BELFAST-BASED car retail group Charles Hurst has been appointed as an Audi dealer for south Dublin following its purchase of the recently opened Audi Centre in Ballsbridge.
The investment by Charles Hurst – and its British parent company Lookers Plc – is believed to be about €20 million. It gives the firm access to one of the country’s most lucrative new car sales regions, with an expected 1,500 new car sales annually. The area accounts for about 35 per cent of Audi’s national sales, according to Fintan Knight, managing director of Audi Ireland.
While Charles Hurst will begin trading from the Ballsbridge premises – and its aftersales centre in Sandyford – from September 1st, it plans within the next three years to move to a new purpose-built 30-car showroom near the M50, housing both the service and sales arms of the business.
The Audi Centre employs 25, with plans to raise this to 40 when the new facility is opened. Since it was opened in February as a showcase for Audi’s business in Ireland, the Ballsbridge outlet has sold 160 new cars and 130 used vehicles.
The Charles Hurst move marks the latest change in the Audi network after dealer contracts were terminated at the end of June as part of the firm’s plan to cut the number of sales and service outlets from 34 to 14 by 2013. At the time the firm said it would welcome interest from new entrants to the Irish market. Audi was distributed by the Motor Distributors Ltd, part of O’Flaherty Holdings, until October 2008, when control returned to the VW Group.
Charles Hurst has been part of British car dealership group Lookers since 1986. Lookers operates more 120 dealerships at 76 locations in Britain, handling 32 car brands. The group reported half-year profits before tax of £22.7 million (€27.4 million) yesterday, up 29 per cent on the same period last year.
While the Charles Hurst group handles numerous brands from its Belfast outlets, including Ferrari, Maserati, Bentley and Aston Martin, chairman Ken Surgenor told The Irish Timesits Dublin business will focus solely on Audis. However, he said the group was always open to expanding its business in the Republic.
It had been thought the Charles Hurst group might move to Dublin when prestige cars were selling strongly in the middle of the last decade. Ferrari was believed to be particularly interested in this happening. However, the business case didn’t add up.
Established in Belfast nearly 100 years ago, Hurst traded in Dublin at 31 Upper Dorset Street from 1927 until the mid-1940s, selling Crossley cars and Dennis Trucks.
