Vauxhall reduced dealerships by third
Vauxhall has planned to reduce its dealership total by about a third in response to the way consumers have changed the way they buy cars.
The brand plans to reduce the total from 326 to about 200. The move is part of a PSA drive to return the loss-making Vauxhall and Opel businesses to profitability.
Vauxhall sales plunged by more than a fifth last year – worse than the overall market decline of 5.7%.
Stephen Norman, managing director of Vauxhall, said it and sister brand Opel ‘would not require as many retail outlets as the brands currently have’.
Competition for car sales had become fiercer in the past five years, he said, and more consumers are expected to buy cars online in the future.
Stephen does not expect the changes to result in job losses among the 12,000 people who work for Vauxhall dealers.
