PENDRAGON – which holds Nissan franchises under its Evans Halshaw arm – has announced that its sales of new and used cars were up in quarter one – a trend it expects to keep up.
Used car sales increased by 15.6 per cent in quarter one of 2011 compared to last year, while new car sales were up 9.1 per cent.
However, the dealer group has said that aftersales were down ‘marginally’ due to vehicle parc reduction, but were in line with the market, and gross profit margin improved by 280 points.
A statement said: ‘We are pleased to report an improvement in the key business metrics across the group during the first quarter and expect this to be maintained during the year.
‘As planned, the performances in the used and aftersales segments have been strong in the first quarter and continue to be the key growth opportunities for the group.
‘As expected, performance in new cars is in line with the market and this is expected to continue during 2011.’