The Toyota franchise in Gloucester has been sold by D Salmon Cars to Shaun McElhinney, the former operations director for Essex Park Toyota in Wickford, Essex.

Mr McElhinney says he plans to redevelop the site immediately with work to remove the petrol forecourt to increase the retail space and customer parking nearing completion. The site will be rebranded Colchester Toyota.

"There is a lot of work to be done before our customer launch on July 14. The Salmon family have represented Toyota in the Colchester area for more than 25 years and their record on customer care is exceptional. I aim to build on that and in conjunction with Toyota's excellent new produicts and its class leading low cost of ownership the future growth potential is superb."

Despite the upgrade to the current site, Mr McElhinney plans to relocate to one of two locations in Colchester under consideration and open a purpose-built centre fulfilling the requirements of Toyota GB's retail concept, unveiled in March which will see £40m transformation of its network.