5 automobile dealerships representing a few of the UK’s most well-known automobile manufacturers have closed simply weeks into 2026.
A serious UK agency has closed two dealerships (Picture: Getty)
One of many UK’s greatest automobile dealership corporations has confirmed the closure of 5 websites, with employees set to be affected. Vertu Motors, which oversees dealerships for a few of the nation’s greatest motoring manufacturers akin to Peugeot, Citroen and Volvo, has warned of a collection of closures throughout the UK.
Final week, Vertu confirmed that its Honda Bradford and Citroen Macclesfield dealerships had been shut, with employees informed to begin work at separate dealerships. It’s believed that the choice was made to shut the shops after enterprise a evaluation of the monetary viability of the areas. After confirming the closure of the primary two shops, Vertu pressured that no colleagues can be made redundant with jobs merely shifting to 2 close by dealerships.
A Honda dealership is a type of closed by Vertu (Picture: Getty)
Nonetheless, Vertu has since shut the doorways at three different websites with dealerships at Launceston Peugeot, Barnstaple Peugeot and Barnstaple Volvo now understood to be completely closed.
Talking completely to Categorical.co.uk, Robert Forrester, Chief Govt of Vertu Motors plc, pointed the finger on the Authorities’s ZEV Mandate guidelines for placing stress on the motor sector.
Robert mentioned: “The Group usually undergoes a evaluation of its portfolio to make sure that it displays a quickly altering sector. The entire automotive sector is dealing with appreciable stress because of the affect of the Authorities’s coverage to extend the gross sales of battery electrical automobiles.
“The ZEV mandate, which targets producers to drive battery electrical gross sales – with the specter of important fines of £12,000 per automobile the place targets should not met – is inserting important stress on all the automotive provide chain, as extensively reported.
“We imagine it’s vital that the Authorities undertakes an pressing evaluation of the ZEV mandate to make sure it displays the truth of the market and avoids pointless harm.”
Again in October, Vertu Motors posted document first-half revenues, with £2.51billion reported by the model, up from £2.47b only a yr earlier.
Nonetheless, the report wasn’t all excellent news, with Veru posting a barely decrease adjusted revenue. For the six months ending 31 August, 2025, Vertu’s adjusted revenue earlier than tax was mentioned to be £20million, down from £22.1m in the identical interval final yr.
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After the monetary replace final October, Chief Govt Robert Forrester mentioned: “We’ve delivered market share good points in each space because the group trades underneath the only Vertu model for the primary time.
“We had been notably happy to see additional progress in our BEV retail market share.”
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