Luxury car importers name top dealers for 2008

LUXURY car importers Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz announced the winners of their respective 2008 Dealer of the Year Awards (DOTY) in a series of presentations in Melbourne last week.

Staging its 2008 Mark of Excellence Awards at the recently opened Melbourne Recital Centre, Audi Australia named Sydney’s Audi Five Dock as its metropolitan DOTY, while Audi Centre Canberra took out the provincial/rural award for the second year running.

Both dealerships opened new ‘Audi Terminal’ facilities in 2008.

Audi Five Dock dealer principals Ian and Nick Pagent and Dwyer Ogle accepted the metro award, while Canberra dealer principal Richard Rolfe was handed the provincial gong.

Five Dock won the metropolitan award ahead of Audi Centre Sydney and Audi Centre Melbourne, while Canberra won its section ahead of Audi Gallery Newcastle and Audi Centre Cairns.

Audi Australia sales general manager Andrew Doyle said the Mark of Excellence awards were neither a popularity contest nor an award for the highest annual sales.

“They are designed to recognise and reward the dealership that performs the best in relation to targets across the board,” he said.

Audi Australia managing director Joerg Hofmann added: “The awards were also a celebration for our 2008 achievement of 30.2 per cent growth.

“It was a very emotional event. Audi has been running from record to record Down Under, and the entire team has worked extremely hard to achieve our sales results and ensure our profitability.

“It was very gratifying to hear several dealer principals express their strong desire to be up on stage next year accepting the award. It’s a goal worth striving for.”

BMW Metropolitan Dealer of the Year winner Kym McInerney,of Adelaide BMW (with wife Sandra) receives the trophy from BMW's Guenther Seemann. Below: Mercedes-Benz joint DOTY winners, Diesel Motors and Barloworld Motor.

BMW Group Australia’s 2008 Trophy winners included Adelaide BMW – named metropolitan DOTY – and Port Macquarie’s (NSW) McGuigan BMW, which won the rural DOTY.

Adelaide BMW dealer principal Kym McInerney said commitment to customers was central to everything his dealership did.

“This award is a testament to the commitment by all members of Adelaide BMW to our ‘gold standards program’ of customer courtesy, care and professionalism,” he said.

McGuigan BMW dealer principal Shane McGuigan – who described the dealership as a “family business” – said his team was delighted to accept such a high accolade from BMW.

“The entire team at McGuigan BMW has, over many years, strived to deliver the best customer experience,” he said.

Outgoing BMW Group Australia managing director Guenther Seemann said: “All BMW Trophy winners share a common characteristic and that is a commitment to excellence.

“Satisfying customers when it comes to their premium motoring needs is the cornerstone of the BMW Trophy philosophy. The BMW Trophy recognises benchmark performance of dealers in the network across all areas of their business, including customer service,” he said.

Other trophy winners were Geelong BMW (Vic), Jeff Tracy BMW (Shepparton, Vic), Sunraysia Prestige (Mildura, Vic) and Trivett Classic (Parramatta, NSW).

Mercedes-Benz awarded its 2008 national DOTY to two dealerships – Diesel Motors (WA) and Barloworld Motor (Vic). These two dealers also jointly took out the southern regional metropolitan award.

Other Mercedes award winners were: Callaghan Motors (Warrnambool, Vic) – southern region rural/provincial Andrew Miedecke Motors (Port Macquarie, NSW) – northern region rural/provincial McIntosh of Mosman (NSW) – northern region metropolitan and Centenary Classic (Brisbane, Qld) – Queensland region.