Marshall Motor Group has taken its Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) representation to 10 dealerships with the acquisition of the premium carmaker’s Leicester franchise from Sturgess Motor Group.

The Constellation-owned AM100 car retail group's addition follows its recent disposal of Kia Scunthorpe (to Drayton Motors), Kia Ipswich (to Donalds Group) and Volvo Leeds (Riverside Motor Group).

It leaves Marshall with JLR franchises in: Bedford, Cambridge, Cheltenham and Gloucester, Ipswich, Leicester, Lincoln, Melton Mowbray, Newbury, Oxford and Peterborough.

Jon Head, group operations director at Marshall Motor Group, said: “We are pleased to announce the addition of the Leicester dealership to our Jaguar Land Rover division, which represents another positive step in our growth and investment strategy for the Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

“We are excited to extend our relationship with Jaguar Land Rover and I am also delighted to welcome the Jaguar Land Rover team in Leicester to Marshall.”

According to a statement issued by Marshall, the Leicester business had been operated by Sturgess Motor Group for 75 years.

Leicester-based Sturgess now operates six franchised retail sites with OEM partners Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Hyundai and Suzuki.

Group chairman Chris Sturgess said: “Having represented the Jaguar and Land Rover brands for over 75 years respectively, it is a huge departure for us. However, we will now be focusing very much on our current partners and exploring opportunities as they arise.

“I am enormously proud of our achievements over the years with Jaguar and Land Rover and I know that the excellent team we had will serve Marshall well over the coming months and years.”

Back in October Marshall reported 74.6% turnover growth and a 354.4% rise in pre-tax profit in its first financial results since the acquisition of Motorline and privatisation by new owner Constellation Automotive.

Turnover totalled to £3.8 billion (2020: £2.15bn) at the group as its profit before tax rose from £20.9m to £95.2m in a period that was extended to 15 months as a result of the takeover by BCA’s owners and its subsequent de-listing from the London Stock Exchange.

Since then it has disposed of three retail sites and ceasing new car sales from its AM Award winning South Lakes Mercedes-Benz dealership.

Reports also suggest that it could be in the process of selling off a number of Lexus and Toyota franchised sites.