A family-owned car dealership that started as a rural garage has introduced customers to its new brand of motors. 

Independent dealer David Hayton Ltd has launched a Mazda franchise at its newly refurbished premises in Station Road, Kendal. 

Over the past 40 years, the Hayton family has moved from farming to become a leading independent car business and now employs 130 staff across six sites from Southport to Carlisle. 

Former farmer David Hayton originally saw an opportunity when he built his first garage in Bolton, near Appleby, in the 1960s. His wife Eleanor’s family were also farmers and livestock hauliers. 

Son Chris, who trained as a car mechanic aged 16 and is now managing director of the company, said: “My parents bought a house in Bolton, built a garage on the orchard and started doing mechanical work while at the same time buying and selling wagons. Mum did all the bookkeeping and cleaning cars. 

“I worked alongside him and painted some second-hand cars and sold some and travelled all around the country picking up stock. That’s when I became part of the business really. In 1989 we had the opportunity to move to Penrith and start a garage there, so we bought land and moved.” 

The company has been a Peugeot, Nissan and Volvo dealership over the years. Chris’ brother Phillip became a director of the business in 2008. 

With Chris now at the helm, the business continued to acquire new dealerships at locations across Cumbria and Lancashire. 

In 2017 they spotted opportunities in the second hand market and opened the first car supermarket in the county on Gilwilly Industrial Estate in Penrith. 

“We went from having 40 used cars on one site to 250-plus vehicles,” said Chris. “We have always been into used vehicles. We sell around £7m a year compared to £2m worth of new ones. It’s a growth area.” 

The growth of the internet has helped increase exporting cars to right-hand-drive markets across the world, including prestige models such as Bentley and Lamborghini 

“Everything is so close to us all now,” says Chris. “Twenty years ago you could pick up the local paper to see which cars were advertised and occasionally somebody would travel from Manchester to buy a car from you. These days we’ve sold cars to Hong Kong, China and New Zealand.” 

Although auto-trading has changed since his parents founded the company, Chris said the David Hayton approach remained broadly the same. 

“We have used the same model that has been successful elsewhere,” he said. “It’s a matter of working hard, being passionate, believing in what you are doing and enjoying it.” 

Mazda’s UK managing director Jeremy Thomson said: “Chris is doing a stunning job with Mazda at an exciting time for the brand.”