Perrys and Donnelly close Vauxhall car dealership sites

Perrys Motor Group and Donnelly Group have closed Vauxhall car dealerships in the past week as the Griffin-badged brand continues its network consolidation strategy.

Perrys has offered staff from its Leyland dealership, near Preston, jobs at its other sites in Lancashire as it closed its facility following a 10-day post-lockdown re-opening, while Northern Ireland’s Donnelly Group is making 17 of the 24 staff at its Omagh facility redundant.

Arnold Clark Automobiles, meanwhile, has opened consultation with 17 members of staff over redundancies ahead of the possible closure of its Vauxhall dealership in Port Glasgow Road, Greenock.

In a statement issued to the Lancashire Post newspaper, Perrys confirmed that its site closure “was part of a Vauxhall network reorganisation last year when the franchise services were moved to our brand-new facility in Preston which covers the area of Leyland”.

The family-owned Donnelly Group told the Ulster Herald newspaper that it had taken the difficult decision to cease trading from its Dromore Road premises after “careful consideration and following a strategic review”.

The group acquired the Omagh Vauxhall showroom from Gormley Motors in 2016.

A spokesperson for Donnelly Group said that the decision was made for the site to remain closed as its other sites re-opened on June 8 following the COVID-19 lockdown period, which began on March 24.

Donnelly’s Vauxhall sales and aftersales operations will now be consolidated into the group’s Dungannon Vauxhall business.

Arnold Clark chief executive, Eddie Hawthorne said that it had opened consultation over jobs ahead of the possible closure of its Greenock Vauxhall facility as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis.

Speaking to the Greenock Telegraph, Hawthorne said that there was a proposal in place for the Vauxhall dealership in Greenock not to reopen, but he added that the group was currently “in a period of consultation with our employees there which will look to assess the viability of reopening”.

“Our goal is, as always, to support our employees as best as we can through this period”, he added.

Back in March 2018 AM exclusively reported on a PSA Group plan to cull more than 100 of Vauxhall’s 324 UK retail locations within 12 months.

Norman said the plan was “nothing to be afraid of or ashamed about” and that the brand would emerge in better shape.

The cull was confirmed to retailers at Vauxhall’s annual dealer conference on May 1, 2018, along with an April 2020 end date for all existing dealer contracts.

By the end of 2018, the brand had reduced its network from 326 to 307 retail sites and Vauxhall Motors managing director, Stephen Norman, later told AM that he hoped to end 2019 with 259 franchised retail sites, with 48 ex-sales franchises remaining as authorised repairers.

In February last year, Norman, told AM that the franchise had succeeded in becoming more profitable during the first 12 months of the plan, and added that it should be “nicely established” for growth ahead of the 2020 arrival of new Corsa, Mokka and Vivaro.