About Harwoods

The Story of Harwoods Mr Percy Harwood, whose family had a Cycle Shop in East Cowes, served an apprenticeship at John Samual Whites, the Shipbuilders at Cowes. At the age of 21 he purchased the site of the original 'Lushington Garage' in 1932 for just £50.

1996- Present Day
Tony Clay the then General Manager became Dealer Principal and continued in this role until his retirement in 2002. Peter Hand took over as a shareholder and Managing Director in 2002 bringing over 20 years Franchise experience from Volvo, BMW and Land Rover, Stephen Harwood remains as Company Chairman and Paul Hunt, who joined Harwoods in 1985 is Sales Director. During this period we added the Fiat Franchise and this has quickly grown and become a very important part of our business. In 2003-04 there was a huge investment in our facilities including a major refurbishment of the Renault Showroom, Service Reception and Workshop areas. New systems were introduced the dealership obtained ISO 9001-2000 certification.

The concept and strategy of the company remains the same as when it was founded in 1933. That of the best possible level of friendly customer service, at an affordable price. To give this quality of care we will continue to invest in the latest technology and endeavor to create a happy environment for our staff to work in....

Harwoods Group History

1933-39 The original garage (now a Modern Fiat Showroom) was completed in 1933 and opened with one Buick Taxi, 2 Electric petrol pumps (the first on the Island) and a junior mechanic. In 1937 we became Ford Dealers selling about 6 new cars a year.

1939-45 During the war years the garage was one of three sites taken over by the Black Watch and Jersey Regiments. Mr Harwood worked for continuous years of nightshift for Samual Whites and still managed to run the taxi and repair business.

1945-58 After the war it seemed quite likely that in the future extra space would be needed and when the Gravel Pit adjacent to the garage became available, the 3.5 acre site was purchased. This was a far sighted decision and is still paying dividends.

1959-76 In 1959 we built the existing showroom and in 1960, in addition to the Ford franchise, we took on Renault and Singer (part of the Rootes group). In 1966 we became franchised dealers for Rover and Land Rover. By this time we had become overstretched in workshop and MOT capacity.

1976-88 In 1976 Stephen Harwood who had worked full time for the company since 1961 became Dealer Principal, it was at his instigation that we built to our own specifications a modern, high tech, 12 bay workshop to the rear of the Renault showroom. The original workshop was converted to a bodyshop. At the time of building the new workshops we installed our first automatic car wash. During this period the manufacturers became more demanding and it was becoming difficult to remain multi-franchised. So Renault became the dominant franchise.

1989-95 In 1989 a totally new company was formed with many of the staff members becoming Shareholders. Although the share structure has changed this same company continues to run the business today.