Inchcape Retail's new development director Guy Ainsley will be responsible for developing the group's growth strategy in the UK.

“We want to increase our partnerships with specialist and luxury marques, like BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover and Lexus,” said Mr Ainsley, who was promoted from Inchcape Financial Service general manager.

“Also important is ensuring the smooth integration of new acquisitions – we have a robust system of integrating companies into our way of doing things.”

Inchcape, which has 51 dealerships and is No7 in the AM100, is looking for dealers that are “operationally strong” within its target area, south of the M62. “We will acquire one-off sites or small groups as long as they are strong businesses.”

Mr Ainsley retains responsibility for Inchcape's F&I strategy. The group has a joint venture – FIS – with Capital Bank. He believes F&I is a “central source of profit, crucial to every franchise whether it is selling volume or prestige cars”.