The re-naming of Benfield, the North East dealer group, bought by Lookers in September 2015 has started.

Benfield’s 30 dealerships and retail outlets across the North East of England, Yorkshire, Cumbria and the West of Scotland are being renamed Lookers.

Nigel McMinn (pictured), Lookers’ managing director, said, “Customers will now begin to see the first signs of the name-change at our dealerships as the new-signage and Lookers re-brand begins to take place.

“Benfield is a strong regional brand, steeped in family values and history. It has therefore been essential, since our acquisition, that our name-change and rebrand plans have followed a phased approach to take our customers on a seamless journey to the new Lookers brand and values.

“We said from the outset that the culture between the two business was a perfect fit and we are committed to preserving and nurturing this culture as well as putting in place new initiatives and retail standards, which allows our customers to benefit from larger scale investments under the Lookers brand.” 

Lookers has started a customer communications and re-branding marketing campaign, including increased TV and radio advertising, digital media and outdoor advertising, promoting ‘Lookers’ as the new name for Benfield.

“Lookers and Benfield both originate from family backgrounds and we have carefully designed and targeted the name-change and re-brand activity to effectively ‘combine’ the best of the two brands.

“Customer feedback and response has so far been very good.”

Several of the 30-strong Benfield retail outlets have had the signage changed so far and the full name change and re-brand due for completion in the spring.

Lookers now represents 31 brands across 160 dealerships, employing over 8,500 staff with a turnover of more than £4 billion, selling over 200,000 cars per annum.

> Lookers' TV campaign