12:27 pm, July 13, 2023
Bristol Street Motors has opened a Motornation used car dealership on the site of a former Cazoo showroom.
The Vertu Motors-owned dealer group says it has invested £200,000 in the site – which is located on Ventura Park Road in Tamworth, Staffordshire – and has created 11 new jobs.
Motornation Tamworth can display around 80 cars across the showroom and forecourt, and there’s also a new service centre with seven bays and the capacity to carry out ‘extensive’ refurbishment work, the company said.
Motornation is Bristol Street Motors’ used car brand, and the firm said the opening of the showroom demonstrates its ‘confidence in the demand for second hand vehicles in the area’.
Vertu Motors boss Robert Forrester announced the company had bought the site last April.
Matthew Jones, general manager at Bristol Street Motors Motornation Tamworth, said: ‘We are thrilled to have opened the doors of Bristol Street Motors Motornation Tamworth to the public.
‘The first week was much busier than we expected, and so we’re now developing plans to increase the number of colleagues at the site.
‘There is significant demand for used cars at the moment and many dealerships are struggling to maintain stock levels, but because we’re part of the wider Vertu Motors group with nearly 200 sites, we have access to thousands of vehicles, so there is something for everyone.’
Paul Couchman general sales manager (left) hands the keys to their new car over to first customers Trevor and Jean Clarke, watched by general manager (second left) Matthew Jones
Robert Forrester, added: ‘A lot of work has gone into getting this dealership ready, and the team has done a brilliant job – it looks fantastic.
‘We are proud to have revitalised this location and brought jobs to the area, with more to come in the not-too-distant future.’
In May, Forrester took a swipe at firms such as Cazoo that purely sell used cars online.
He was speaking as Vertu Motors revealed turnover had risen to more than £4bn in 2022.
Cazoo has closed a number of its customer handover showrooms over the past year.
Snows Motor Group and Peter Vardy have all acquired former Cazoo sites, along with Bristol Street Motors which also snapped up the keys to an ex-Cazoo site in Staffordshire in April 2023.
Snows used car centre opens at Cazoo’s former flagship site in Southampton
Peter Vardy opens former Cazoo handover site as… a used car dealership
Bristol Street Motors to expand in Staffordshire as it takes over ex-Cazoo site
