John Clark Motor Group is to invest £4 million in two new motor dealerships in Aberdeen, bringing the total of its current investment programme in the city to around £8m.

The Aberdeen-based group - number 22 in the spring 2013 AM100 - has planning permission for two new purpose-built dealerships at the new Balmoral Business Park in Aberdeen, for John Clark Mini and Specialist Cars Nissan.

John Clark, chairman and managing director of the John Clark Motor Group, said: “These new developments confirm the group’s continuing commitment to Aberdeen, where I established the original John Clark BMW dealership 36 years ago.

“As the largest and most established premium car supplier in Aberdeen the local market is extremely important to us. The new purpose-built Mini and Nissan sites will provide our dealership teams with the facilities they need to develop their businesses and provide the very best levels of customer service.

“These new developments come at a time of considerable expansion in the John Clark Motor Group, following what has been a very successful year.

“In June this year, we acquired four Jaguar and Land Rover dealerships in Edinburgh, Perth and Cupar and these are already operating successfully under our Pentland banner.”

The Specialist Cars Nissan and John Clark Mini dealerships will share a 3.5-acre sites at Balmoral Business Park, with excellent visibility from the A956 main road into Aberdeen from the south.

The new Nissan dealership – designed to be a flagship European dealership for Nissan  – will extend to 15,074 square feet. The eight-car showroom, with vehicle hand-over bay, will be fully glazed to provide visibility from the main road.

The new dealership will cater for electric vehicles, with a specialist service bay and Nissan Leaf recharging points. The opening will also mark the Aberdeen debut of the high-performance Nissan GT-R sports coupe, with a dedicated high-performance vehicle display area in the showroom and specialist servicing bay.

The eight-bay workshop will also have specialist servicing facilities for electric and 4x4 vehicles, plus a separate MoT test facility.

Alongside, the group will build a new Mini brand centre. Finished to the latest Mini CI standards, the fully-glazed facade of the new dealership will have full-size glassfibre replica Minis attached to the front.

The 8,070-square-feet dealership building will have a 12-car showroom, plus a separate enclosed hand-over bay and four workshop bays to cater for the growing MINI family.

On the site of the two dealerships will be a 2,044-square-foot car valet and 'smart' repair facility.

The new dealerships are scheduled to open in April. The opening will create 20 new jobs immediately with further employment expected as the businesses develop.

At the same time, the John Clark Motor Group has just acquired the former Alliance Centre on Aberdeen’s Greenwell Road, which is currently being redeveloped to create a multi-franchise pre-delivery inspection centre, valet and 'smart' repair facility.

The new premises will also house the group’s head office operations, which are being relocated there from Abbottswell Road.

The first stage of the current £8m Aberdeen investment programme was the creation of one of the UK’s largest Skoda and Seat dealerships for Specialist Cars Skoda and Specialist Cars Seat in Craigshaw Drive, Aberdeen. This was followed by a £1 million refurbishment of the flagship John Clark BMW dealership.

Scotland’s second largest motor group, the John Clark Motor Group operates a total of 21 motor trade businesses in the east of Scotland, from its base in Aberdeen through Dundee, Perth and Fife to Edinburgh. Across the network the group employs more 900 people. 

The proposed Nissan and Mini development