The Office of Fair Trading continues to keep a close watch on motor retail. Rapid consolidation among dealer groups over the past decade has ensured that car sales are among the activities commanding most attention from competition officials.

Apart from the national impact of super groups, led by Pendragon, officials are watching for potential local monopolies.

An OFT spokesman says: “So far, we have not expressed concern but that is not to say we won’t at some point in the future.”

Pendragon has a third of the Jaguar network and controls all Cadillac sales in the UK. This does not immediately concern the OFT because buyers can seek deals on Jaguars nationally and in mainland Europe.