See all Motoring NewsGowan Group, the family owned holding company, has completed the acquisition of FCA Ireland, following approval of the transaction by the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commissioner. Gowan Group will now take over responsibility for importing the Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Fiat Professional brands into Ireland.
This comes in the wake of the merger of car manufacturers PSA and FCA earlier this year, which created Stellantis, now one of the world’s biggest car manufacturers with industrial operations in 30 countries and a commercial presence in 130 markets. In addition to already importing Peugeot, Citroën, Opel and DS brands, Gowan Group will now import a total of eight Stellantis brands in Ireland. Gowan Group will assume responsibility for all of FCA Ireland’s operations and current employees will transfer now that the transaction has been completed.
“We are delighted to become Stellantis’s import partner in Ireland for Fiat, Jeep, Alfa Romeo and Fiat Professional brands,” said Michael Dwan, CEO of Gowan Group. “We have a deep understanding of the Irish motor market and a good appreciation of the Stellantis brands. We have been impressed with the quality of the product pipeline and with the significant investment commitment to power the Stellantis electrification strategy. We are committed to improving customer satisfaction and market share for each of the brands in Ireland.”
Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Fiat Professional complement Gowan's broad model portfolio. Leveraging the many new and advanced powertrain developments across the Stellantis Group, each of the brands will benefit from a substantial investment in latest generation technology and exciting new models. Starting with five new model launches in 2022, each brand has a clearly defined strategy aimed at delivering a full suite of models meeting future market demands.
Gowan Group has been involved in motor distribution in Ireland for 52 years, importing Peugeot vehicles since 1969 and Opel vehicles since 2019. In April of this year, Gowan Group commenced the importing and selling of Stellantis-owned Citroen vehicles in Ireland, having previously imported Citroen vehicles to Ireland between 1982 to 2009. The contract with Stellantis to take over responsibility for Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Fiat Professional in the Irish market is an acknowledgement of Gowan’s strong results as the representative for other Stellantis brands in Ireland. It also confirms Stellantis' confidence that Gowan has the ability to grow the market shares of these very exciting and historic brands here in Ireland.
Gowan Group is the exclusive importer and distributor of Peugeot, Opel, Citroen, DS Automobiles and Honda in the Republic of Ireland which are sold through a network of independent dealers. Gowan Group acquired Opel Ireland in September 2019, was appointed DS Automobiles importer in September 2020, and appointed Citroen importer in April 2021. In addition to Peugeot, Honda and Opel, Gowan Group (Navan Road) retails Kia and provides after sales service for Citroen.
As part of the broader Gowan Group, a new FCA Honda division (FIAT, FIAT Professional, Alfa Romeo and JEEP) has been formed. John Saunders the former sales and marketing director of Universal Honda Ltd. will now lead these new brands in the Irish market as the newly-appointed Managing Director. Ian Tolan will take on the role as head of sales for all brands and Jennifer Moran will be handling the marketing and communications for the 5 brands.
Commenting on the announcement, John Saunders Managing Director of FCA-H said “We are very excited to be part of this new chapter for FCA under the new motor division FCA-H. Through its dynamic brands FIAT, FIAT professional, JEEP and Alfa Romeo, FCA is one of the world’s leading automakers and making waves across Europe with some very exciting new models, soon be available in the Irish market. 2022 will be a pivotal year as we get ready to launch the iconic FIAT 500e alongside the all-new JEEP Compass MHEV and the FIAT professional E-Ducato. As we embark on this new adventure, we look forward to welcoming customers old and new into local dealerships nationwide.”