A north-west of England dealer group has revealed a £1.5m expansion plan for 2013 which will allow it to add new franchises.

Chapelhouse Motor Group, which has five dealerships and employs about 200 people, aims to strengthen its presence in the region.

At Southport its two-site business with franchises for Kia, Suzuki, Fiat, Citroen and Hyundai is being completely redeveloped, with the existing Kia and Fiat showroom demolished to make way for three new showrooms.

The redevelopment began earlier this year with extending its shared aftersales workshop, also an authorised repairer for Peugeot and Saab, to a 12-bay facility with MoT testing bays.

Its two Chapelhouse dealerships in Warrington, selling Kias and Suzukis, will also be extensively refurbished to Kia's latest corporate identity, with Suzuki relocating to nearby a new home in Folly Lane, which is already home to the group's bodyshop.

Improvements are planned for its St Helens business, which represents Citroen, Kia and Suzuki.

In 2012, Chapelhouse received Suzuki GB’s award for the dealer with the greatest sales growth at their recent annual conference. Sales in 2012 were almost double those of 2011.

Chris Layton, group operations manager, said: “This is a really exciting time in the expansion and development of Chapelhouse Motor Group.

"We are now moving into a new phase that will introduce additional franchises to the Chapelhouse family and improve our existing facilities to enhance our customer’s experience”.

In 2012 Chapelhouse has sold more than 5000 new and used cars of all makes from across its dealerships.