SsangYong moves HQ from Luton to Swindon

Published by

Nicky Godding

SsangYong Motors UK Limited, the importer of SsangYong vehicles and parts from South Korea, has confirmed the move of its headquarters from Luton in Bedfordshire to Swindon, Wiltshire.

The company said the new head office will provide SsangYong Motors with a modern and flexible working environment with sufficient parking for employees and visitors and has capacity to operate its national next day parts supply service to its franchised dealers. The motor company has signed an agreement to lease with Stroud-based logistics company Howard Tenens, which owns Europa Industrial Park in the Stratton St Margaret area of Swindon with immediate effect.

Kevin Griffin, managing director at SsangYong Motors UK, said; “The move to Swindon allows room for growth of the business and ample room for meetings and collaboration, as Ssangyong moves into the next phase of development, including its investment in pure-EV (electric vehicles). We can also operate our national parts delivery service to our franchised dealers from the same site and be closer to our import centre at the Royal Portbury Docks in Bristol – which was a big consideration for us.”

Last week Mitsubishi Motors in the UK wrote to all its UK franchised retail partners to tell them that the Japanese car manufacturer was pulling out of the UK and European new car markets.

Mitsubishi cars have been imported into the UK by the Cirencester-based Colt Car Company since 1974. The company, which seems to have had no prior inkling of the announcement, said that it would attempt to accelerate its plan to bring other emerging brands into the UK to replace the space left vacant by Mitsubishi. The company turns over more than £500 million annually and employs around 350 people.

SsangYong's new offices are located at Europa Business Park, Parsonage Rd, Stratton St Margaret, Swindon SN3 4RN.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.