Sytner Group is cutting its Volkswagen representation by a third, by closing one dealership and selling four to Johnsons Cars.

The dealerships bought by Johnsons Cars are at Liverpool, Warrington, Stafford and Stoke-On-Trent.

Sytner will shut Halifax Volkswagen at the end of this month, leaving it with four remaining Volkswagen dealerships in Yorkshire, two in Northern Ireland and one in Wales at Llandudno.

Johnsons already has Volkswagen outlets at Birmingham and was selected by the brand in 2017 to run its first pilot 'store' at the city's Bullring shopping centre.

Its last significant acquisitions included its first Ford dealership when it bought four Chambers and Alex Lawrie businesses in 2017, and this year it acquired TH White, taking it to 46 sites in England.

But Johnsons sold its Volvo Swindon site to Waylands Automotive in 2018, two years after consolidating its Redditch Volvo operation into the nearby Solihull Volvo dealership.

It's the second large sale of Volkswagen dealerships in six months. In July Inchcape sold five Volkswagen car and van businesses to Group 1 Automotive UK.