8:30 am, May 17, 2024
CarShop’s Doncaster site is set to close in the summer with the loss of more than 100 jobs.
The showroom is believed to be the one that CarShop owner Sytner told Car Dealer earlier this week would be possibly shutting as it looks to carry out a massive shake-up of its used car operations.
We exclusively revealed that Penske-owned Sytner was to axe its CarShop used car supermarket brand after a strategic review of the business.
At least one site had been earmarked for closure while some of the others could be repurposed as Sytner Select Approved Used Cars superstores.
In a statement, Sytner also confirmed that it was in advanced talks to sell a proportion of the stores to another party as a going concern, and yesterday – in another exclusive – we revealed that Big Motoring World was believed to be linked to their sale.
Sytner currently operates CarShop stores in Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster, Manchester, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Sheffield, Swindon, Warrington and Wolverhampton. The firm recently rebranded its Wakefield CarShop site as Sytner Select.
Now it’s being reported that 100 jobs are poised to be axed with the impending closure of the Doncaster used car supermarket.
According to The Doncaster Free Press, the South Yorkshire city’s CarShop will shut on June 30 after 15 years of business.
The publication says bosses told staff at the Doncaster used car supermarket of the forthcoming closure at a meeting this week.
It quoted an insider as saying: ‘They looked at each store to decide if it was viable to run as a Sytner Select store, sell it to another party or close the store completely. Unfortunately for Doncaster they have decided to close.
‘Sad to say over 100 staff members have lost their jobs. Big loss to the local area and a big unit that is going to be left empty.’
CarShop was bought by Sytner – the Car Dealer Top 100’s second-most profitable dealer group in the UK – for more than £70m in 2017 and in 2021 it rolled out the brand across the globe.
Sytner is owned by the New York Stock Exchange-listed business Penske Automotive and the firm uses the CarShop brand in America, too.
Last year, Penske revenue topped £23bn and it made a profit of £863.5m. The UK contributed 31.3% to Penske’s revenue in 2023, while the CarShop outlets in both the UK and US were static, adding 7% to the total.
Car Dealer has contacted Sytner for a comment.
Main image via Google Street View
