KIA Motors announces its top performing dealerships for 2019/2020
KIA Motors South Africa has rewarded its top performing dealerships across this country with multiple awards for excellence in sales and service. In the absence of a physical awards event, the annual Dealer of the Year Awards – for the period July 2019 to June 2020 – was executed digitally and headlined by KIA Motors South Africa’s CEO, Gary Scott.
“Recognising and celebrating success has never been more important because these are not times that will allow average businesses to survive,” said Scott during the event. “In order to succeed, we must be inventive, creative, resolute and exceptional. The ‘new normal’ requires anything but ordinary.”
The annual KIA Motors Dealer of the Year Awards seeks to recognise and reward dealerships who have excelled in sales, after sales and service operations. All KIA Motors dealerships in South Africa are eligible for the awards, which are presented across Category A, Category B and Category C dealerships, dependent on dealership size.
“This year’s winners are diverse, and each in their own way, has looked at the challenging circumstances, sought opportunities and applied ‘hustle’ to convert those opportunities into results,” Scott continued. “Time and again, it is instructive to see who goes forward and who goes backwards when times are tough. Sometimes its luck, sometimes its talent, but a positive mindset is always going to bring you closer to the action.”
Parts Dealer of the Year awards are based on parts purchase achievement against target, as well as share contribution to the KIA business. But it’s about more than just the numbers, added Shaun Hannaway, Executive: Parts. “A successful parts dealership understands that it needs to continuously educate customers on the use of genuine parts and the benefits of skilled workmanship and specialised tooling. They need to challenge the perception that OEM parts are far more expensive than other alternative, all while offering superior customer service,” he adds.
The winners are:
- Silver Award (Category C Dealerships): KIA Motors Nigel
- Gold Award (Category C Dealerships): KIA Motors Paarl
- Bronze Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors Springs
- Silver Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors Middelburg
- Gold Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors Tzaneen
- Bronze Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors Northcliff
- Silver Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors Polokwane
- Gold Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors Durban South
A special Gold Award was also extended to KIA Motors Polokwane for excellence in Accessories Sales.
Commenting on the awards for the CSI Dealer of the Year, Nash Budhram, GM of Aftersales at KIA Motors, reiterated that, as product quality improves across the industry, aftersales customer satisfaction has become one of a customer’s primary considerations when purchasing a vehicle. “These awards recognise the dealerships that have consistently delivered superior customer experience and satisfaction”.
The winners are:
- Bronze Award (Category C Dealerships): KIA Motors Paarl
- Silver Award (Category C Dealerships): KIA Motors Vryheid
- Gold Award (Category C Dealerships): KIA Motors Jeffreys Bay
- Bronze Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors Pietermaritzburg
- Silver Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors Bethlehem
- Gold Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors Hermanus
- Bronze Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors East Rand
- Silver Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors Durban South
- Gold Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors Randburg
For this year’s awards, a new category – Service Operations Dealer of the Year – was included. “Considering the importance of customer service in the aftersales space, we introduced a new award this year that encapsulates the difficulty in delivering superior customer service consistently,” explained Suraiya Naidoo, Aftersales Director, KIA Motors South Africa. “For this award, we considered the dealership’s investment in training, the investment in their facilities, their variable margin performance, warranty management and the relationship between their customers and the importer.”
The winners are:
- Bronze Award (Category C Dealerships): KIA Motors Paarl
- Silver Award (Category C Dealerships): KIA Motors Nigel
- Gold Award (Category C Dealerships): KIA Motors Vryheid
- Bronze Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors Alberton
- Silver Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors East London
- Gold Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors Pietermaritzburg
- Bronze Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors Roodepoort
- Silver Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors Durban South
- Gold Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors Randburg
Fleet and Corporate Sales require a special focus in any dealership, and is often accompanied by months of relationship building prior to orders being secured. To acknowledge and reward excellence in this field, two special awards for Fleet Sales Dealer of the Year were made: a Silver Award for KIA Motors East Rand, and a Gold Award for KIA Motors Durban South.
In awarding the Sales Dealer of the Year Award, dealerships were measured on their sales to target achievement for the year. “While there is always a volume expectation attached to targets, the criteria for this award also considers focus model achievement in order to ensure dealerships not only meet volume targets, but model mix targets as well,” explained Kabelo Tlailane, GM: Sales, KIA Motors South Africa.
Stephen Crosse, Sales Director at KIA Motors South Africa agreed. “One of the primary purposes of a dealership is to sell vehicles and to build a customer base, which is why this is an important award not only for the dealership, but also for the distributor. The fact that our dealer network achieved these volume and mix targets throughout the most difficult trading year in the company’s history is simply phenomenal.”
The winners are:
- Silver Award (Category C Dealerships): KIA Motors Vanderbijlpark
- Gold Award (Category C Dealerships): KIA Motors Umlazi
- Bronze Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors Brackenfell
- Silver Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors Alberton
- Gold Award (Category B Dealerships): KIA Motors Diep Rivier
- Bronze Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors Roodepoort
- Silver Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors Weltevredenpark
- Gold Award (Category A Dealerships): KIA Motors Durban South
Considering all dealerships’ overall achievement in the various fields under consideration, the awards were concluded with the most coveted award of all – the 2020 KIA Motors South Africa Dealer of the Year Award – which was awarded to KIA Motors Durban South.
Located in Amanzimtoti on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, KIA Motors Durban South – under the leadership of Riaz Akoob – received a total of three Gold Awards (Parts, Fleet Sales, Sales) and two Silver Awards (CSI and Service Operations), in combination ranking the highest for the overall Dealer of the Year awards.
“The winning dealer has to have all the ingredients right: sales, service, the infrastructure, the brand approach. All of these elements need to work together to create the magic that makes a deserving Dealer of the Year, which is exactly what Riaz and his team at Durban South has achieved,” concluded KIA Motors South Africa CEO, Gary Scott.
