LAYERTHORPE Volkswagen at Clifton Moor, York, will open the doors of its all-new commercial and fleet centre in March.

The £500,000 centre is a major investment for Layerthorpe Volkswagen's owner, JCT600, and has been tailor-made to house both the commercial and fleet departments.

While it adjoins the current dealership, it has been developed as a stand-alone unit in line with JCT's commitment to offer business-users a focused service and will include a dedicated commercial vehicle servicing and repair area and a vastly improved selection of showroom commercial vehicles and used stock.

Head of business Daniel Constable said: "The new commercial and fleet centre will allow us to offer business users in the York area and beyond a truly holistic solution for their fleet needs.

"We believe local businesses will benefit from us combining both passenger car fleet solutions and commercial vehicle solutions under one roof, and we envisage that the new centre will quickly become recognised as a centre of excellence for the Volkswagen brand."

Fleet manager Andrew Bettley said the expansion marked the first significant development at the site since the premises were opened in 2001.

He added: "We appreciate the need to offer business users in York specific and specialised advice, and to this end, passenger cars and commercial vehicles are completely separate entities.

"Having said that, we appreciate there is a great deal of synergy and cross-fertilisation opportunity between the two departments and therefore believe that having both departments side by side will, in the long-term, be of great benefit to our current and future customer base."