News

Car dealership Autosales Kirriemuir will expand to Montrose after it acquired the former Duthies premises.

Duthies closed around a year ago having been in operation since 1947.  Most recently it sold Citroen and SsangYong vehicles.

Its site, on the corner of Brent Avenue and Coronation Avenue, has been bought by Autosales, which was looking at ways to expand its business.

It hopes to replicate its success in Kirriemuir, offering the brands Subaru, Isuzu and GWM for sale.

Autosales owner Bruce Ewart said: “We are well established in Kirriemuir and growing out of the site we have here.

“We have been looking to expand the business and feel this site is a good fit.

“We already have a lot of customers in the Montrose, Brechin and Stonehaven areas who will benefit from this location.

“It’s in a prominent location on a good road and, having been a car dealership, means we can open relatively quickly.”

Bruce says he received the keys to the premises at the start of January and is now undertaking some maintenance.

He hopes to open Autosales Montrose at the start of March.  Like Kirrie, the new location will also sell used cars.  Its workshop will be back up and running within months.

“Initially it will be staffed by workers in Kirriemuir, but we will probably need between seven and 10 staff for the new location,” he said.

“We’ll be looking to employ people from the local area.

“Initially we’ll do sales and then we will look to open the workshop side of the business within a couple of months of getting up and running.”

Autosales Kirriemuir is a third-generation family business.  It was started in the early 1950s by John Ewart and has been selling and servicing cars in Lindsay Street since 1959.

Bruce took over from his father Barrie in 2015 and the company now has more than 15 staff.

Autosales Kirriemuir only started selling the GWM brand in November.

Bruce added: “Sales have been good over the last few months and the new brand has been well received.

“We feel the time is right to expand the business and hopefully there’s an opportunity for a good family-run business to do well in Montrose.”

This article appeared in The Courier on 28 January 2026