Muscat Motors will next year be taking back the Jaguar dealership that it lost in 1994.

The Jaguar brand has since then been represented by Gasan Zammit Motors, one of the nine brands it represents along with Ford, Chevrolet, Mazda, Honda, Volvo, Isuzu, Yamaha and Capelli.

Gasan Zammit’s representation of Jaguar will end on May 31, 2016.

Gasan Zammit Motors has represented Ford in Malta for almost a century when Gasan Group founder Joe Gasan signed the first Ford dealership in 1928. It took over the Jaguar brand a few years after Ford bought it for $2.5 billion, spending a further $10 billion to revive its fortunes.

In 2008, Ford decided to sell both its Jaguar and Land Rover brands to Mumbai-based Tata Motors, for $2.3 billion.

Jaguar Land Rover Limited, the company owning the Jaguar and Land Rover Franchises, pursued global consolidation of the two British luxury franchises into single-point dealers for a number of years.

Muscat Motors, founded in 1943/1944, has represented Land Rover for over 45 years and will now be taking back the Jaguar dealership that was one of the first brands in its portfolio. It also holds the franchise for BMW and Mini.

“The consolidation plan gathered more momentum from 2012. Malta was one of the last remaining handful of markets where the brands were separate,” Gasan Group chief executive officer and Gasan Zammit director Mark Gasan said.

Muscat Motors declined to comment.

Muscat Motors will be taking over the luxury brand at a tough time: The Business Observer had reported a year ago that in the past five years only 9.8 per cent of BMWs and 13.2 per cent of Jaguars registered in Malta were bought new, the remainder being bought either from second-hand car dealers or from overseas.