10:45 am, April 23, 2018
LOOKERS, one of the UK’s largest dealer groups, has elected to close two of their Vauxhall franchises in light of the brand’s decision to terminate all existing contracts with franchisees.
The dealerships, based in Yardley, Birmingham and Warrington, Cheshire are set to close.
A Lookers spokesperson commented: ‘We can confirm that we will shortly be closing our Warrington and Yardley Vauxhall dealerships.
‘This decision has been made in light of the well-publicised intention of Vauxhall to reduce the size of its dealer network in the UK.
‘We can confirm that there are no plans to close any other Lookers Vauxhall branches and we will continue to work in a successful partnership with Vauxhall at all other sites.’
The spokesperson also added that there ‘may be’ redundancies in light of this decision: ‘Lookers is looking to minimise the number of potential redundancies at these two sites. The decision to close them will, however, safeguard the jobs on Lookers’ other Vauxhall dealerships and the company will, where possible, look to transfer business and create new roles at neighbouring dealerships.’
On April 16, Stephen Norman, managing director of Vauxhall, confirmed to the press that all franchisee contracts would be terminated, with two years’ notice from April 30. The decision has the potential to affect all 326 Vauxhall dealerships in the UK.
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