By the end of 2018 Hatfields Motor Group will have made a £10 million investment in Shrewsbury, following its acquisition this week of the town’s Land Rover franchise from Shukers.

Hatfields managing director Gareth Williams told AM the £5m acquisition, which included £4.2m of goodwill, will be followed up by a similar investment in relocating the new business and Hatfields’ existing Jaguar dealership in Shrewsbury to a new-build twinned dealership in line with JLR’s ‘ARCH’ corporate identity.

Several large potential locations along arterial routes into Shrewsbury have already been identified, he said, and the move will be completed by the end of 2018 in line with the carmaker’s strategy.

“We’re a private company and by the time we’ve bought and built the new site my brother and I will have north of £10m invested in Shrewsbury.

"Jaguar Land Rover is on a mission and we have a major part of that to play now we have nine JLR businesses in the group. We want to do the business for them,” he added.

Hatfields also has Jaguar sites in Wakefield and Sheffield, where Land Rover is represented by Sytner.

As has been previously reported by AM, JLR's plan is for its dealer partners to hold both Jaguar and Land Rover franchises in the same territory.

Split sites

Williams dispelled suggestions that JLR was aggrieved by proposals submitted in Sunderland for Jaguar and Land Rover showrooms split by a major road.

A Jaguar source had told AM it was surprised by the planning application from Pendragon, which stated JLR’s preference for a twinned showroom would be overlooked.

However Williams, who sits on the franchise board, said JLR is allowing some separated showrooms, such as Hatfields’ own at Liverpool and Hull which are on opposite sides of the road, where the existing businesses have sufficient space for the redevelopment and are established in that location.