Dealer group Wessex Garages, which has dealerships in Bristol, Gloucester, Cardiff and Newport, saw a 46% increase on new Nissan car sales from January until September as compared to the same period the previous year (2014).

Keith Brock, managing director of Wessex Garages, which has dealerships in Bristol, Gloucester, Cardiff and Newport, said: “This is fantastic news, a huge increase from 2014.

“We hope this trend continues well into 2016. Our most popular Nissan vehicle was the Qashqai, which was also the fifth bestselling car in the UK in September.        

“To add to this we also saw a 102% increase on Nissan ‘business-to-business’ sales for the same period.

“The 100% electric, Nissan e-NV200 van has been very popular with our business customers, as more people are now finding them a real, viable option.

“As a company we have been a Nissan dealer in Bristol since 1986 and are looking forward to celebrating our 30th anniversary next year.

“Due to the success of the Nissan brand in Bristol, we will be opening our new design-led Nissan dealership on Hayes Way at Cribbs Causeway with a creation of 40 jobs on December 28.

“We already have two dealerships in the city at Pennywell Road and Feeder Road and it seemed the right time to invest further in the city with a brand new branch located in an area that is developing.”

The new Nissan dealership will span more than 18,000 square feet and is a huge investment for Wessex Garages as the whole project will cost in the region of £5million.

It will also be a centre for electric vehicles and will be an additional charging point for Bristol.

“We have spent the past five months recruiting and training new members for the roles at the dealership. It is vital to have the right person for each position so that we can offer our customers a high standard of customer care from day one.

“As well as investing in our new Nissan dealership, in July we also invested in a new dealer management system software – Pinnacle - which saw a further investment of £500,000.

Wessex Garages is a privately owned company.