Richmond Motor Group has completed the acquisition of Hendy Group’s Suzuki GB franchised car dealership in Havant.

The dealership, on West Street Havant, officially opened as a Richmond franchised dealership on April 1.

The facility’s change of ownership comes just over two years after it was acquired as part of Hendy Group’s acquisition of Seward Group in January 2019.

It also represents a further growth of the AM100 retail group’s Suzuki GB representation following the acquisition of Newmans’ Southampton dealership last May.

The Newman acquisition followed Richmond’s expansion through the acquisition of Sparshatts Group and came as it revealed plans to grow its business with the opening of four more dealerships in the next 18 months.

Portsmouth-based Richmond Motor Group joined the AM100 in 2019 - the highest-placed newcomer with a £141.3m turnover putting it in 92nd place - but it said that recent growth had already seen its elevated to the status of a £250m business.

Richmond Motor Group now has 14 franchise locations and one used car supermarket, covering an area from South-West London to Portsmouth and Southampton – employing over 550 people.

Founder and managing director, Michael Nobes, said that strengthening the group’s portfolio with Suzuki would help to ensure its “long-term resilience in our chosen market”.

“Despite the issues caused by COVID-19 I am confident things will bounce back,” he said.

“We are encouraged that our dealerships will be opening from the June 1 and have been working hard to make our customers safe at all our sites. 

“We have implemented the ability to sell cars on-line, for those customers who do not feel able to come to the showrooms in person.

“This means that we are ready for a new way of working, protecting our customers and building on our relationship with them for the long-term.”