Ford Retail Group has taken over Lindsay Cars, one of the Ford's largest franchised dealer partners in Northern Ireland.

Ford Retail already owned a 49% stake in the group, but has now acquired the remaining 51% shareholding, allowing David and Nick Lindsay to retire with immediate effect.

Lindsay Cars was established in Lisburn in 1966 and now has eight Ford and two Mazda franchises. It has dealerships in Lisburn, Ballymena, Bangor, Belfast (Boucher Road and Newtownards Road), Coleraine, Craigavon and Mallusk.

Ford said the group had sold 75,000 new Ford vehicles under the Lindsay's management and won the chairman's award for customer satisfaction five times.