New North West dealerships for Meridian

Meridian Motor Group has today announced plans to build a flagship Hyundai dealership in Stockport, Greater Manchester, bringing new investment to the area and creating over 25 jobs.

The deal will see Group turnover increase to more than £200m a year and will be Meridian’s tenth acquisition since January as the business celebrates its ten year anniversary.

Following the purchase of a prominent site at Kings Reach in Stockport, the business will spend £2.5m building a state of the art car dealership. Trading under Meridian’s ‘Vantage’ brand, work on the new dealership will begin later this month, with a completion date scheduled for summer 2014.

Located next to the M60 motorway, the site will be Vantage’s biggest Hyundai dealership, filling one of Hyundai’s most important open points, and will feature a ten car showroom, an eight bay workshop and space for 60 used cars.

To further extend the Hyundai footprint in the North West, Meridian has also received planning permission to build a new ten car showroom on the site of the existing Vantage Toyota dealership in Preston.

Work is expected to start in December with the new dealership expected to open in the late spring, creating 10 new jobs. In total, Meridian has invested around £5m developing its four Hyundai dealerships in Salford, Stockport, Oldham and Preston.

In the past 12 months, Meridian Motor Group has more than doubled annual turnover from £65m to over £170m and increased the number of sites from seven in Yorkshire and Lancashire, to 17 across the North of England and the West Midlands.

The business will increase annual car sales from 5,000 at the end of 2012 to more than 13,000 and increase its workforce from 180 to over 400 in the same period.

Meridian Motor Group managing director, Mark Robinson, said: “It’s been a remarkable year for Meridian and the Stockport acquisition is part of the final stage of a planned but rapid phase of growth that has seen us develop a significant Hyundai presence in Greater Manchester in under two years. I am extremely pleased to be able to start work on our Stockport Centre and to be able to bring new jobs and investment to the area as well as further developing our relationship with a great brand.

“After growing at such a pace, it is important that, once a couple more planned acquisitions are complete, the business enters a phase of consolidation to ensure that we are able to maintain the strong values and focus on customer service that has made the Vantage name a success. However if the right opportunities develop, we won’t rule out further acquisitions in the future as long as they add value to the business.”

Tony Whitehorn, president and CEO, Hyundai Motor UK, said: “Hyundai is delighted to be partnering with Meridian Motor Group as they look to expand their own, as well as Hyundai’s, brand presence in the region. When the two sites open, they will offer the highest levels of customer satisfaction in terms of sales and also service and aftersales support. We wish Mark Robinson and his team every success.”

Meridian was advised on the acquisitions by Judith Pike and team from law firm Walker Morris, David Chittenden of Colliers International on the property aspects and Indigo Planning who managed the planning process. The land transaction was acquired from Seddon who will also carry out construction work on the site.

Meridian Motor Group is based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire and counts Toyota, Lexus, Kia, Honda and Hyundai among its key brands. The group was founded in 2003 by Managing Director, Mark Robinson with the purchase of two Toyota centres, in Knaresborough and York.

The business opened its first Hyundai dealership in Salford in 2011 and now has four Hyundai dealerships across the North West of England, with 17 dealerships in total.

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