Acquisitions were the name of the game for Chorley Group in 2022. They were all Citroen dealerships and included BCC Cars’ Blackburn and Bolton sites and Vantage Motor Group’s facility in Blackpool.

While Citroen itself is undergoing a restructure, with the loss of 138 of its franchised sales points, Adam Turner, managing director of Lancashire-based Chorley Group, is confident that the acquisitions will prove to be a successful long-term move. So far, he said that all three businesses had bedded in well and the signs were positive for the future.

This builds on the group’s acquisition of 06 Ormskirk in 2021, with the group subsequently joining the Mitsubishi and Vauxhall franchises. It also joined the growing Isuzu UK retail network and moved into a new, standalone MG Motor UK dealership in Chorley in the last two years.

“We have capitalised on our agility to be able to grow our business and acquire other businesses,” Turner told AM contributor Alex Wright. “We acquired another three businesses last year, which aids our growth plan, but now the focus for this year is on multi-branding all of our facilities.

“The Stellantis brands have been more challenging than we would have hoped for in the early stages. But we are confident we have got a great customer base, people and products, and the right location, and we believe that going forward there will be plenty of opportunities to grow that part of the business.”