Vospers takes over Vauxhall Plymouth franchise from Evans Halshaw

Vospers has grown its Stellantis representation in Plymouth by taking over the city's Vauxhall franchise from Pendragon’s Evans Halshaw business.

The AM100 retail group takes on the Stellantis brand’s franchise in its hometown and will initially open a temporary dealership at its Marsh Mills headquarters ahead of the creation of a new eight-car showroom and aftersales facility this summer.

Vospers now holds the OEM giant’s Abarth, Fiat and Peugeot franchises in the South coast city. Yeomans holds the Citroen franchise for Plymouth.

Managing director Nick Vosper said: “I am very excited to be adding Vauxhall to the Vospers portfolio of brands, who are ideally positioned to offer a great range of vehicles, including all-electric and plug-in hybrid models, at affordable prices.”

Last month Stellantis UK managing director Paul Willcox insisted there will be no more cuts to the OEM’s UK retail network, despite revealing a ‘theoretical’ 40-partner plan for the longer term.

Stellantis is currently working towards a plan to adopt a contiguous market area-style network plan and streamline its franchised dealer relationships, with the loss of 138 of its 918 franchised sales points.

Under Vospers’ new Vauxhall franchise agreement for Plymouth the brand’s commercial vehicle sales and aftersales customers will be looked after by the dedicated Vospers Van Centre team, located at Valley Road, Plympton, Plymouth.

The retail group has said that all current Evans Halshaw employees had been offered jobs with Vospers as part of an effort to ensure that there were no redundancies and a smooth transition for existing customers, it said in a statement.

Vosper said: “The motor industry is as exciting as ever. We continue to invest in the success and growth of the Vospers business, enabling us to offer our customers the best possible choice for their motoring needs.

“We have a strong, talented, and caring team at Vospers, who are well equipped to look after all of our customer’s needs. With the addition of Vauxhall, we look forward to welcoming a number of new employees and customers to the Vospers family.”

AM reported back in August last year that Vospers had grown its return on sales to 2.9% during 2021 as revenues grew by £16.5 million year-on-year to £238.9m.