Celebrating Unipart's 50th anniversary

Celebrating Unipart's 50th anniversary

In 2024 Unipart celebrated half a century of the brand, reflecting on its heritage, supply chain expertise and how it has become a great British business with global reach in 22 international markets.

Our origins

The Unipart brand was launched in 1974 to begin the transformation of the parts division of the state-owned car manufacturer British Leyland into a fast-growing consumer brand for all makes of cars.

A different approach

Within struggling British Leyland, Unipart was one of the few consistently profitable businesses. A growing retail presence was developed in a unique partnership with its distribution network to sell parts for all makes of cars, and batteries, oil, tyres, tools, and accessories to both trade professionals and do-it-yourself motorists.

Rapid growth

Over the next decade, nearly 600 Unipart shops and 100 Unipart Car Care Centres opened across Britain. ‘Thousands of parts for millions of cars’ and ‘The answer is yes. Now what’s the question?’, were national advertising campaigns that helped to shape the company’s ‘can do’ culture.

Management buyout

Unipart was subject to a management buyout in 1987 led by John Neill, who saw an opportunity to translate Unipart’s operational excellence tools and techniques, learned from Japanese Lean experts, into the logistics services sphere.

Jon Neill headshot in black and white from 1980s.
John Neill walking with Kind Phillip whilst giving a tour of a Unipart factory.

Royal recognition

Thanks to an ambitious diversification strategy, by 1994 Unipart had grown to become one of the UK’s largest independent logistics providers and had transformed its manufacturing plants into winning Britain’s best factory awards.

Expansion across sectors

Numerous customer successes, entry into the rail industry, international expansion, manufacturing joint ventures, and acquisitions in the technology sector, continued to underscore the business’s evolution and growth, shaping Unipart into the recognisable entity it is today.

A Unipart warehouse with a forklift shown in the aisle.
Unipart team members standing around a Unipart way board smiling.

Customer promise

What has remained at the core of the Unipart brand for the last half century is the customer promise: ‘To understand the real and perceived needs of our customers better than anyone else and serve them better than anyone else.’ At the centre of delivering our customer promise is The Unipart Way.

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