SOUTHAMPTON-BASED motor group Snows has bought out another south coast dealership.

Perrys Portsmouth Fiat, Perrys Portsmouth Mazda and Perrys Portsmouth Peugeot, by the A27 in Walton Road, Farlington, has been bought for an undisclosed sum by Snows.

The dealership has been rebranded Snows Fiat Portsmouth, Snows Mazda Portsmouth and Snows Peugeot Portsmouth.

In a new addition, Abarth, the performance hatch arm of the Fiat marque, is being brought to the site, as Snows Abarth Portsmouth, to complement the Fiat offering.

Abarth models include the Abarth 595, a trend-setting city car, and the 695 Biposto - tagged as the world’s smallest supercar with a 1.4-litre turbo-charged petrol engine and a top speed of 143mph. Biposto is Italian for two-seater.

Stephen Snow, Snows Group Chairman, said: “This is another strategic acquisition for the business, further strengthening our offering to discerning customers in the Portsmouth region and creating economies of scale in a highly competitive market.

“We already represent Fiat in Southampton, the Isle of Wight and Sarisbury Green, near Fareham, and it is great to be able to do the same in the great city of Portsmouth.

“Owning the Mazda franchise in Portsmouth complements the Mazda franchise we acquired in Chichester, West Sussex, at the start of this year and subsequently rebranded Snows Mazda Chichester.

“Furthermore, we’re able to fly the Peugeot flag here as well, dovetailing with our other Peugeot dealerships in Basingstoke, Chichester, Newbury and Romsey.”

Stephen added: “We’ve always wanted to expand our trading operations in Portsmouth, where we already successfully operate BMW, MINI, SEAT and Toyota dealerships, and the ideal opportunity came through the long-established and well respected Perrys Group.”

A number of employees at Perrys have been transferred to Snows, which employs more than 835 people and is headquartered in Southampton.

Snows, representing 18 marques overall, operates in Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Somerset, Surrey, West Sussex and Wiltshire and has a turnover of more than £310 million and is 50th in the Automotive Management 100, which lists the largest UK automotive retail groups in the UK.

With the new franchise in Portsmouth, Snows has a total of 49 franchised dealerships, 11 specialist used vehicle outlets, called Too Good to Auction, five manufacturer-approved repair centres and a specialist accident repair centre.