How It All Began
The Joe Duffy Motor Group began life as Joe Duffy Motors in 1970 as founders Joe Duffy and Bill Thompson opened their new premises on the Ballygall Road in Glasnevin.
Joe and Bill had previously worked together for Denis Mahoney Motors but when they decided to start their own business they began with only 4 staff (including themselves!) and only 1 garage. The business was originally a used car dealership, however in 1972 Joe and Bill were awarded the 1st solo BMW Dealership in Ireland.
At that time BMW had a very small market share in the country however that began to change as Joe Duffy became one of the most successful BMW Sales people in the country. In 1972 200 BMW’s were sold in Ireland – Joe Duffy’s contribution was 50% of that figure!
Their continuing success led to Joe and Bill becoming the first BMW dealership to sell 1000 new BMW’s, they were given the award for having the highest retention rate of BMW customers in Europe and they continued to grow the Service and Parts section of the business to have the highest ration of parts to square footage in the world!
In 1976, Joe Duffy Motors opened their 2nd premises in Jamestown near to Dublin Airport. This site was primarily a service centre to cope with the growing reputation of Joe Duffy Motors as a centre of excellence in maintaining cars to the highest manufacturer standards.
In 1980, the directors began the first major renovation of the premises in Glasnevin to help with the growth of the company. In Bill Thompson’s own words “the hardest thing to do in business is maintain excellent customer relationships when your are growing” but this was always one of the fundamental tenants of the philosophy of how Joe Duffy Motors conducted business. And indeed throughout the 80’s when 1/3 of all Irish businesses were going out of business, Joe Duffy Motors was continuing to grow in reputation and sales.
Joe Duffy himself retired in 1983 handing over the reigns to Bill Thompson and Owen Crenigan. At the time of his retirement – Joe Duffy Motors employed over full time 15 staff.
In 1985 the 2nd major renovation of the Joe Duffy Site was undertaken, again to modernise and keep up with the continuing growth of the business.
In 1995 the decision was made to consolidate the Jamestown and Griffith Avenue sites in order to increase the services offered and capacity to serve our customers to the best of our abilities.
Up until 1999, when Bill Thompson decided to leave the business he had started almost 30 years previously with his friend and business partner on a full time basis – Joe Duffy Motors had continually innovated and borne witness to an astonishing period of change and modernisation in the Irish Automotive industry. Some of the major influences on the market were the growth in popularity and competitiveness of Japanese vehicles, the transfer of financing products from UK based to Irish based firms as well as the size ratio of servicing capabilities to showroom capacities!
In 2005 the business was restructured by the shareholders and a new CEO was tasked with further developing the business and building on the foundations which had been so solidly built over almost 35 years of care and passion for customer service by the founding fathers of our business - Joe Duffy and Bill Thompson.
If you would like to learn more about the founding fathers of our business please click here
If you would like to learn more about the redevelopment of Joe Duffy Motors into its new and exciting modern shape as a revolutionery new model for the Irish Motor Industry, please click here
