A NEW dealership selling the luxury car Aston Martin is set to be built in Southampton.

The dealership will be built on the former Ford transit factory site by the M27 at Swaythling.

The land cost £1.7million and was bought by commercial property consultancy Vail Williams LLP, on behalf of automotive retailer Harwoods Group.

Harwoods own dealerships across the South of England, partnering with premium marques such as Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, Jaguar and Land Rover.

A Jaguar Land Rover dealership is also being built on part of the 1.33 acre site owned by Inchape Estates.

Archie Harwood, chief executive, Harwoods Group, said: “We’re grateful Vail Williams for securing us an ideal site for our state-of-the-art Aston Martin showroom for discerning motorists looking to own the iconic, luxury British sports car.

“We anticipate the new showroom opening in Spring 2020 and are planning to recruit a number of skilled roles to be based there, which is good news for the local and wider community.”

Aston Martins are the luxury British sports cars driven by fictional spy James Bond.

Martin Tice, a consultant for Vail Williams in the Solent region, said: “A key factor in the purchase was location – the site is close to the M27 and connecting M3, as well as Southampton Airport and, via Southampton Parkway, the main rail link to London Waterloo.

"With Aston Martin, Jaguar Land Rover and Mercedes close by this will be a significant high-value motor trade hub.

“Securing the right location is never easy because demand continues to outstrip supply along the M27 Corridor.

" A number of sites were considered in this year-long search for Harwoods.”

The Aston Martin dealership will be located next to Mountpark Southampton, a premier new industrial and logistics development..

Mountpark acquired the Swaythling site in 2015, following the closure of the Ford Transit van production plant.

The company started construction work in 2017 and by the time the first phase reached practical completion in November 2017, Mountpark had let all three units – 47,250 sq ft, 60,000 sq ft and 100,660 sq ft – to Murray Health & Beauty, Berendsen and CooperVision.