Peter Vardy plans to grow his dealer group, ranked third in the AM100, to around 100 dealerships “in the medium term”.

Mr Vardy has shunned the rapid acquisition approach of his billion-pound turnover rivals Lancaster and Pendragon. He said “careful selection of the right dealerships in the right place at the right time” had proved to be a good formula for success.

Reg Vardy's annual results, announced last week for the year ended April 30, stunned the industry. Group turnover was up 8.5% to £1.28bn and pre-tax profit rose 18% to £33.2m.

Mr Vardy said he was delighted to report another record year. “In a difficult year we have achieved significant growth in profit and successfully integrated new dealerships.”

Reg Vardy increased sales by 9.5% during the year to 155,086 units. Mr Vardy said: “We were able to commit to large scale new vehicle preregistration exercises reflecting our purchasing power with our manufacturer partners.”