Ford Retail has sold off its nine European dealerships to help it focus on the group’s 55 dealerships in the UK.

Chris Hayden, chairman and CEO of Ford Retail, confirmed the sale of its dealerships in Brussels, Amsterdam and Vienna to MVC, a New York-based business development fund.

Hayden said: “Our aim is to be recognised as the best volume vehicle retailer in the UK, judged by our customers, employees and shareholder and we have in place a programme of continued change and improvement that will capitalise on our recent achievements to help us deliver this goal.”

Ford Retail is Europe’s largest Ford dealer group with a UK turnover of £827million. Dagenham Motors operates in London and the south east, Polar Ford throughout Yorkshire and the north west, Heartlands Ford in Birmingham and Brunel Ford in Bristol and the west. In the south east, Ford Retail also has three Mazda dealerships, three Iveco truck dealerships and a joint venture with Lindsay Ford in Northern Ireland.

Ford Retail is currently implementing a centralised parts division.