Pendragon has paid Hartwell around £4.5m for the freehold of a Cardiff dealership with the Citroen and Chrysler Jeep franchises. The site, to the west of the city centre, has two showrooms with separate entrances, and was built in 1990 to house Audi and Volkswagen.

Hartwell has since lost both German franchises in the city, and also Citroen. The split with Volkswagen was one of the causes of the start of recent unrest among the manufacturer’s dealers – Pendragon parted company with VW and Audi in the late 1990s.

Trevor Finn, Pendragon chief executive, says: “We are on a growth curve with Citroen and Chrysler Jeep. The appeal of Cardiff is that it is in the top 10 of UK market places, and we see potential for growth for this site.”

Pendragon’s acquisition policy is to retain the dealership name whenever possible but this will not be possible with the former Hartwell site. It is likely to be rebranded Evans Halshaw, as Pendragon has Welsh Ford dealerships with this name (from an earlier group acquisition) in Cardiff, Llantrisant, Merthyr Tydfil and Treforest.