Sports car specialist motors ahead with expansion

Date: 10 July 2007

GERMAN sports car specialists, Autohaus of Chester, have moved up a gear after doubling the size of the business following its relocation.

Autohaus of Chester has moved to a bigger site on Deva Business Park, Sealand, overlooking the A550, for an undisclosed sum, a move which was helped by accountants Mitchell Charlesworth.

The expansion and move comes just over a year after Paul Craft launched the business selling prestige German sports cars, including Mercedes, Porsche Boxsters, Audi TTs and BMW convertibles.

Paul, 36, from Flint, has been in the auto trade for more than 13 years and during that time he has worked for several leading North West dealerships, including Quicks Ford, Dane Volkswagen and Lookers plc.

He said: “Demand for our prestige cars has been fantastic and the business took off much faster than we imagined it would, which also meant we outgrew our old building much earlier than we anticipated.

“Our new bigger premises offer better customer facilities and it also allows us to display all of our vehicles on the forecourt. We are also now visible from the busy dual carriageway which has seen the number of people visiting us significantly increase.

“Mitchell Charlesworth has supported us all the way from setting up the company, to analysing the business plan and helping us plan and finance the move and expansion.”

Mitchell Charlesworth helped Paul Craft set up Autohaus of Chester in 2006 after refining his business plan and arranging £250,000 funding through the Enter prise Investment Scheme.

Paul Wainwright, a partner at Mitchell Charlesworth, added: “Paul identified a real niche in the market for prestige German sports cars and with his experience we always knew it was going to be a success – but the business has exceeded all our expectations. Everything is now in place for Autohaus to continue to grow and make a name for itself in the prestige auto trade.”

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