3:03 pm, January 25, 2012
FAMILY-owned dealer group Marshall has bought F. Cross & Son’s businesses in Grimsby and Scunthorpe.
The deal comprises of Grimsby Volkswagen (passenger cars); Scunthorpe Volkswagen (passenger cars and commercial vehicles); and Scunthorpe Kia.
It also includes authorised repairer businesses for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in Grimsby and Renault in Scunthorpe. Around 120 former F Cross & Son colleagues have transferred to Marshall under the terms of the agreement.
Marshall chief executive Daksh Gupta (pictured) said: ‘We are delighted to be acquiring these businesses and to welcome our new colleagues to Marshall. F. Cross & Son is another family owned business, like Marshall, and we share many of the same values.
‘We are excited to be partnering Volkswagen, both with passenger cars and with light commercial vehicles, at these new businesses. Since we started out with our new strategy in 2008, we have been very keen to partner with both brands and build on our existing relationship with the wider Volkswagen Group.
‘This acquisition is consistent with our strategy to grow nationally to minimise our over exposure to East Anglia and grow with scalable businesses as well as to build depth to our relationships with key brand partners like the Volkswagen Group.’
HISTORY
F. Cross & Son was founded in 1958 by Fred Cross and has remained a family business from that time. Marshall was founded in 1909 by David Marshall and its current chairman, Sir Michael Marshall is the third generation of the family to chair the family business.
Spencer Clayton-Jones, national franchise manager for Volkswagen UK said: ‘F. Cross & Son has been a partner of Volkswagen in the UK for over two decades and been part of the significant growth the brand has enjoyed during that time.
‘We are very grateful to the Cross family for representing the Volkswagen brand for so long and for developing a strong local reputation for both businesses, and wish them every success for the future.
‘Going forward, we are pleased to welcome the Marshall Group to Volkswagen at such an exciting time for the Brand with the launch of both up! and Beetle in 2012. We look forward to working with the Marshall Group and enjoying the next phase of development and growth.’
Gupta concluded: ‘We are also glad to be deepening further our relationship with Kia and extending our representation to three sites with this growing brand. The Scunthorpe Kia business is one of the oldest in the country with that brand.’
