The son of a Hull trawlerman, Trevor Finn is not afraid of hard graft. When faced with a setback, the chief executive of Pendragon, who started work as a trainee mechanic at 15, aims to work his way around it.

“It’s mechanical thinking. You go from A to B to C to D and, if disassembling, it’s the reverse. And when you see ways of improving processes, you do it,” Mr Finn said recently.

The mindset should serve him well as the company tries to reenergise flagging sales as overindebted consumers cut back on cars in both Britain and the United States. Yesterday Pendragon said its annual profit would miss market expectations and cut its forecast for next year, blaming falling used car margins and tough US trading.

Pendragon, Britain’s biggest car dealer, floated in 1989 when the conglomerate Williams Holdings demerged its motor offshoot, which at the time had 19 dealerships.

Mr Finn, along with Sir Nigel Rudd, the chairman, realised that UK car sales were a highly fragmented market and embarked on an acquisitions spree. Among the purchases were the Midlands rival Evans Halshaw for £118 million and CD Bramall of Yorkshire for £268 million. Its biggest buy was Reg Vardy Group, clinched last year. A rival offer from Lookers forced Mr Finn to raise his final bid to £509 million, a steep 18 times earnings. Pendragon now sells a variety of marques including Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Ford and Vauxhall – under a number of dealer brands, including the upmarket Stratstone and Evans Halshaw for mainstream models. Although the UK accounts for 95 per cent of its sales, the company has also developed its American business.

At the same time Mr Finn, who earns £795,000 a year, has built his own reputation. Mr Rudd, who met Mr Finn in 1981 when he was, at 23, the youngest general manager of a BMW dealership, said of him: “He was one of the fastest thinkers I have met. He would have been a fantastic derivatives trader and he had a wonderful ability to lead.”

The 50-year-old father of three, who lives in Derbyshire with his wife, has a penchant for sports cars and jukeboxes.