Mahindra Motorland in East London was one of the brightest shining stars at Mahindra South Africa’s annual awards evening in Kempton Park on Friday, July 11. This dealership was not only the top seller in the Mahindra network with 225 units sold in 2013, but was also the winner of the prestigious Dealer of the Year award in the large dealer category.

“The Mahindra South Africa Annual Awards evening has been instituted to reward and motivate high performing dealers. We evaluate our dealers’ performance on an annual basis, using several parameters, including training, customer satisfaction, scores of the dealer enhancement programme, implementation of standards/procedures for sales and other dealer activities. “The evening is not only an opportunity for dealers to meet and interact with each other but it also helps them benchmark their performances as award winners are invited to share best practices. The awards are a reflection of our strong focus on customer satisfaction which has proven to be a key differentiator. We have several programmes on enhancing capabilities at the dealerships which helps them upskill and enhance the quality of their service,” said Ashok Thakur, CEO, Mahindra South Africa.

This was the first year that the Mahindra Dealer of the Year award had been split among three categories of dealers, with the divisions based on the number of vehicles sold in each NAAMSA licensing district annually. Large dealer regions have sales of 3 000 units or more, while medium dealers are in regions selling between 1 500 and 3 000 units a year, with small dealers located in districts where less than 1 500 units are sold annually. Motorland, which was granted the Mahindra franchise in 2006, is headed up by enthusiastic dealer principal, Steve Chandler and has the largest staff complement in the national network with 100 employees. Motorland also won the gold award for its annual sales. The Dealer of the Year in the medium category was Mahindra Vaal in Vanderbijlpark, which also won gold in sales as well as after-sales. This outlet, which has been an exclusive Mahindra dealer since 2009, is headed up by general manager, Tessa Pienaar and operates with 25 employees.

The Dealer of the Year in the small category was Mahindra Kimberley, headed up by Johan Liebenberg and only obtained the Mahindra franchise in 2012.  It has made immense progress since then and besides the overall DOTY title it won gold for after sales and silver for sales in 2013.