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Iconic Holden dealer switches to Ford

One of Australia’s biggest and longest serving Holden dealers has switched to Ford, in a showroom swap that would have once been unthinkable.


The former Suttons Holden dealership in the Sydney suburb of Homebush will soon start selling new Ford cars after a dealer agreement was finalised last week.

The new name – Suttons Ford – may not roll off the tongue for many die-hard Holden fans.

The Suttons Group may not be well known outside of Sydney, however it is synonymous with Holden cars in Australia’s biggest city.

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Suttons has been selling new cars since before Holden was established under the ownership of General Motors.

The Suttons family started selling cars in 1943 and quickly secured a General Motors Holden dealership after the brand was launched in 1948.

While the dealer group has made millions of dollars over seven decades – including during Holden’s hey day from the 1960s through to the late 1990s – it has been a bumpy ride over the past few years.

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Much to the shock of the industry, Holden head office did not renew the dealership agreements with two of five Suttons Holden sites in 2017. The two locations were among approximately 30 Holden dealers who did not get renewed.

At the time, Suttons installed Nissan (Homebush) and Kia (Waitara) in place of Holden showrooms – which may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise. 

Nissan and Kia came close to overtaking Holden in the national sales race the very next year – and both brands defeated Holden convincingly the year after, ahead of the lion brand’s demise in early 2020.

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According to the Suttons website, Suttons was established as a dealer in 1943 by the late Sir Frederick Sutton, the father of Laurie Sutton, who now owns and operates the Suttons Group with his two sons, Craig and Ryan.

Today, the Suttons Group has 24 dealership sites covering multiple car and truck brands, including Toyota, Hyundai, Honda, Nissan, Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Renault, Subaru, Volvo, Jaguar-Land Rover, Porsche, Isuzu, Hino, Kenworth, and Iveco.

Until now, Suttons had never represented Ford.

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Joshua Dowling

Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of that time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as motoring editor and one of the early members of the Drive team) and News Corp Australia. He joined CarAdvice / Drive in 2018, and has been a World Car of the Year judge for more than 10 years.

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