The site often has a Morgan parked out front, to attract buyers walking past.

Given its location, a stone’s throw from London’s museum quarter and Hyde Park, the dealership attracts more than its fair share of tourists and every person that crosses the threshold leaves with a postcard. This is more than just an exercise in good PR – the idea is that these postcards are sent to family and friends.

“You can imagine on a sunny day we have the cars outside – people come up wanting their photo taken. The knock-on effect from that is that we are doing really well from international sales,” said Barrell.

But it is not just tourists to whom the word has spread. London Morgan has one customer who travels from Durham, passing four or five other Morgan dealerships en route.

“We don’t operate like a motor trader. We wanted it to become a destination as opposed to just somewhere that people can buy a car,” said Gibson.

Across the cobbled street sits its sister company, Monaco Volkswagen, which forms part of the same group, giving the dealership access to additional resources, such as parts. London Morgan runs the ADP dealer management system, which Gibson said works well, but did not find the most user-friendly system.

Having access to Monaco Volkswagen’s service department and facilities helps London Morgan to tailor its aftermarket process as well as the initial buying journey. When a customer buys a Morgan, they are assigned a personal technician, Frank Rodriguez, who has his own ‘stable’ to work on Morgan vehicles. Frank has all the knowledge and diagnostic equipment required and receives ongoing support and training from Morgan. Customers also have the opportunity to speak to him about the problems they may be experiencing.

“We don’t forget our customers when they’ve bought a car,” said Gibson.

 

Building the London Morgan brand

London Morgan works closely with an event organiser to improve awareness of the dealership and its cars. These include special events for international buyers, providing display cars and offering factory tours or a weekend in a Morgan as raffle prizes.

“We want to sow the seed, and with these little events, just having the car there creates interest from people who perhaps weren’t familiar with Morgan,” said Barrell.

London Morgan also allows designers and artists to use its space for events and exhibitions, which brings new prospective customers to the dealership. The art is available to buy, but visitors are often distracted by the Morgan vehicles in the showroom.