Motorline has completed the sale of its former Hyundai and Renault showrooms in Ashford following its relocation of the franchised sites.

Rapleys brokered the deal to sell the facility on Hilton Road to Dunmore Ltd after the businesses’ relocation to a new site on Orbital Park.

The dual branded dealership of nearly 17,000 sq-ft, sitting on a site of 0.86 acres, with two glazed showrooms, offices and dedicated workshop facilities, will now be re-appropriated to accommodate three trade counters.

Mark Frostick of Rapleys, said: “We had interest from a variety of occupiers and users and we were able to tie up a purchase to coincide with our client’s relocation to their fantastic new premises elsewhere in the town.

“It was also somewhat of a homecoming deal for myself in that 20 years ago my first surveying job as a graduate was with Colyer Commercial in  the town.”

Motorline invested £3m to relocate its Ashford Hyundai franchised site to a newly refurbished, former JLR site acquired earlier this year.

The move brought the total number of dealerships operated by Motorline at the Orbital to five including Hyundai, Toyota, Peugeot, Nissan and Renault in addition to its planned ‘Drive Now’ used car Centre opening in January 2020.

The newly refurbished facility showcasing Hyundai’s latest GDSI retail environment includes a nine new car showroom, eight bay workshop and display for over 65 used vehicles, Motorline Hyundai has been operating from a temporary location in Ashford for the past 18 months.

Its move to the new site came in the same month that the group announced its withdrawal from Hyundai’s store at Bluewater Shopping.

Motorline said in a statement that it did “not believe the mid- to long-term viability” of the shopping centre new car sales concept 16 months after taking on the franchise point.

The AM100’s 23rd-placed car retail group had assumed responsibility for the operation of both Hyundai Motor UK’s car store sites, in Bluewater and Westfield shopping centres, in March 2018.