‘Tis that season again – awarding the best dealer or, in the case of some of the European brands, the best agent.
These Dealer of the Year Awards (DOTY) have changed over recent years, and today, most brands choose their top dealer in different-sized categories, often including rural, small, medium, large and mega dealers.
For a dealership, winning the DOTY Award or even a category in the larger awards list is not only a point of pride, but it can certainly be used for marketing purposes. Here is a short summary of the brands that have picked their top dealer thus far
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars South Africa honoured 16 standout performers across various aspects of retail operations.
The brand says that the recipients of these awards embody the core values of Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars, demonstrating excellence in customer satisfaction, operational efficiency and innovative thinking.
The evening’s pinnacle moment was the presentation of the prestigious Chairman’s Award, recognising the Best Overall Agent of the Year.
This celebrated top-performing partners whose contributions set a benchmark for the entire retail network and went to Mercedes-Benz Constantiaberg.
The other top award, the MB Financial Services Chairman’s Award, went to Mercedes-Benz Umhlanga.
Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi Motors South Africa rewarded its top dealerships, with Mitsubishi Motors East London, again clinching this prestigious title.
In the overall sales category, Mitsubishi Motors The Glen, Mitsubishi Motors Mobeni and Mitsubishi Motors Empangeni were the best performers.
Mitsubishi Motors East Rand, Mitsubishi Motors East London and Mitsubishi Motors George sold the most retail units across the three dealer categories – large, medium and small.
Renault
Renault South Africa recently held its annual Dealer of the Year Awards celebrating its 80-strong partners in the Renault Dealer network.
The top honours in the category for large dealerships went to Renault Bryanston, while Renault Bruma took home the award for medium dealerships.
In the category for small dealerships, Renault Heidelberg emerged as the winner and Renault Bronkhorstspruit secured the top spot in the micro dealerships category.
The Westvaal Group took the all-important trophy home for Best Overall Achievement. The Motus Renault Group took the honours for the Retailer of the Year, as well as the Best Sales Achievement title.
The BB Group walked away with the title of Best Overall CSI, while Eastvaal Motor Group received the accolade for Best Sales Quality.
Toyota
Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) hosted its thriving Dealer Network for the annual National Dealer of the Year Awards. The event marked 45 years of market leadership, and the brand will usually give a glimpse of the products they are planning.
President and CEO of TSAM, Andrew Kirby, and Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at TSAM, Leon Theron, were on the stage to hand over the National Dealer of the Year Awards to the following recipients:
2024 Toyota Dealer of the Year award: Riversdal Toyota, 2024 Lexus Dealer of the Year award: SMG Lexus Umhlanga, 2024 Hino Dealer of the Year award: Hino Kuilsrivier, 2024 Independent Dealer of the Year: Upington Toyota, Chairman Achievement Award: Riël Gresse, President’s Award, Small: Riversdal Toyota, President’s Award, Medium: Halfway Toyota Howick, President’s Award, Medium: Carnival Toyota, President’s Award, Mega: SMG Toyota Hillcrest, President Divisional Award: Warren Demmer, SMG, and thePresident’s Group MD Award: Anton Labuschagne, NTT Group.
JLR
Carrying the torch for the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) premium brand, is the independently owned JLR The Glen, part of the Southern Motor Holdings Group, with Filipe Carvalhal as Dealer Principal.
Other titles scooped up by The Glen at this year’s JLR annual Retailer of the Awards, are the Client Experience of the Year; Sales Retailer of the Year Metro; Marketing Champion and Service Champion and of course the overall title as Retailer of the Year.
It was the third top title for The Glen in a 5-year period – 2020/21 and 2021/22 and now again for 2024/25. Although it did not take the top spot for the 2022/23 title, the dealership still managed the second runner-up position.
UD Trucks Southern Africa
On the commercial side of the industry, McCarthy Commercial Vehicles Alrode took the top honours as the UD Trucks Southern Africa Dealer of the Year Awards, scooping up the silverware as the brand’s top dealership in the country.
