Motor Trader caught up with Athenea Automotive Group deputy CEO, Andrew Burn, who shared details behind the consolidation of Johnsons and Brayleys and plans for the future.
Q: Why did this consolidation make strategic sense now?
The timing reflects both the opportunity and the wider market reality. UK automotive retail has been consolidating for years, and the businesses that will thrive in the next decade are those with the scale to invest properly in people, technology and customer experience. Johnsons and Brayleys were both strong individually, but the combination creates something neither could have built alone. With currently 79 sites nationwide across 21 brands and close to 2,000 colleagues, as well as the backing for further investment in line with our long-term vision puts the group in a strong position for the future.
Q: Both businesses had established reputations. What strengths will Athenea Automotive Group preserve?
Both businesses were built on the same fundamentals – strong manufacturer relationships, loyal customer bases and teams who took real pride in what they delivered to customers. We were keen however to develop a brand that not only builds on this but is also reflective of our future vision to be a modern customer-focused automotive retailer of scale.
Q: How do you create a single culture while respecting and acknowledging the history and identity of both dealer groups?
It starts with acknowledging the history. Both Johnsons and Brayleys have been trading for more than 20 years but they have also expanded over the years through acquisition of other groups or businesses. Naturally it takes time to change a culture, it just simply does not happen on day one. It comes from the people that have been in the business through its history, working together and aligned on the future vision.
We have looked hard at what both businesses stood for and built the Athenea values from that foundation as a collection rather than imposing something from outside. When we talk about respect, integrity and team spirit, these are not new concepts for either business and often words found in many other company values. What drives the change is how as a team we adopt and act on these values to make everyone unite as one. Communication is key to this, we have worked really hard on keeping everyone informed and feeling a part of what we’re doing. We have a fantastic opportunity as a business to build something new and exciting that the team here are all really motivated about and getting behind – that’s what helps build the single culture.
Q: What have been the most challenging aspects of integration?
Naturally as part of an integration of this scale the people dimension requires the most care. When you bring two businesses together, every colleague is asking the same question: what does this mean for me? Answering that consistently, clearly and quickly and then following through on all promises is what determines whether an integration builds confidence or erodes it.
We made a deliberate decision early on to prioritise stability and communication over speed. The process and systems work is significant and will take some time but its largely mechanical. Keeping our 1974 people engaged and motivated through a period of change is the real work, and it is the one we have taken most seriously.
Q: Is there a competitive advantage that Athenea has that neither business had individually?
Yes. The combination of scale and relationship. Large listed groups have scale but often sacrifice the personal service that builds customer loyalty. Smaller independents offer that service but lack the brand breadth and investment capacity to serve a customer across every stage of their motoring life. Athenea sits in a position very few groups can credibly claim – national reach with a local dealer and customer centric mentality. That is not something that can be easily replicated.
The changes
Q: How will customers, manufacturer partners and employees experience the transition?
For customers, continuity first and improvement second. Same sites, same people, same service with a new name and, over time, more choice and a more personalised experience. For colleagues, more opportunity: more sites, more brands, more career paths than either business could offer alone. For manufacturer partners, a stronger, more invested relationships at greater scale and the early evidence of that is the brand additions we are already making across the network.
Q: How will the group’s relationship with manufacturers evolve as a larger business?
Scale brings responsibility as well as opportunity. A group of our size has a stronger voice in conversations with manufacturer partners on things like investment, representation, the retail proposition and we intend to use that constructively. The relationships that both Johnsons and Brayleys built were founded on trust, performance and close partnership, and that does not change. What changes is our ability to take on additional representation, invest in site improvements and demonstrate the volume and customer satisfaction data that deepens those relationships over time.
Q: What operational changes are likely to be noticed first?
The most visible in the near term will be brand additions across the network; customers will find more choice at existing sites. Behind that, the centralisation of group operations by the end of 2026 will create consistency of process and experience across all locations. The technology investments will surface more gradually, as more personalised interactions. These are not overnight changes but they are the ones that will define the Athenea experience over the next two to three years.
What does the consolidation say about the market?
