Arnold Clark is about to additional increase its retail community with opening of two Kia dealerships after taking on the Korean carmaker’s West Coast franchise from Springside Motors.

Information of the change – set to be accomplished later this month – comes lower than a month after the AM100 automobile retailer opened the doorways to its new £17 million BMW model centre off the M8 at Hillington, Glasgow, which is able to quickly be adjoining to a new BYD retail centre.

Arnold Clark’s openings come simply over a yr on from its exit from the Toyota and Ford retail franchises.

Commenting on its plans for its new Kia dealerships, group chief govt Eddie Hawthorne advised AM: “We’ll add Kia illustration in Ayr and Kilmarnock and work is already getting underway to create new amenities which subscribe to the brand new Kia CI.

“The Ayr enterprise will likely be positioned in what had been a Toyota dealership and in Kilmarnock Kia will occupy area in what’s a Peugeot storage with an adjoining used automobile showroom.”

Arnold Clark at present represents Kia at 9 franchised dealerships throughout the Scotland and the north of England.

The Korean OEM is concentrating on additional registrations progress after delivering a report 100,000 autos within the UK final yr and its president and chief govt Paul Philpott has been vocal within the model’s continued assist of the franchised mannequin as rivals start to undertake direct-to-consumer company mannequin distribution methods.

In its house metropolis of Glasgow, Arnold Clark is celebrating a venture to maneuver its BMW retail operation to a sprawling, two-tier facility, in the meantime.

It moved into the brand new dealership, which occupies a five-acre website on, final month.

Hawthorne stated: “We had a really profitable BMW operation within the south of the town, however the enterprise had simply outgrown the premises.

“There was a possibility to purchase a really prestigious and distinguished website, proper subsequent to the M8 at Hillington, and we took it.

“The result’s a incredible facility, incorporating the newest BMW CI, which our clients are extraordinarily happy with. It additionally offers us a possibility to correctly exhibit BMW’s full vary of merchandise and the assorted choices that clients can specify, which is a large bonus.”

Final yr BMW grew its electrical automobile (EV) vary with the addition of the brand new iX flagship, i4 coupe, iX1 crossover and i7 luxurious saloon as its registrations dipped 6.8% to 108,624 items.

In distinction to Kia, BMW has plans to maneuver to an company mannequin, with its Mini sister model anticipated to take the lead in 2024.