JENNINGS Ford, one of the region's longest established motor dealers, has undergone its second management buyout.

Under the move Nas Khan, the company's sales director for the past 13 years, will take over as group managing director from Alan Bentley.

News of the buyout, for an undisclosed amount, came as Jennings announced plans for a second car "supersite" in Sunderland next year, similar to the multi-million pound development in Cargo Fleet Lane, Middlesbrough.

Jennings, which has Ford, Mazda, Seat, Subaru and Isuzu dealers across the North-East, has an annual turnover of £170m and Mr Khan, 46, expects that figure to keep rising, together with company profits.

"Over the past four to five years we have gone through a rapid period of expansion in terms of acquisitions of other franchises," he said.

"Our plans for the coming four years is not to expand any further, other than opening the Sunderland site, but to build on what we have already got."

The seven-acre site for the Sunderland showroom was bought last year. It will sell Ford and Mazda cars and commercial vehicles.

The Jennings Ford dealership had been in the Jennings family for more than 70 years when it was subject to its first management buyout in 1992.

At the time, Ford returned to the position of the UK's best-selling car with 121,140 registrations.

In this latest buyout, other Jennings directors remain unchanged, including Nicky Dalkin as after-sales director and Graeme Armstrong as finance director and company secretary.

Jennings is the North-East's largest, independent Ford dealer with branches in Stockton, Middlesbrough, South Shields, Sunderland, Gateshead, Washington and Morpeth. It employs 700 people.