Marshall Motor Group has added the Kia and Hyundai franchises to its portfolio for the first time and snapped up Lookers’ Jaguar dealership in Ipswich for an undisclosed sum.

The move fits in with the AM100 group’s plan to expand nationally and takes its total network to 46 sites.

Marshall has been very active in the first half of this year, taking on Saab in Peterborough, buying failed DeVries Honda sites in York, Scarborough and Hull and closing a Peugeot site in Huntingdon to focus on a £500,000 redevelopment of its nearby St Neots Peugeot showroom. Eighty percent of the Huntingdon staff were redeployed with Marshall.

Christopher Walkinshaw, Marshall business development director, said: “We’ve taken on seven businesses so far this year and we’re still looking at several opportunities.”

Walkinshaw said it was no secret Marshall was looking to take advantage of the economic situation by acquiring new sites.

He said: “We are a debt free family owned business and we are considering franchises we haven’t worked with before as long as we can build a scaleable business out of them.”

Marshall already represents Jaguar in Cambridge and Peterborough, and the addition of Ipswich Jaguar means Marshall now covers the whole of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

The group’s additional service point in Bury St Edmunds helps Marshall cover the entire A14 corridor to the east of the A1.

The Ipswich Jaguar business will continue to operate from the existing site with the former Lookers staff transferring to Marshall.

The new Kia franchise will also be in Ipswich, but at Marshall’s Ransome Park site where it already operates Vauxhall and Chevrolet franchises.

The new Hyundai franchise will share facilities with Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge at Marshall’s Car Centre on Newmarket Road in Cambridge.