THE PENTAGON dealership that sells Fiat and Peugeot vehicles from a showroom in Worth Way, Keighley, is to close.

The company this week issued two press announcements about its “regretful” decision to close on Thursday, March, 29

Fiat customers will in future have to travel to Pentagon Huddersfield while Peugeot owners can visit the vehicle manufacturer’s dealerships in Bradford or Menston.

Pentagon managing director David Lewis said the company had held discussions with both Peugeot and Fiat in recent months concerning the dealership’s financial performance.

Peugeot had then applied a termination notice on the Peugeot franchise.

Mr Lewis said: “As a recent enquiry to sell the business to an interested third party has fallen through, we have arrived at the position where closure is the only option.

“Pentagon has invested heavily in supporting the business performance since taking over dealership in Keighley in 2013. However whilst many improvements have been made the past three years have resulted in excessive financial losses.”

Mr Reeve said the Peugeot side of the business would not be allowed to trade beyond March 29, and as a result Pentagon was seeking agreement with Fiat to terminate that franchise on the same date.

In a follow-up announcement four days later, Pentagon director James Reeve said the Keighley dealership was closing with full support and approval of Peugeot and Fiat.

He added: “We would like to thank all of the team members in Keighley for their hard work and commitment to their customers over the past five years.

“We are exploring opportunities for team members to move to other jobs within the group to help keep redundancies to a minimum. We would also like to apologise for the inconvenience this may cause our customers.”

Drivers who bought a vehicle from Pentagon Keighley can visit any other local FIAT or Peugeot dealership with warranty issues and for servicing and repair work.

Customers can contact the Pentagon Customer Care team on freephone 0800 917 4480 (weekdays 9am-5pm) or by emailing customer.care@pentagon-group.co.uk.