Administrators appointed to City Motor Holdings as hundreds lose jobs

1:56 pm, September 21, 2016

ADMINISTRATORS have been appointed to City Motor Holdings and its associated firms, with hundreds of people thrown out of work.

A total of 13 new and approved used car dealerships had been trading across the Thames Valley region but all of them have been shut following a prolonged period of poor trading, with the City Motor Holdings website also being taken offline.

Established in 2012 following a management buyout, it was headquartered in Basingstoke and had sites in Newbury and Reading. Dealerships were run for a number of vehicle manufacturers, comprising Ford, Peugeot, Citroen, Suzuki, Kia, Honda, Seat and Skoda, in addition to the PX Centre in Basingstoke, which specialised in the sale of used cars.

The dealerships affected by the administration are:

Ford Reading
Peugeot Reading
Ford Newbury
Peugeot Newbury
City Kia Newbury
Ford Basingstoke
City Suzuki Basingstoke
City Seat Basingstoke
City Skoda Basingstoke
City Honda Basingstoke
Peugeot Basingstoke
Citroen Basingstoke
PX Centre Basingstoke

City Seat Basingstoke and City Skoda Basingstoke were closed last week before the administrators were appointed, and the rest were closed down following their appointment.

A total of 267 of the company’s employees have been made redundant. The two joint administrators have retained 19 members of staff to assist in the winding-down of operations.

Steve Absolom, joint administrator and director at KPMG Restructuring, said: ‘While industry figures indicate that the number of new car registrations in the UK has remained consistently high over the last two years, the number of nearly-new and used cars also coming to market has put pressure on motor dealerships around the country. Against this backdrop and after a sustained period of poor trading, the directors of City Motor Holdings took the difficult decision to close its operations and call for the appointment of administrators.’

Will Wright

Joint administrator and KPMG partner Will Wright added: ‘Over the coming days, our principal focus is on supporting employees with their redundancy claims and working with the vehicle manufacturers to effect an orderly closure of the business.

‘We are aware that there are a number of customers who will be affected by this administration. While steps have already been taken to contact many of them, any customers who have immediate concerns should contact the following dedicated email address: [email protected].’

Pictured at top: City Motor Holdings’ Ford dealership in Basingstoke

MORE: Nissan appoints Alex Smith as UK managing director

MORE: One in four dealers predicts leap in pre-registration activity during September