SPORTS car sales proprietor Steve Williams has roared into a £1 million deal.

Nine months ago Mr Williams launched DriveStyle at his showrooms in Hornbeam Park, Harrogate, selling convertibles to a growing UK market and matching buyers and sellers of fine sports cars through the Connections brand.

Now, as the company's managing director, he has spent £1 million taking over the TVR dealership for the Yorkshire and Humber region, boosting staff to 13.

He acquired the franchise of the super British sports car from Harrogate Horseless Carriages, the longest-established TVR dealer in Britain, based in Skipton Road, Harrogate, whose proprietor, Nigel Kemp, is retiring after 27 years.

The acquisition includes a specialised TVR after-sales centre on Lime Street off Skipton Road, Harrogate. The deal comes at a time when TVR, under new Russian owner Nikolai Smolenski, is breaking new ground in the sports car market.

Mr Williams said: "In DriveStyle we created a first - a lifestyle-focused sports car business. We saw the opportunity to build on that, and this new deal is a perfect fit.

"We now have the bottom, middle and top of the ranges covered. We can offer the enthusiast a new or used sports car ranging from anything between £6,000 and £200,000."

The £200,000 is the top-whack price for a Spyker, the prestige Dutch sports car for which DriveStyle holds the North of England franchise - a vehicle which can be built to customer specification from first order "to final parp-parp."

The deal was achieved with the help of venture capital funding from Yorkshire Fund Managers (YFM), Richard Moran of McCormicks Solicitors of Harrogate and Leeds, Phil Bailey, corporate finance partner at Skipton-based chartered accountants Robertshaw and Myers, and Brian Coghlan, commercial banking manager at HSBC Commercial Centre in Harrogate.

Updated: 10:57 Wednesday, July 06, 2005