This month the Harrogate dealership has added the Lotus franchise to its 40-car multi-franchise showroom housing TVR, MG and Dutch supercar brand Spyker.
Jonathan Claxton, its Lotus brand manager, said: “Harrogate is a very affluent area and sports cars are a very popular choice of transport here, particularly the British brands. We will be covering Lotus sales for north Yorkshire, Teeside and Cumbria and hope to sell 150 new Lotus in the first year.”
Steve Williams, managing director, took over Drivestyle almost three years ago and said he was happy with the line-up of cars he had and wouldn't be pursuing a Morgan franchise. He said the company was entering into a very busy period with the launch of its Lotus franchise this winter and then the launch of its MG franchise in February.
Williams said everything was ready to go with the MG franchise, with just the branding and the cars left to arrive.
Drivestyle operates a service called Connections, which specialises in finding cars for clients. Williams said: “Connections is a magnet for sports car enthusiasts. It’s like a dating agency in that we can source the exact car a customer is looking for and sell on their old car because of the huge data base of clients we have.”
Any buyer is provided with Drivestyle’s Service Plus loyalty package with up to £1,000 off servicing costs over a three-year ownership cycle. It intends to allow owners’ clubs to use the dealership for meetings and driveouts.
Williams said: “After securing the two deals we will now be expanding to accommodate the arrival of the new Lotus and MG cars while maintaining our longstanding relationship with TVR.” The operation includes a 40-car showroom, eight-bay workshop and bodyshop.
Lotus Cars said it is still looking for more UK dealers, but it couldn’t define open points. “Unlike other brands Lotus can’t open sites geographically, it has to be where the market is,” said a spokesman.
The Drivestyle showroom will host the Lotus Elise.
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