Lifetime achievement award for John Clark
John Clark, Chairman and Managing Director of Scotland’s John Clark Motor Group has been named as winner of the lifetime achievement award in the Scottish Autotrader Awards.
The lifetime achievement award recognises John Clark’s successes over more than 40 years in the motor trade in Scotland:
- starting as a management trainee with Ford
- establishing his first car sales business initially operating from an Edinburgh flat
- building the John Clark Motor Group to a projected turnover of £300 million, with 13 dealerships and 600 employees.
The John Clark Motor Group is now established as one of Scotland’s top three motor dealership groups and in the top 30 across the UK. It operates businesses from Edinburgh, through Kirkcaldy and Dundee to Aberdeen.
Commenting on the lifetime achievement award, John Clark said:
“It really is a great honour to receive this award from the industry that I have been in all my working life.
“From the beginning of my career with Ford, then developing and growing my own business, I have maintained a belief in a simple formula for success. If we have the right products, combined with high levels of customer satisfaction, we will stand out in a hard-fought market.”
The award was collected, on behalf of John Clark, by his daughter Victoria Reid who, along with her brother Christopher Clark, represents the next generation working in the family business.
It was during his school days at Stewart’s Melville College in Edinburgh that John Clark developed his vision. In an era when garage businesses were often sparse and dingy, John dreamt of immaculate premises, where uniformed staff courteously dealt with customers, attending to all their motoring needs.
It was also at this time that he developed his enthusiasm for motor sport. He was brought up just a few hundred yards from the premises of Scotland’s famous Ecurie Ecosse racing team and was used to drivers like Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Ron Flockhart as the team prepared for their next races.
At the age of 17, John Clark joined Ford’s management trainee programme. Then, in 1967 he took the first major step towards his own motor trade business with the establishment of Lothian Sports Cars. Initially operating from his business partner’s flat, the business expanded, acquiring the franchise for Reliant Scimitar sports cars, Lotus, then Aston Martin, before opening a branch in Aberdeen in 1972.
In 1977, realising the entrepreneur’s desire to be in control, John Clark bought out his partner’s interest in Aberdeen and, with the BMW franchise secured, the first John Clark BMW dealership opened its doors.
Over the years the BMW franchise – which the John Clark Motor Group represents in Aberdeen and Dundee – has been joined by Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Mini and Land Rover. The John Clark Motor Group companies now also include Commercial Vehicle Innovations, producers of specially adapted buses to meet the latest disabled access regulations.
John Clark’s motor sport career has run in parallel with the motor trade. Regular saloon car races built up to a first full season driving in the prestigious British Touring Car Championship in 1988. More recently he has switched to compete in classic and historic car races at circuits such as Spa-Francorchamps, Monaco and Macao.
ends
CAPTION: John Clark (right), Chairman and Managing Director of the John Clark Motor Group, with son Christopher (left) and daughter Victoria Reid, in front of the John Clark BMW dealership in Aberdeen.