Nissan Forklift has appointed the UK's largest independent materials handling distributor as an exclusive dealership to handle more than half the country.

As part of an agreed programme, Nottingham-based Impact Handling purchased existing Nissan dealership Apollo Plant earlier in the year to distribute the brand in East Yorkshire and Humberside. It has subsequently been awarded areas from North Yorkshire to Hampshire.

Nissan Forklift General Manager Geoff Phillips described the appointment of a stronger dealership network as "essential" following development of the Nissan brand in recent years.

"We have launched a raft of new products and technology, with more on the way, together with an entry into the mainstream warehouse market and our acquisition of Atlet. We needed to develop a distributor network that could fully meet the challenge of this wider product offering.

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"Impact proved that they not only have the experience to deal with our extended range, they have also been prepared to invest substantially in new premises in different parts of the country and in new personnel. Naturally, we have been sorry to lose some of our longest established dealerships in this realignment, but it was an essential move as part of a plan for continued, long-term growth."

Impact Managing Director Terry Kendrew described the appointment as "a perfect blend" of two cultures.

"Just like Nissan, Impact has always believed in a completely local relationship with its users. The customer in Romsey, for instance, doesn't want to deal with a faceless call centre in Rotherham - or even further. He wants to speak to identifiable people who are local to him and who will quickly take personal ownership of his needs and, indeed, his problems."

Impact Handling has sales centres in Boston, Corby, Doncaster, Hull, Immingham, Ipswich, Norwich, Nottingham and Reading, with 150 mobile service engineers.