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A double investment by a motoring group in Dundee and Perth will cost almost £20 million and create 90 jobs.
Eastern Western Motor Group is transforming the former Levi’s factory at Dunsinane Avenue in Dundee into a Toyota and Lexus outlet.
It is set to open in December and will also include a used car supermarket, Car Deal Warehouse.
Meanwhile, another dealership on Perth’s Dunkeld Road motor mile is being created. Opening in mid-December, this will be a Toyota showroom.
Combined the investment on the buildings will be between £13m and £14m but group managing director Keith Duncan said the total spend will be more.
He said: “To be honest, this is just the tip of the iceberg because you also need to stock the sites and have working capital – this adds around another £5m.
“The two sites will also add about 90 jobs. We’re quite well into the recruitment process.
“I take no satisfaction in Peter Vardy announcing its intention to close in Dundee, but it did create a pool of talent which we could choose from.
“Toyota and Lexus are brilliant brands – they have been on the front foot of eco technology for a long time.
“Both developments have been going to plan and are set to open in December this year.”
Mr Duncan, who is originally from Dundee, praised Dundee City Council for being “pragmatic” in giving permission for the development, which was initially zoned as commercial land.
It will be powered by solar panels, have LED lighting and utilise rainwater harvesting.
Meanwhile, the Perth development is at a former Arnold Clark dealership, around 500 metres from Eastern Western’s Grassicks BMW and Mini sites.
The Edinburgh-based company also operates Barnetts Motor Group in Riverside Drive, Dundee, and owns Fife Motor Village at Halbeath in Fife.
Mr Duncan said: “We bought Fife Motor Village in February. We don’t run all the businesses there but we own the site.
“We have plans to expand our own franchises in that space in the future.
“It’s a very exciting time for the business and we’d like to do more in Dundee in the future.”
The new Dundee and Perth Toyota dealerships will be under the Barnetts brand.
The Levi’s factory on Dunsinane Avenue closed in 2002. In the intervening years hosted a range of organisations including foodbanks, church groups and community projects.
The previous owners – Aydya – had marketed the site for two decades. The factory was demolished in late 2021 and then sold to Eastern Western.
At its height in the mid-1990s, nearly 600 people worked at the Levi’s site, and one million pairs of jeans were leaving the plant every week.
The factory’s closure 20 years ago was blamed on a need to lower production costs in a “challenging economic climate”.
Calls may be monitored for quality and training purposes. Eastern Western Motor Group Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for credit broking and insurance distribution activities under reference number 310505 – we are a credit broker not a lender. Registered Office: 8 Westerton Road, East Mains Industrial Estate, Broxburn West Lothian EH52 5AU Registered in Scotland No. 14833 VAT Registration No. 269233051 We work with a number of carefully selected credit providers who may be able to offer you finance for your purchase. We are only able to offer finance products from these providers.