sold for £175m in 1998 and which has since gone on to be the Google of the UK used car advertising world.
	Peter Dawson worth £159m pos 358 down £39m Milton Keynes based truck rental group Dawson Group are major players in this sector.
	Sir Peter Vardy worth £140m pos 388 down £10m Controlled the Reg Vardy group before its sale to Pendragon in 2006 for £506m which netted him and the family £124m.
	Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia worth £100m pos 540 Founder of the Euro Car Parts operation which specialises in sourcing cheaper car parts for a number of cars direct. Valued at £75m.
	Jack Tordoff worth £100m pos 540 down £110m Chairman of northern based JCT 600 multi franchise car group valued at £90m.
	Tony Bramall worth £92m pos 594 down £28m Sold CD Bramall to Pendragon for £230m and picked up £75m for his 33% stake. A heavy investor in car dealerships including Lookers now 5th in the top 100 dealer groups.
	The Jaffe family worth £80m pos 694 down £40m One of the most established London car dealers through all the good times and bad. Coined the unforgettable catchphrase ''Currie Motors nice people to do business with''. Lots of ex Currie Motors employees have gone on to be industry heavyweights. Sadly the charismatic South African Abe Jaffe who ran the firm died recently.
	Colin Giltrap worth £72m pos 782 down £30m Big investor in luxury London based dealer HR Owen.
	Michael Marshall; £72m pos 782 down £12m Marshall of Cambridge well established family run dealer group along with other interests from aviation to engineering.
	Graham Dacre £70m pos 793 down £10m Sold his Lind operation to Inchcape in 06 and banked £96m. Based in Norwich and donates large amounts of money to religious causes. Deeply religous, when at the helm he would not allow any of his dealers to trade on a Sunday!