Peoples Automotive has been presented with the BYD UK retailer of the year Award. The dealer group is ranked 55 in the Motor Trader Top 200 with annual turnover of £306.8m.
The group has its BYD dealership on Orrell Lane, Bootle selling the Dolphin, Atto 3, Seal, Seal UDM-I and Sealion 7 BYD models.
“Have just returned from Shenzhen, China, where we were presented with BYD UK Retailer of the Year 2024 in our first year of partnering with BYD,” said Peoples managing director Nicola Gilda.
“Thank you to Bono Ge, Steve Beattie, Adam Harkin and Simon Bisp for believing in us and encouraging us all the way to become your local and national heroes.
“And to Peoples BYD – brilliant job team, we are just so proud, thank you. Bring it on in 2025,” she posted on LinkedIn.
Peoples began representing BYD in January and Omoda and Jaecoo followed in September. Peoples has the highest customer satisfaction score in the UK for BYD.
Chairman Brian Gilda said in 2024: “When Ford were readjusting their dealer footprint which included taking out models, we had a huge volume which was going to get lost to it, particularly in the North-West of England where we were doing a lot of Ford Privilege business. We could not afford to take that diminution in volume by itself.
“We looked carefully at Chinese brands and as we were doing that, BYD and Omoda and Jaecoo knocked on my door. They had been looking for large conglomerates, public companies and local heroes.
“We had a leap of faith, we felt they were the right ones to deal with based on what we were going to lose in terms of product lineup.
“BYD have been very strong, Omoda and Jaecoo have a bit more to do in the marketplace and they understand that. The relationship is good it’s a blossoming relationship and there is respect on all sides.”
BYD has been expanding fast in the UK from a low base. Last year it sold 8,788 vehicles compaed to 1,158 the year before. It has been busy recruiting dealers over the past year to grow its presence In the UK.
