Defiant David Mylchreest is proud that the motor trade is in his blood and is bullish about the future for his family garage business.

Some folk were fearing the worst for the island’s car dealers with the arrival of multi-million-pound 'super garage’ Jacksons on Cooil Road, Braddan.

But it is apparent the island’s remaining car dealers are not going to go down without a fight and, for a start, the message from Mylchreests is anything but gloomy.

Chairman Mr Mylchreest said there were plenty of optimistic pointers for businesses such as Mylchreests and other established dealers in the island.

In a wide-ranging interview Mr Mylchreest:

Praised the company’s performance in the first six months of this year and said it was better than in the same period last year.

Told how he believes companies such as Mylchreests are holding their own in the face of competition from Jacksons, which is holding its launch weekend in a few days time.

Also revealed how his customers can still purchase brand new Jaguars and Land Rovers from Mylchreests despite ceasing to be a Jaguar Land Rover new car dealership a couple of years ago.

Praised the Mylchreests team for their professionalism and dedication to customer service.

Believes car businesses in the island are rising to the challenge of competition.

Said it is important that car customers have choice in the island and said it would be a ’shame’ if only one garage sold every type of car.

Vowed the Mylchreest family business is ’definitely here to stay’.

Mr Mylchreest led the motor trade opposition to the original planning application made by Channel Islands based Jacksons.

Sitting in his office in Millmount, New Castletown Road, Douglas, Mr Mylchreest, 68, said one of the firm’s advertising slogans is: 'It’s what’s behind us that keeps us in front’ and he said it was amazing the number of people who approached him and said they liked that message.

In an exclusive interview he said: 'It is our theme at the moment because we are obviously mindful of the competition that they [Jacksons] are going to give us.

'We don’t mind competition at all.

'I think people don’t like competition when it is unfair but other than that a competitor is what we all need to keep us going.

'Our aim is to give our customers an exceptional level of service and to get to know our customers.

'I think that has stood us in good stead over the generations that we have been operating this business.’

Mr Mylchreest said the market for new cars in the island is 'miniscule’.

He said: 'We all know it is a small market. The retail market for new cars in the Isle of Man year on year is under 1,000 new cars. It has been that for years.

'Everybody that sells new cars also sells used cars.’

Mr Mylchreest expanded on the situation with Jaguar Land Rover.

He explained that Jaguar Land Rover ’came to us two years ago and said: 'The Isle of Man doesn’t justify the sort of investment we require a deal-er to make to make a facility pay.’’

'They look to their main dealers worldwide to sell around 500 new cars a year.

That is impossible here because the island isn’t big enough.

'They [Jaguar Land Rover]recognised that the market here was not big enough for a standard JLR retailer. So as a result we were reduced from being a main dealer to being an authorised repairer.’

Mr Mylchreest said that at the time 'we were a bit unhappy about that. We’d have preferred to continue as a main dealer albeit with a reduced size facility compared to the normal UK sort of gin palace, if you like.

'But they were quite adamant. They had one set of standards for their dealer network worldwide and they were not prepared to drop their standards for an island location like you have here.’

But Mr Mylchreest stressed there was still a market here for new Jaguars and Land Rovers and ’we now source our new vehicles from a main Jaguar/Land Rover dealer in the Lake District, with the blessing of Jaguar Land Rover.

'So effectively they act like a wholesaler for us.

'The message I want everyone to know is that we are continuing to supply new cars to people in the Isle of Man who want new Jaguars or Land Rovers. It is important to make that point.

'We are able to source new vehicles to the exact specification in the same way that you could order a new car from a main dealer.

'And of course Mylchreests remains a fully authorised Jaguar Land Rover repairer.

'As such we have qualified and experienced technicians.

'That means any Jaguars or Land Rovers sourced from the UK main dealer in the Lake District, will have warranty repairs etc undertaken at Mylchreests, just as if it was supplied by us as a main dealer.’

He added: 'We have the authorised repair franchise and there is no reason to assume thatwe might lose it. As long as we maintain standards,which we are doing, we will continue to offer that service for the future.’

He added: 'We have represented the Jaguar and Land Rover brands for 50 years and will continue to do so for many more years.’

Mr Mylchreest said he talks often to Jaguar Land Rover and said he has had reassurance that there are no plans to take the brands elsewhere.

'I have had reassurances about that.

'It is true to say that Jacksons do have the franchises on Jersey but that does not mean they have them here and as I said earlier, JLR are adamant that the Isle of Man is not big enough for a full main dealer.’

And he revealed: 'In fact in the last 12 months we have sold around 50 new Jaguars and Land Rovers which is not far short of whatwe were doing before.’

Generally, Mr Mylchreest said that the first six months of this year have been very encouraging with ’significant improvement in turnover and therefore profit position, compared to the first six months of last year.

'And a lot has happened in the Isle of Man in the last 12 months. With all that has been going on, without saying an awful lot about that, we are having a better year than last year or indeed the year before.

'So we are quite happy with that.’

Mylchreests remains also the main dealer for Vauxhall, which they took on about three years ago.

Mr Mylchreetsaid: 'We are now the only Vauxhall service centre in the island.

'And at the end of the day Vauxhall is a mainstream vehicle brand.’

Mylchreests also sells Subaru and Mitsubishi cars from its site at Millmount, New Castletown Road.

The motor trade has been in the Mylchreest family for many years.

David’s grandfather set up a motor business in the 1920s with his brother. 'He was one of the first motor dealers in the Isle of Man.’

Mylchreests itself was founded in 1961 by David’s father Brian. The business moved to Millmount in 2001 having previously been in Westmoreland Road, Douglas.

Asked if the family business is here to stay Mr Mylchreest said: 'Absolutely.

'My elder son is in the business working alongside me.

'My younger son who lives in England is a director of the family business and I would not be at all surprised if my grandson, who is just about to go to secondary school, gets involved later. Like me he also has cars in his blood. I can see we have to protect it so he can come into the business as well one day.’

Asked if the arrival of Jacksons has made it more difficult for other car sellers to do their business Mr Mylchreestsaid: ’No I don’t think it has made it more difficult.

'Because I think customers actually like a choice. It does not matter how big a competitor is. That is just one place you could go as part of your choices.

'I think the customer wants to go to a number of dealers and look at cars.

'So the choice of businesses is important at the end of the day.’

Mr Mylchreest thought it would be a shame if there was only one car dealer in the Isle of Man selling every different type of car because that would not give customers any choice at all.

Meanwhile, Jacksons is preparing for what it describes as a 'massive launch weekend’.

As reported in Business News,Whitestone Garage Limited became the latest island garage to be taken over by Jacksons Motor Group.

The Ballasalla business agreed to transfer the Mercedes Benz and Smart sales and service business from its current Whitestone Garage location to Jacksons new, multi-franchise dealership in Braddan.

Eurocars on Peel Road and Buchanans on Isle of Man Business Park also went over to Jacksons.