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Car transporters threat
Page 16
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• Leading car transporters could be hit by the takeover of Western Motor Holdings, which owns car distributor Autocar and a string of 15 UK motor dealers.
The acquisition, by Tozer Kernsley and Mil!bourn, the UK's largest multi-franchise car retailer, follows the Department of Trade decision not to refer the £100m deal to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
TKM says it has "not ruled out" the possibility of using Autocar to deliver cars to its own dealers. This is currently handled by Tolernan in Essex and Mainland Car Deliveries in Merseyside.
Autocar will continue to handle deliveries of Ladas and Protons and, says TKM finance director Peter Caney: "Autocar's business could conceivably increase to cover some of our other brands."
ToLeman delivers Daihatsus and Alpha Romeos for TKM; Mainland Car Deliveries moves its Mazdas.
TKM stresses that the choice of car transporting company is in the hands of the manufacturer. "Manufacturers tend to use one or two transport firms, so it is out of our hands," says Caney.
There are no immediate plans to develop Autocar's five UK sites or its fleet of over 200 transporters. Its management structure will stay in place with the same staff, and it keeps its contracts with Vauxhall, Rover Group, Peugeot and Citroen.
Dealers involved in the takeover include the Yenta Group, Howells, Julians and Vincents Cars of Reading. They join TKM's existing outlets — Wadham Stringer, Kennings, Cooper Group and H A Fox — to bring its total to nearly 100.
TKM estimates turnover to he in excess of 20.5bn.