7:44 am, January 10, 2023
Constellation Automotive Group is believed to be selling a swathe of Marshall’s Toyota and Lexus dealerships.
The deal could see it shift 13 Toyota showrooms and six Lexus and is not thought to be through the choice of Constellation.
Marshall Motor Group is currently the second biggest partner for the Japanese brands behind Steven Eagell.
Sources told Car Dealer the deal was being ‘forced’ by the manufacturer.
Toyota GB told Car Dealer in a short statement that it will have an ‘ongoing relationship’ with Constellation, but did not go into detail as to what that would look like.
It is believed the Marshall Toyota and Lexus portfolio of dealerships will be broken up and sold to three dealer groups.
Group 1 is believed to be bidding for sites in the south, FRF Motors is said to be buying those in the Bristol and Welsh regions, while Steven Eagell is believed to be taking the others.
Marshall represents Toyota in Ashford, Bromsgrove, Gatwick, Newport, Worcester, Bristol (Cribbs Causeway), Bristol South, Canterbury, Hereford, Stourbridge, Cardiff, Horsham and Tunbridge Wells (pictured).
It represents Lexus in Bristol, Cardiff, Maidstone, Canterbury, Gatwick and Tunbridge Wells.
An insider told Car Dealer that the deal was being ‘forced’ by the manufacturer because it ‘isn’t happy with the Constellation purchase of Marshall Motor Group’.
Marshall Motor Group bought 19 Toyota and Lexus dealerships as part of the £64.5m acquisition of Motorline in October 2021.
Those dealerships made up nearly half of all the sites Marshall bought from Motorline and was a significant reason for doing the deal.
At the time, Marshall said it was ‘proud’ to be representing Toyota and Lexus for the first time.
In an interview with Car Dealer, which you can watch below, Daksh Gupta, the CEO at the time, said: ‘Toyota is a phenomenal brand and the biggest car manufacturer in the world.
‘I have been in the industry for 28 years and at a senior level for 20 and I have never seen any manufacturer approve a transaction of that scale or of that number of businesses. Normally you’d only see four or five dealerships move across.
‘For the brands to trust us with 19 Toyota Lexus businesses is a huge deal for us. That is a big coup for us.’
Some manufacturers are thought to have not approved of Constellation Automotive Group’s takeover of Marshall Motor Group which snapped the firm off the Stock Market in a £325m deal last year.
Constellation is also believed to have already sold all its Marshall Kia dealerships.
An insider told Car Dealer: ‘Some manufacturers kicked off about the Constellation deal and it has meant we’ve been forced to sell some brands we didn’t want to.
‘The Toyota and Lexus one is a perfect example of that. Why would we sell 19 dealerships we worked so hard to get as part of the Motorline deal that Daksh and the team did? It doesn’t make sense, does it?
‘It was a diktat from the manufacturer.’
Constellation Automotive Group declined the opportunity to comment when contacted by Car Dealer.
A spokesperson for Toyota GB said: ‘As per our normal policy we would not wish to comment on speculation with regard to any of our franchise relationships, however, we confirm that we have and will continue to have an on-going relationship with Constellation.’
The manufacturer did not confirm the detail of that relationship. It also did not respond to questions as to whether it was happy with the Constellation Group purchase of Marshall Motor Group.
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