Newbury dealers close as motor group calls in administrators
Redundancies as Gowrings Ford, City Peugeot and City Kia all cease trading
THREE car dealerships in Newbury have closed their doors this week after the franchise owner was forced to call in the administrators because of poor trading.
Gowrings Ford, City Peugeot and City Kia, have all ceased trading following the announcement that City Motor Holdings Ltd had called in administrators KPMG to oversee the winding down of operations.
The move has seen a total of 267 employees made redundant across the City Motor Holdings Ltd group which operates a total of 13 new and approved used car dealerships across the Thames Valley region.
On Saturday, the Newbury dealerships, all located in Newbury Motor Park in Pinchington Lane, did not open for business, while transporters have been at the site removing vehicles from the show yard.
Joint administrator and KPMG partner, Will Wright, said: “Over the coming days, our principal focus is on supporting employees with their redundancy claims and working with the vehicle manufacturers to effect an orderly closure of the business.
“We are aware that there are a number of customers who will be affected by this administration.
“While steps have already been taken to contact many of them, any customers who have immediate concerns should contact the following dedicated email address: citymotors@kpmg.co.uk.”
Last week City Motor Holdings Ltd announced it may be forced into administration and confirmed it had already ceased trading out of City SEAT and City Skoda in Basingstoke.
The company also said on Friday it had entered into talks with third parties in the hope of selling the remaining dealerships to preserve as many jobs as possible.
However, the company has yet to respond to the news that it has this week entered into administration, despite repeated requests by the Newbury Weekly News for comment.
Joint administrator and director at KPMG, Steve Absolom, said: “While industry figures indicate that the number of new car registrations in the UK has remained consistently high over the last two years, the number of nearly-new and used cars also coming to market has put pressure on motor dealerships around the country.
“Against this backdrop and after a sustained period of poor trading, the directors of City Motors Holdings took the difficult decision to close its operations and call for the appointment of administrators.”
The joint administrators have retained 19 members of staff to assist them in the process of winding down the business.
The dealerships affected by the administration are Ford Newbury, Peugeot Newbury, City Kia Newbury, Ford Basingstoke, City Suzuki Basingstoke, City Seat Basingstoke, City Skoda Basingstoke, City Honda Basingstoke, Peugeot Basingstoke, Citroen Basingstoke, Part Exchange Centre Basingstoke, Ford Reading and Peugeot Reading.
