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TOP 100 dealer Ilkeston Co-op Motor Group has bought the 30,000sqm site in Derby formerly run by collapsed dealer group DC Cook as a five-franchise motor village.
The dealership, on Sir Frank Whittle Way, opened on 1 March. It incorporates Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Nissan franchises but over the next nine months Ilkeston plans to add three more franchises and refurbish the premises.
Tony Teatum, chief executive of Ilkeston, would not reveal the identities of the new franchises.
He said the group had 240 used cars on the site and planned to sell 2,000 used cars a year from the outlet. Grant Thornton, the receiver for DC Cook, claimed the dealership was Europe’s largest used car site.
Ilkeston claims to have safeguarded 60 jobs in Derby and plans to create 100 more.
Under DC Cook, which crashed into receivership in January, the site housed Alfa Romeo, Daihatsu, Fiat, MG Rover and Mitsubishi.
Managing director of Ilkeston Chris Elvidge said: “The site will enable the company to increase its presence in Derby.”
The group already has Hyundai, Mazda and Seat outlets in the city.
Though keen to emphasise that “this is a completely new dealership”, Elvidge said: “Ilkeston Co-op will continue to employ many of the people that worked at DC Cook.”
Excluding the new dealership, the group operates 14 sites in the east Midlands and has 24 franchise points representing ten manufacturers – Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Fiat, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot and Seat.
Ilkeston is leasing the Derby site from financial services company Standard Life. The lease had been held by Grant Thornton since the demise of DC Cook.
At the beginning of March, Grant Thornton announced the disposal of three DC Cook dealerships. The Wakefield site – formerly a Citroen franchise – has been acquired by Dixon Motors (tenth in the Top 200). The Jaguar franchise in Doncaster has gone to European Motor Holdings (21st) and Nissan Coventry has been taken over by Nissan Motors, trading as Westway.
The receiver said the sale of the Rochdale site, which retailed Alfa Romeo and Fiat under DC Cook, was “imminent”.
The sites in Barnsley, Macclesfield, Manchester and Sheffield are “trading normally”, according to Grant Thornton.