Q: What does this development say about the direction of travel for dealer consolidation in the UK?
Consolidation is now firmly driving the market. The businesses that are struggling are largely those caught in the middle: too large to offer the personal service of a local independent, too small to absorb the investment pressures of electrification, digital retailing and regulatory change. What Athenea represents is consolidation done with intent and a deliberate strategy to build something that can compete at the top of the market while staying true to the values that made both legacy businesses successful.
Q: What advantages does scale deliver in the automotive retail industry today?
The obvious ones are buying power, operational efficiency and investment capacity. But the less obvious advantage is resilience. A group with 79 sites and 21 brands is not existentially exposed to the performance of a single manufacturer or the conditions in a single region. That diversification gives us the stability to invest through downturns and take a longer view than a smaller business can afford to.
Q: Does the scale needed to succeed in UK motor retail look different today than it did five to ten years ago?
Five to ten years ago, a well-run regional group with strong manufacturer relationships and a good local reputation could thrive without needing national scale. Today’s investment requirements have fundamentally changed that calculation. Electrification alone demands significant capital in infrastructure, training and physical changes to showrooms and workshops. Add digital retailing, FCA scrutiny of finance products and ongoing pressure on new car margins, and the cost base of running a dealership group has risen substantially. The bar is considerably higher than it was, and it will keep rising.
Q: How are you approaching investment when the industry is dealing with electrification, digital retailing and other developments?
Carefully and sequentially. Our immediate investment priority is the integration itself, the systems, processes and people infrastructure that makes Athenea function seamlessly as one business. Once that foundation is solid we can invest in customer-facing changes from a position of operational strength. On electrification specifically, our brand breadth is an advantage. We are not over-reliant on the EV transition timeline of any single manufacturer, which gives us flexibility that more concentrated groups do not have.
Q: Where do you think the biggest growth opportunities will come from?
Our immediate focus is maximising what we already have before adding to it. That means extending manufacturer representation across more sites, growing aftersales revenue through better customer retention, and ensuring our used car proposition reflects real expertise and personal service rather than volume alone. Aftersales in particular is significantly under-exploited across the sector. IFleet is also an area where the combined group has impressive heritage and a strong track record.
Q: What developments in automotive retail in recent years have changed the competitive landscape most significantly?
Three things stand out. The agency model experiment was instructive for the whole sector about the limits of disintermediation and the enduring value of the physical dealer relationship. The FCA’s focus on motor finance, which has raised the compliance bar significantly. And the acceleration of digital customer expectations – not that customers want to buy cars entirely online, but that they expect research, communication and post-sale experience to be as seamless as any other retail interaction. The dealers who are winning have understood that digital enables the human relationship rather than replacing it.
Q: What is the biggest challenge facing dealers over the next five years?
Margin pressure. The compression of new car margins as manufacturer direct models evolve, combined with the investment demands of electrification and the cost of running a compliant, well-staffed business in an increasingly regulated environment. The businesses that navigate it successfully will be those with diversified revenue and the scale to absorb investment without sacrificing service quality.
It is also worth saying that talent is a challenge the sector does not talk about enough. Attracting and retaining the right people at every level is going to be one of the defining competitive advantages over the next five years, and it does not get the attention it deserves.
Q: What ambition do you have for the group over the next five years?
To build one of the UK’s top three automotive retail groups and to do it in a way that everyone involved can be proud of. Not just recognised for our scale, but for what that scale enables: the widest choice for customers, the most personalised experience in the sector, the strongest and most valued manufacturer partnerships, and a group that the best people in the industry actively want to work for.
Across retail, fleet and aftersales, we want Athenea to be the business that changes what customers and clients expect from a dealer group, where they come not just because we have the right car but because they trust us to know them, to guide them and to be there at every stage. That is our long-term ambition, and we are under no illusion that it is achieved in five years. But in five years we want the foundations to be unmistakably solid, the direction to be unmistakably clear, and the reputation to be one we have earned rather than simply claimed – or bought.
The ranking will follow if we get those things right. That has always been the order in which we are thinking about it.
