10:18 am, July 24, 2024
Sytner has now completed the rebranding of its CarShop used car supermarkets to Sytner Select sites.
The UK’s second most profitable car dealership group in the UK – according to the Car Dealer Top 100 – has just finished the work on its final store in Manchester.
New signage and rebranding has taken place at all the locations Sytner has retained.
The move means the group now has nine Sytner Select stores operating across the UK in Bristol (pictured), Cardiff, Northampton, Nottingham, Swindon, Wakefield, Warrington, Wolverhampton and Manchester.
Yesterday, it was revealed that Big Motoring World had purchased the former CarShop stores in Norwich and Sheffield while Sytner has closed its Doncaster operation.
Sytner chief executive officer Darren Edwards told Car Dealer: ‘I’m pleased to say that Manchester, the last store to rebrand, starts trading under the Sytner Select banner from tomorrow (Thursday) and the prep centre at Leighton Buzzard starts operating as the Sytner Logistics Centre from the 29th.
‘It will handle the preparation and onward customer delivery of our circa 20,000 annual new fleet sales, plus providing bodyshop services to our local Sytner dealerships.
‘This will give the group nine Sytner Select Approved Used Cars super-centres, which will be supplied by our franchised dealerships’ surplus part-exchanges, which, given the group’s scale, negates the need to buy cars from auctions and other external sources.
‘The future is very bright for these rebranded businesses and we are excited at the potential they offer for providing an enhanced contribution towards the group’s continued success.’
Explaining some of the reasoning behind the decision to close the CarShop brand and rename the sites under the parent company, Edwards hinted that this has helped reduce marketing costs.
He added: ‘These cars will be advertised on the Sytner Group website, reducing the requirement for a second website and the associated costs with running that.’
He also explained that Sytner was now working on electric car facilities to support its dealerships.
‘We are working with our OEM partners in certain locations to provide additional aftersales support including BEV charging and repair, plus breakdown assistance,’ Edwards said.
Sytner closed the CarShop brand in May following a ‘strategic review’ of the business. It bought CarShop for more than £70m in 2017 and in 2021 rolled out the CarShop brand across the globe.
Sytner is owned by the New York Stock Exchange-listed business Penske Automotive and the firm was using the CarShop brand in America, too.
Last year, Penske revenue topped £23bn and it made profits of £863.5m. The UK contributed 31.3% to Penske’s revenue in 2023 while the CarShop outlets in both the UK and US were static, adding 7% to the total.
