Hepworth Motor Group has closed its Halifax Mitsubishi Motors car dealership in the UK due to the effect of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, with the loss of 10 jobs.
The group’s executive leader, Stephen Brighton, told AM that the king street company in Halifax, which had been re-franchiseted from its former brand, Honda, in June 2018, had been in “deficit for some time.”
He said the site’s closure is not similar to Mitsubishi’s announcement last week that it is about to withdraw from the UK and Europe’s new car market.
As AM reported exclusively, Mitsubishi franchised stores were informed of the effect of this resolution on a letter from the British importer Colt Car Company (CCC), which stated that “at no time had it planned to obtain this news.”
Brighton told AM that the closure of Mitsubishi’s Halifax retail would leave its business with its Honda franchise at Huddersfield and SsangYong in Horsforth, any of which was profitable again in June.
These grantees benefited from a cumulative call to track the closure of COVID-19 and the closure of Honda’s franchise sites in the neighbouring territories of Rochdale and Barnsley from their plan to reduce their retail network in the UK.
Explaining the Hepworth Group’s resolution to close its Mitsubishi dealership in Halifax, Brighton told AM: “We struggled to involve our general expenses in the pandemic and as we have two sites offering portions and after-sales of Honda and Mitsubishi, we have taken a resolution to open only our largest Huddersfield dealership and our Ssangyong site in Horsforth on June 1 and have now permanently closed our dealership because some jobs have been transferred to Huddersfield. Unfortunately, there will be up to 10 layoffs.
“The location had been in deficit for some time when the organization tried to identify the Mitsubishi logo amid economic uncertainty and lack of confidence through Brexit before the pandemic demanded situations in March.”
Brighton said visitor driving time “would only increase for most of our visitors.”
He added: “We will continue to offer a full after-sales service and portions to our Mitsubishi consumers from our Huddersfield site, adding complimentary automotive and pickup/delivery features, as well as full services from Honda dealers and used Mitsubishi sales.
“I would like to express my appreciation for the help that the partners of the two brands have given us before and this difficult period.
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An award-winning news reporter, Tom is Bauer Media’s AM brand news and report editor. Its role forces you to stay on top of all industry and business news to cover the franchised automotive retail and automotive industry in general, while helping manage magazine production and AM events.
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