Grimsby looks set to lose its Volkswagen dealership.
A break notice has been served on the lease of the prominent site alongside the A180 entrance to the town, with an agent appointed to openly market the site.
It is understood Marshall Motor Holdings, the Cambridgeshire-headquartered group behind the franchise, will consolidate its sales and service offerings into Scunthorpe.
Read more: Motor business plugs into a greener future post-pandemic in new ownership
A number of jobs are set to go, with staff informed of the imminent closure this past week.
The company has yet to respond to enquiries, with Volkswagen UK also initially unavailable for comment.
Built as part of the £8 million Dixon Motors village in the early Noughties, allowing the now Tesco development to emerge off Victoria Street, it is one of 19 VW retailers within the Marshall stable. The business is also behind the BMW and Mini franchises in the town.
VW imports its cars to the UK via Grimsby, with the terminal entrance just metres from the West Coates Road site.
While the past few years have been tough on the automotive industry - 2021 registrations were down almost 30 per cent on pre-pandemic levels - VW does boast two of the top 10 models sold in the UK in the Polo and Golf range.
The sector had entered the pandemic with Brexit uncertainty hitting big ticket purchases, while production shutdowns and parts shortages were brought by the pandemic, with customer mileage plummeting and the microchip issue emerging as longer lasting industry concerns.
Now war in Ukraine is driving the cost of living up, adding to the pressures.
Duncan Willey, divisional director of PPH Commercial, has been appointed by the site owner. He said there had been lots of interest in the property already.
While new car sales have been hit hard, used purchases are buoyant, with generic supermarket approaches, powered by online sales, surging.
Other dealerships continue to invest though, with Read Motor Group only recently unveiling new premises for its MG and Suzuki franchises.
West Coates Road itself has seen the relatively recent arrival of DM Keith, buying out Westgate Motors’ Honda, Seat and Skoda interests. Right Car and CarSupermarket, the latter recently bought out from Hessle-based Motor Depot by Stellantis’ used division Aramis Group, complete the complex with a repair facility and MoT provider.
Do you follow BusinessLive Humber on LinkedIn and Twitter? Click to join the conversation.
