Major car brand dealership to close branch less than five years after takeover

A DEALERSHIP chain representing a major car brand is set to close one of its branches less than five years after being taken over.

The former family-run showroom was acquired by a motors giant in 2018 but is now shutting up shop.

Vertu Motors, who own popular car sales chain Bristol Street Motors, have announced the closure of their Skoda outlet in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

Bosses made the call that the store was no longer "viable" and would need to be cut loose.

However, they insisted that the closure is a "one-off" and emphasised the strength of the firm's relationship with Skoda and its parent company, the VW Group.

Staff are now engaged in a "redundancy consultation" process with an announcement on their futures expected shortly.

Vertu confirmed that it aims to reshuffle employees to its other dealerships but that job losses were likely.

The collapse of the branch comes just five years on from Vertu snapping up The Hughes Group, a family business that had operated in the Aylesbury and Beaconsfield area since it was founded by Michael Hughes in 1955.

The Hughes name has been retained but its dealerships are listed on Bristol Street's website.

The 2018 takeover also saw Vertu acquire Hughes' Mercedes showrooms in the two towns.

On the closure, a spokesperson for the company said: "After operating the Skoda business for over four years, we have assessed the expected future profitability of the franchise in this location and have determined, following discussions and agreement with Skoda, that retaining the franchise in its current property is not a viable option.

"We understand this is a worrying time for our colleagues at this dealership and have started a period of redundancy consultation with them.

"We hope to re-deploy many of these colleagues to our other dealerships in the local area.

"Our relationship with Skoda and the wider Volkswagen Group remains very strong and this isolated decision is not part of any wider portfolio review."

Skoda declined to comment.

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