Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2010 | Page 71

motoring

Island Life - October/November 2010

Photos: Above - Nick Holmes, Janice Kennedy,
David Biles, David Hodgetts, Graham
Vanassche. Right: arriving in style.

Northwood Honda
begins a new era
After working at Northwood Garage
for the past 34 years, and being the
owner for much of that time, Graham
Vanassche has moved.
But his customers will have little
trouble finding him, and can still rely on
his quality service, as he has travelled
barely a quarter of a mile down the
road to open new premises known as
Northwood Honda.
So while the original Northwood
Garage retains the Mazda franchise,
the new showroom is exclusively for
customers who want to buy Honda
cars, and can be found at 260 Newport
Road, the former site of Somerton
Garage, opposite the entrance to BAE
Systems.
Graham’s father opened Northwood
Garage shortly after the Second
World War, and Graham took over the
business when his father retired.
He explained: “We have had the
Honda franchise on the Island for just
over nine years, and they appreciated
that we had done a good job for them,
so they decided they wanted a bigger
showroom and exclusive premises,
enabling the Honda customer to have
the Honda experience.
“We have been talking about it for the
past few years, and eventually we put

Photo: Mr & Mrs Roger Mazillius

our neck on the line and decided to
go for it, even though economically
times are still a bit tough.”
The new facility includes a 11-car
showroom compared with the former
five-car showroom, and all the staff
are dedicated to Honda, including Ian
Elliott, the sales manager and Colin
Kill, the service manager. They have
been with Graham for many years,
and are all looking forward to seeing
Photo: The Honda demonstrator
the Honda business grow on the
Island.
Photo: Guests enjoying the opening
Graham cont