EVANS Halshaw remains tight-lipped over the closure of its Northwich car dealership.

Representatives from the Ford main agent and service centre, on Chesterway, sent a message to regular customers saying the store would be closing with less than a day’s notice on Tuesday, October 15.

The company gave no reason for the closure, and phone calls to the store are currently being re-routed to its Altrincham branch.

The business’ Google information page states the site is now permanently closed.

The closure comes as something of a surprise as Evans Halshaw’s US-based parent company, Lithia, recently committed publicly to the brand.

In fact, Lithia closed 16 branches of Evans Halshaw’s sister company, CarStore, in April, with the loss of 250 jobs, to focus on its Evans Halshaw and Statstone brands.

The message sent to its Northwich customers said: “As a valued customer, we are contacting you to inform you of the forthcoming closure of our Northwich store, Evans Halshaw Ford in Northwich.

”The store will close today – Tuesday, October 15.”

The store employed a number of skilled tradespeople including sales staff and automotive engineers. 

Evans Halshaw was approached for comment and asked whether the closure meant job losses, but it said it was unable to comment.

Rumours on social media about the site being taken over by Chinese car company, Omoda, seem to be unfounded.

This was confirmed by nearby Nissan dealership, Holdcroft, which already acts as a UK agent for Omoda.

To date, no recent planning applications have been submitted to Cheshire West and Chester Council concerning the site. 

Following publication of this article, an Evans Halshaw spokesman said: "This decision is aligned to the wider UK Ford Dealer Network plans."