Dealership cans expansion plan

A dealership has pulled plans to expand into Whanganui after suffering a 50 per cent drop in sales across its existing locations.

Western Coast MG has branches in Hawera and New Plymouth and this year it announced plans to open a third site in a former Pizza Hut building on Victoria Avenue, Whanganui.

Jimmi Guillosson, dealer principal, says a pop-up store operated in the city between March and August but the company has now canned plans to establish a permanent dealership there.

He told the Whanganui Chronicle that tough economic conditions had forced the business to “retrench back to South Taranaki”.

Guillosson adds the extra expenses required to start a new site, such as staffing and overheads, had made the venture unfeasible at this stage.

“MG is a good product and a good brand but with interest rates and all that good stuff, people aren’t spending,” he says.

While Western Coast MG is currently focusing on its existing sites, it still owns the former Pizza Hut building and has not ruled out developing it into a branch of the company in the future, reports the Whanganui Chronicle.