AUTOMOTIVE Holdings Group Ltd (AHG) is halfway through a major redevelopment plan for five of its franchises in Liverpool, NSW, as part of a massive capital investment program in the region since 2012 that will exceed $80 million.

Part of the redevelopment is the release today of the design of a new Mazda dealership, formerly known as McGrath Mazda, that AHG acquired in 2006. That development is scheduled for completion over the next 12 months at a cost of $11.5 million.

The dealership, to be built on the site of the existing business on the Hume Highway, will have an eight-car showroom, four dedicated delivery bays and a 23-bay service facility.

AHG has also announced that its redeveloped Mitsubishi dealership, adjacent to the Mazda site, will open next April.

It also plans to open a new auction house at Moorebank.

The company will shuffle some showrooms while the development is underway. The Mazda dealership will relocate to temporary premises on the former Liverpool Nissan site before the end of this year.

The Nissan business is now co-located alongside the Holden franchise in another new dealership. New showrooms have also been built for Liverpool Volkswagen and Subaru Liverpool.

AHG said the expansion and relocation program was part of a major redevelopment of the entire Liverpool dealership hub along the Hume Highway.

It said that the investment in development in the Liverpool Council region over the past five years is more than $80 million in capital spend alone.

It also employs almost a thousand people in the city and many of those live within the municipality.

It has a significant part of its business within the Liverpool municipality.

Liverpool has six of AHG’s car dealerships and the focus of a major redevelopment along the Hume Highway forms what it said is an important automotive retail hub for the company and for local residents and business operators.

Liverpool is also home to one of AHG’s largest refrigerated transport operations, the Scott’s Refrigerated Transport business at Prestons, and the municipality will have a future AHG auction house at Moorebank.

AHG also has its east-coast office and warehouse complex – its corporate head office is in Perth – that opened on nearby Hoxton Park Road earlier this year.

This facility has AHG’s franchised automotive division and its KTM and Husqvarna motorcycle distribution business.

Automotive Holdings Group is Australasia’s largest motoring group with more than 180 franchises at 110 dealership locations across Australia and New Zealand. The company is also one of the largest providers in Australia of integrated refrigerated transport and cold storage.

By Neil Dowling