2:23 pm, January 7, 2020
THE boss of a Ford dealership in Suffolk says online car sales are among the reasons it is closing at the end of the month.
John Grose Ford Framlingham has optioned its lease break clause, meaning it will shut up shop at the Station Road site on January 31. It took it over in 2005 after acquiring Potters, and dealership group managing director Richard Howard said the decision to close it had been ‘a tough one’, reported the East Anglian Daily Times.
Howard said the company had Ford’s ‘full support’ and told the newspaper: ‘The market representation of all motor vehicle manufacturer partners across the UK is under scrutiny as wider economic factors impact, along with the inevitable growth in distance-selling through digital channels. With a break in the lease early in 2020, it made sense to carry out a review at this time.’
The retailer is also a franchisee for Kia, Peugeot, DS and Citroen, with eight other showrooms as well as an accident repair centre plus tyre and service centre, and Howard added that the company was looking to relocate the Framlingham staff within the group.
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