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An Ayrshire car dealership has embarked on a cheeky rebrand after German car giants said they couldn’t use the word ‘Mini’.
Bridgened Motor Group launched a new showroom stacked with almost 100 used Minis in December.
But car bosses in Europe ordered the Kilmarnock car garage to change their signage after being tipped off about the rebrand.
Bridgend claim that BMW, who own Mini, told the Ayrshire firm that they can’t used the word ‘Mini’ while trying to sell used motors and they can’t have the word on any signs, flags or their website.
Group sales manager, Mark Hawthorn told Ayrshire Live: “We were contacted by Germany a few months back and we acted accordingly when we received the request to change our signage.
“We never thought it would be an issue, a relatively small local family-run business specialising in used Minis in a small town like Kilmarnock. How many more used Mini specialists are there in the UK? Which I am sure will also be using the word MINI.”
Bridgend Motor Group penned a cheeky post on their social media: “We are sincerely sorry for our genuine mistake and for the avoidance of doubt, we sell used Minis and are definitely not a MINI dealer. We’re much cheaper.
“We changed our website, our flags and changed our signs in the showroom but this isn’t the end of the story, there’s more to come.
“We have been informed that it was someone local who informed MINI HQ in Germany about our oversight. We can only wonder as to why they would go to the effort of trying to object to a family-owned business, employing local people trying to add to the Ayrshire economy.
“No doubt their motivation will come to light sooner rather than later. They could have just come to us directly and pointed out our error, which we would have fixed, rather than sneak about at night taking photos to send to HQ in Germany.”
After sorting the issue with emojis and crossing out certain letters on their signs, Bridgend Motor Group was contacted again last week by BMW HQ in Germany to be told that the changes that were made are not enough.
Bridgend Motor Group took another step and changed their showroom sign to “iNi World” and continuing to sell iconic British cars and increasing their stock levels.
Their social media post further said: “We have asked German HQ many times to help us with what’s acceptable or unacceptable to which they do not offer any help or guidance which is a bit frustrating.
“We will continue to sell used MINI’s regardless of what our signs say. Bridgend Motor Group is proudly independent and we have been here in Ayrshire since 1930, and will be for many years to come.”
A spokesperson for the BMW Group, who own Mini, said: “We became aware that Bridgend Garage Ltd had been using the MINI brand name and logo to advertise their business.
“Only authorized BMW Group retailers are allowed to use the MINI name and logo, and therefore Bridgend Garage Ltd was asked to cease use of these assets to prevent confusion.”
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