4:11 pm, December 11, 2023
Car dealer SLM Group has acquired Braintree-based Quest Motor Group.
The deal will see Quest’s Suzuki dealership and Bosch Service Centre on Rayne Road, Braintree, being owned by SLM (St Leonards Motors), but the Quest Motor Group name will remain above the door after it was agreed Quest will become a subsidiary of SLM.
It takes SLM Group’s representation points to 15 and means SLM covers East Sussex, Kent, East Anglia, Surrey, Hampshire and now Essex.
The Suzuki dealership will become the third showroom holding the Japanese carmaker franchise in SLM Group’s portfolio.
Mark Phillips, managing director of SLM Group, said: ‘We are delighted to welcome Quest Motors into the SLM family.
‘SLM Group shares Quest’s commitment to providing excellent customer service and building strong relationships with the local community, with family values at its core.
‘We believe that this acquisition will be a great benefit to the existing Quest customers and valued employees.’
Next year will mark 100 years since Quest began trading, and has been operated since its creation by the Gozzett family.
Robin Gozzett, now former owner, said: ‘After almost 100 years in the Gozzett family, myself and Martin Gozzett are delighted to have sold Quest Motor Group Ltd to St Leonards Motors Ltd, another long-established family business with whom we have been associated with for many years.
‘We wish Mark Phillips and his team the very best and we are pleased that SLM will continue to uphold all the family dealership values that we have worked to for all those years.
‘We are confident that all our customers will continue to receive the wonderful service that they have always experienced from all the familiar faces.’
The deal comes just a couple of months after SLM Group acquired SMC Motor Group, gaining dealerships in Surrey and Hampshire with Seat, Cupra, Renault and Dacia joining SLM’s portfolio.
Pictured top: SLM Group directors
