But not everyone will warm to the Mercedes mega-dealership. The company has steadily been closing small local dealerships in recent years. The night of the long knives came four years ago when Mercedes put all 159 of its British dealers on a year’s notice. Mercedes consolidated its outlets with 35 so-called super-dealers throughout the country, each one owning several individual showrooms.

The disappearance of local dealers is a trend that can be seen across the motoring landscape. In 1993 there were 8,747 franchised dealers of all brands — today there are fewer than 6,000. Those survivors are actually controlled by fewer than 3,000 separate companies. The top 20 companies control 1,178 franchised dealers.

"Manufacturers like to be in control and when Mercedes sacked its private dealers they were trying to streamline their control over just a few large companies," says Alan Pulham, the director of the National Franchised Dealer Association. "The problem is that the rise of the super-dealer has led to the demise of small local dealers. But some people like the fact that you can build a relationship with your local dealer. There is a more personal element to it."

The growth of super-dealers has accelerated since the end of the block exemption for the motor trade in October 2003. The block exemption effectively freed car manufacturers from some European competition laws, meaning that the motor giants could operate wide-ranging control over their franchises and the supply of new vehicles.

The end of the block exemption meant any company could buy any dealership. In a stroke, the power of the car makers was dramatically curbed and the growth of massive, more independent-minded dealers was stimulated.

The Brooklands project is seen by some as an attempt by Mercedes to wrest back control from the small number of powerful dealers.

"The vehicle makers’ nightmare has always been that the tail would wag the dog," says Professor Garyl Rhys of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff Business School. "The idea that the dealer would be acting like a big retailer in any other business is unimaginable to them. For example, it is Marks & Spencer that calls the shots rather than the people who make the product. The motor industry is one of the few industries where that isn’t the case and the vehicle makers are desperate for it to remain that way.

"Over the past few years the rise of the large dealer groups has started to challenge that control and, as Mercedes has found, one of the ways of countering that is to create your own outlet, such as Brooklands."

Not surprisingly, Mercedes claims that this is far from the case. Will Robson, a spokesman for the company, says: "We want to work with existing dealers and the hope is that customers will come to Brooklands and enjoy the Mercedes experience then return to their local dealer and buy the car from them."

Either way, just as Brooklands ushered in a new age of motoring almost 100 years ago, it looks set to lead the way in changing how we buy our cars in the future.

"There is a real redrawing of the boundary of power between dealers and manufacturers and where that line ends up nobody yet knows," says Rhys. "The only danger is that the consumer will lose out if either side gains too much power."