Pendragon, the car dealership, today said it would lose £30 million this year as sales collapse amid the faltering economy.

The company behind outlets such as Stratstone, Evans Halshaw and Chatfields, said it would also take a further £15 million hit after closing 75 unprofitable dealerships and making 2,500 people, or one in five of its workforce, redundant.

It also confirmed weekend reports that it was "considering options" for the future of its profitable software business, Pinewood, which supplies back office systems for dealerships. Shares in the company rose 0.24p to 5.5p this morning.

Pendragon, in an interim management statement, said that dealership sales of new cars were down 12 per cent so far this year, worse than the 9 per cent decline in overall registrations.

Used car prices have also been falling, by 5 per cent a month on average with "executive and large 4x4 vehicles being hardest hit".

The company cautioned that it believed that an economic recovery would take time, even though the Bank of England last week slashed base rates by 1.5 per cent to 3 per cent. "Whilst we welcome recent interest rate cuts, we believe it will be some time before the consumer benefits from banks passing this benefit on," it said.

However, Pendragon said it was "optimistic of improved trading next year" because the cost cuts would save it £60 million a year. It also plans to save money by slashing stocks not paid for by the car manufacturers by £50 million.