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EVANS Halshaw has swapped Vauxhall for Ford in Brighton, ousting Inchcape and leaving local firm Frosts with one of the country’s biggest Vauxhall territories.
The Midlands-based group will swap signs on its Old Shoreham Road premises from Vauxhall to Ford over the new year holiday. Inchcape has already announced that it is relinquishing its Ford franchise in the town “by mutual agreement with Ford”.Frosts will in turn take over the Vauxhall territory from Evans Halshaw but will merge it with its neighbouring Shoreham operation where it already has a dealership. The company also has a dealership in Haywards Heath, north of Brighton, which will leave it with a combined market area covering much of East Sussex.
The company, ranked 198 in the Motor Trader Top 200, plans to open three new sales and service centres and increase staff by a quarter to 250. The move comes 40 years after Frosts took on its first Vauxhall franchise and managing director William Frost said it placed the company “among the top 50 Vauxhall dealers in Britain”. Frosts will turn over £38m this year and expects to boost this to £50m in 1998.
Evans Halshaw commercial director Mike Bowe said the company “saw an opportunity” to take on the Ford franchise in Brighton. It already has Vauxhall dealerships in Horsham and Crawley, but its only other Ford territory in the region is Winchester.
Inchcape, which traded as Brighton Ford, is to close two premises in the town. However, it has turned one of its satellite branches into a Wadham Kenning-branded used car centre.
Meanwhile, dealer group TC Harrison has extended its grip with Ford in the East Midlands, acquiring the Burton-on-Trent Ford dealership from Lookers. The area neighbours Harrison’s existing Ford territory in Derby.
The company said all existing management and staff would transfer to the new company. TC Harrison’s Midlands regional director Myron Nykolyszyn said the group could “pass on innumerable benefits” to the Burton dealership, including access to 1,500 used vehicles and a combined parts stock which would treble current availability.
Burton’s accountant, Terry Earp, who stays with the new firm, said another benefit would be the availability of Ford’s specialist vehicles for the first time. Harrison’s Derby outlet is a so-called SCORS (Sports, Coupe and Off Road Specialist) dealer.
The company, ranked 198 in the Motor Trader Top 200, plans to open three new sales and service centres and increase staff by a quarter to 250. The move comes 40 years after Frosts took on its first Vauxhall franchise and managing director William Frost said it placed the company “among the top 50 Vauxhall dealers in Britain”. Frosts will turn over £38m this year and expects to boost this to £50m in 1998.
Evans Halshaw commercial director Mike Bowe said the company “saw an opportunity” to take on the Ford franchise in Brighton. It already has Vauxhall dealerships in Horsham and Crawley, but its only other Ford territory in the region is Winchester.
Inchcape, which traded as Brighton Ford, is to close two premises in the town. However, it has turned one of its satellite branches into a Wadham Kenning-branded used car centre.
Meanwhile, dealer group TC Harrison has extended its grip with Ford in the East Midlands, acquiring the Burton-on-Trent Ford dealership from Lookers. The area neighbours Harrison’s existing Ford territory in Derby.
The company said all existing management and staff would transfer to the new company. TC Harrison’s Midlands regional director Myron Nykolyszyn said the group could “pass on innumerable benefits” to the Burton dealership, including access to 1,500 used vehicles and a combined parts stock which would treble current availability.
Burton’s accountant, Terry Earp, who stays with the new firm, said another benefit would be the availability of Ford’s specialist vehicles for the first time. Harrison’s Derby outlet is a so-called SCORS (Sports, Coupe and Off Road Specialist) dealer.