Asian entrepreneur moves on from the Euro Car Parts group he founded

Mr Singh got his big break in 1978 when he borrowed £5,000 from his father and Barclays bank to buy a struggling car parts shop in Willesden, north London, called Highway Autos. A year later his Euro Car Parts group formally hit the road.

In a message to staff, LKQ president and CEO Robert Wagman and chairman Joseph Holsten related how Mr Singh had transformed Euro Car Parts into the “powerhouse it is today”.

LKQ saw revenues increase by 23pc last year to a record $5.1bn (£3bn). The latest accounts for Euro Car Parts filed at Companies House, for the year to December 31 2012, show a 32pc rise in pre-tax profits to £41.4m on sales up from £340m to £438m.

Mr Singh stood to make a further £55m if the company hit growth targets for 2012 and 2013, partly deriving from Euro Car Parts’ expansion into Europe.

Mr Singh once declared that he took a simple approach to business, saying: “My philosophy is that the customer is always right, even when he is wrong.”

Mr Wagman and Mr Holsten said the business could “never have accomplished what it did in such a short period without Sukhpal steering the ship”. They added that, although he was “moving on, he has offered to give us his help or advice as we continue the deployment of our European strategy”.

When he sold his business in 2011, Mr Singh said: “This new partnership with LKQ will help the Euro Car Parts management team continue our rapid expansion in the UK market and to explore additional opportunities throughout Europe.”

It is believed, however, that he is more suited to entrepreneurial life than working for a US-listed group. Mr Singh declined to comment.

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