EXCLUSIVE
Suttons City – one of Australia’s largest dealership sites, a new-car “supermarket” representing more than a dozen automotive brands in one location, and an iconic Sydney landmark – has been sold for an undisclosed sum to property developers.
The site will close its doors on 30 June 2022 after opening 28 years ago – in 1994 – as a standalone Holden dealership.
Back then, the Suttons Holden site at Rosebery was surrounded by vacant land and the remnants of its time as a manufacturing hub and an industrial zone in the decades prior.
Today, Suttons City is surrounded by high-rise residential apartments, as population pressure continues to put the squeeze on demand for new property.
Drive understands the owners of the Rosebery site – the Sutton family, who have operated car dealerships since 1943 but ramped up their operations with the emergence of Holden in 1948 – had been approached to sell the sought-after property multiple times in recent years.
However, it is believed a deal was reached late last year and finalised early this year after annual land tax bills estimated to cost close to $5 million made the property unviable for new-car sales.
The identity of the property developer who bought the 4.45-hectare (11-acre) site has not been disclosed, however the Suttons City location is surrounded by Meriton apartments, many of them still under construction.
Approximately 200 staff work at Suttons City which has new-car showrooms for 12 major automotive brands: Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Isuzu, Great Wall Motors Haval, Suzuki, Jeep, Ram, LDV and General Motors Specialty Vehicles.
Combined, these brands accounted for more than one-third of all new vehicles sold in Australia last year, making Suttons City one of the country’s largest and most diverse one-stop shops for new and used cars.
Until recently, the Suttons City Rosebery site was also home to showrooms for Holden, Honda, and Renault.
The closure of Suttons City – just 5km from the Sydney CBD – means customers who own a vehicle from one of these affected brands will likely need to travel further for sales, service, parts, and warranty support.
It leaves Sydney City Toyota at Waterloo and Glebe – and separate dealerships for Ford, Mazda, and MG in Alexandria – as the remaining mainstream automotive brands with showrooms within 5km of the Sydney CBD.
The only other automotive dealerships to survive Sydney’s exorbitant annual land tax bills are luxury marques such as Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Land-Rover, Aston Martin, and McLaren – which are under one roof in Alexandria.
Drive understands Suttons City plans to relocate most of its car brands and staff to other Suttons dealership locations across metropolitan Sydney including Arncliffe, Concord, Roseville, Mosman, Willoughby, Lindfield, Chullora, Homebush, Guildford, and Eastern Creek.
An application has been made to sell the Kia and Subaru dealerships in Suttons City to the Autosports Group, which will represent those brands at one of its nearby locations if it gains approval from the vehicle manufacturers.
A filing to the Australian Stock Exchange last week said: “Autosports Group Limited has entered into a non-binding heads of agreement with Suttons Motors Pty Limited to purchase the businesses currently trading as Suttons Subaru Rosebery and Suttons City Kia in NSW.
The bulletin noted the transaction is yet to receive “manufacturer approvals.”
The closure of Suttons City is not only the end of an era, but changes the landscape of Sydney new-car retailing – and will send some car brands scrambling to find dealership representation near the CBD.
Higher costs for land – and land tax – have pushed new-car showrooms further from the Sydney CBD each year.
While car buyers are willing to travel across Sydney when comparing prices, the lack of convenient service locations near the city will likely impact thousands of customers.
Suttons City has 92 workshop bays on the site, which could service the cars of more than 350 customers each weekday.
In recent years, Suttons City has sold more than 1000 new cars a month – or more than 12,000 new cars each year – making it one of the largest family-owned operations in Australia.
The post End of an era: Suttons City sold in multimillion-dollar real estate deal appeared first on Drive.
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