9:42 am, July 18, 2024
Big Motoring World is refusing to be drawn on rumours linking the company with a swoop for multiple sites from axed used car dealer group Carshop.
Car Dealer exclusively revealed earlier this year that Sytner was planning to axe the CarShop used car supermarket name and close down several sites as part of a major-shake up of its operations.
Now, multiple industry insiders have said that Big Motoring World is in ‘advanced negotiations’ to take over axed sites in Manchester, Norwich and Sheffield.
Rumours are also afoot that even more premises could follow the trio in switching from CarShop to Big Motoring World.
Car Dealer has approached Big Motoring World’s executive chairman, Laurence Vaughan, about the rumours but he declined to comment. Sytner did not respond to our request for a comment.
From the outside, any deal between Big Motoring World and Carshop would appear to make sense, given the strong links between the two companies’ top teams.
Vaughan himself is a former boss of Sytner and enjoyed a lengthy period of success at the Car Dealer Top 100 group.
While at Sytner, Vaughan, headed the team that saw the business grow from a single BMW dealership in Nottingham into a luxury car group with annual revenues of more than £5bn.
His tenure also included Sytner’s initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 1997, as well as its sale to US-based Penske Automotive Group in 2002.
Big Motoring World has also made no secret of its desire to grow, following on from a period of turbulence in the board room.
Earlier this year, founder Peter Waddell was ousted in a move which is currently subject to High Court action.
Waddell recently lost an attempt to gain a temporary injunction, which would have seen some of his rights at the company restored, with a judge labelling him ‘highly disruptive, hostile and offensive’.
The 58-year-old remains the majority shareholder in Big Motoring World and a full trial is now expected to take place in the early months of next year.
Additional reporting: James Baggott
