New £12 million Hatfields car showroom opens in Shrewsbury

The Jaguar and Land Rover facility for Hatfields opened on a 6.5 acre site at Thieves Lane, near Shrewsbury Business Park, yesterday.

The facility, which could eventually employ more than 100 people, features 53,819 square feet of indoor space, including 19 display spaces.

Gareth Williams, managing director of Hatfields, said: "It is one of the best facilities in the land and we are very proud of it. We look forward to slowly and surely welcoming customers.

"It is technologically so much more advanced with solar panels on the roof and every office being uniquely air conditioned. It has been built with electric cars in mind and has large open areas where customers can be amongst the product.

"When we laid out the plans in 2016 it was a £9 million project but with the changes we wanted to do it has ended up being £12 million."

The firm has relocated from its former site on the corner of Old Potts Way and Brassey Road, which has been bought by bathroom and kitchen supplier Farr & Harris for about £1.5 million.

"The move goes back to 2013 where bringing the two brands together came about," Mr Williams said.

"Land Rover was always the stronger brand and although Jaguar had a general appeal, we thought on its own it would struggle.

"By joining them together we thought both brands would benefit from each other.

"If we are going to compete against German and luxury brands then we need this facility going forward to continue to attract customers."

After a 10-week wait, car dealers across the region finally reopened their doors again to the public this week after working incredibly hard to ensure their showrooms are Covid-19 secure.

Now bosses are hoping for a surge in business after sales of new cars in the UK fell by more than 97 per cent last month as the coronavirus crisis shut showrooms and manufacturers closed factories.

Mr Williams added: "We appreciate the industry is facing challenging times and expect in the short term the market to be down as many people are finding it economically difficult.

"But we haven't just built this facility for 2020, we have built it with the future in mind.

"We had a loyal customer base before and hopefully with this new facility we will be able to attract customers.

"The whole industry lobbied the Government to get it open again and all manufactures agreed a universal code to apply.

"We have introduced a distancing of desks, one-way systems, hand sanitisations and masks for those who want them."