The lyrics of Trevor Finn's favourite song, Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve, have taken on a new resonance for Pendragon, the car dealership he runs. The company behind chains such as Stratstone, Evans Halshaw and Chatfields certainly is “trying to make ends meet” after announcing yesterday that it would lose £30 million this year as sales collapse amid the stalling economy.

Pendragon, “a slave to money”, also admitted that it would take a further £15 million hit after closing 75 unprofitable dealerships and making 2,500 people, or one in five of its workforce, redundant.

In an indicator of dwindling British consumer confidence, the company said in its interim management statement that dealership sales of new cars were down 12 per cent this year, worse than the 9 per cent decline in overall registrations.

It is just as well that Mr Finn has never been one to shy away from hard graft. When faced with a setback, the son of a Hull trawlerman who started work as a trainee mechanic at 15, aims to work his way around it. “It's mechanical thinking. You go from A to B to C to D and, if disassembling, it's the reverse. And when you see ways of improving processes, you do it,” the Pendragon chief executive said in a past interview.

Mr Finn, 51, plans to save £60 million a year through cost cutting. The company also plans to save money by slashing stocks not paid for by car manufacturers by £50 million. The sale of Pinewood, its profitable software business, which supplies back-office systems for dealers, is being considered. Shares in the company, Britain's biggest car dealer, rose 0.89p to 6.25p.

Pendragon was floated in 1989 when Williams Holdings, the conglomerate, demerged its motor offshoot, which at the time had 19 dealerships. Mr Finn, along with Sir Nigel Rudd, the chairman, the former boss of Williams Holdings, realised that UK car sales were a highly fragmented market and embarked on a shopping spree.

Among the purchases were Evans Halshaw, the Midlands rival, for £118 million, and CD Bramall, of Yorkshire, for £268 million.

Its biggest buy was the Reg Vardy Group, clinched in 2006. A rival offer from Lookers forced Mr Finn to raise his final bid to £509 million, a steep 18 times earnings. Pendragon now sells a variety of marques including Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Ford and Vauxhall.

Mr Finn, a father of three, lives in Derbyshire and has a penchant for sports cars and jukeboxes.