Member Article

Meridian acquires Barnsley Honda

Yorkshire’s Meridian Motor Group, which trades as Vantage, has completed the acquisition of Barnsley Honda Limited for an undisclosed figure, significantly increasing the size of the business and boosting group turnover to more than £150 million.

The deal is the seventh in six weeks for the group, which will now take over the running of the Whaley Road dealership in Barnsley, bringing its sites total across the North to 14, with 350 employees.

Headquartered in Harrogate, Meridian has a longstanding relationship with Honda UK and was granted ‘future partner status’ in 2008.

Mark Robinson, founder and managing director, said: “This deal is the first stage of what we believe will be a strong and developing relationship with Honda UK.”

Meridian now counts Toyota, Hyundai, Lexus, Kia and Honda among its key brands.

It follows a summer of acquisitions, which has seen seven new sites and three new marques added to the business. In June the group purchased four West Midlands dealerships and announced the development of a new Kia site in Scarborough. This was followed by the purchase earlier this month, of Batemans Toyota, at Grange-Over-Sands.

The enlarged group will now sell in excess of 10,000 new and used cars each year, with the Barnsley site expected to contribute annual sales of 600 units.

Phil Crossman, managing director of Honda UK, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Vantage to Honda. We’ve had a long standing relationship with Mark Robinson and are confident we will have a successful future together.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by David Gatehouse .