Dealership wins eight gongs

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Members of staff from Farmers Volkswagen show off their successful haul of awards  

2/13

Andrew Washington, parts adviser from WR Phillips, with the provincial parts department of the year award  

3/13

Mark Ferguson, group parts manager at Farmer Volkswagen, with the metro gong for the best parts department  

4/13

Mark Brightman, workshop controller at WR Phillips, which won the passenger and commercial service titles  

5/13

Jarrod Winders, service manager at Continental Cars, which won the metro section for passenger service departments  

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Dave Dijk, service manager at Farmer Volkswagen, with the metro passenger service department of the year award  

7/13

Mandy Boyce-Bacon, from Giltrap Volkswagen, was named business manager of the year  

8/13

Dave Tarrant, dealer principal at Robertson Prestige, with his company’s award for commercial customer experience excellence  

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Blair Woolford, general manager of Farmer Volkswagen, was a repeat visitor to the stage as the company netted a number of awards  

10/13

Terry Elmsly, dealer principal at EuroCity, with the two awards his company picked up  

11/13

Aaron Musgrove, from Gazley Motors, with the overall prize for marketing  

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Mike Farmer, group managing director at Farmer Autovillage, addresses the ceremony after his company collected eight awards  

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Bevan Sheppard, left, Mike Farmer, Mark Ferguson, Blair Woolford and Dave Dijk, all from Farmer Autovillage, proudly display the 2020 Dealer of the Year prize for Farmer Volkswagen  

Farmer Volkswagen collected eight titles, including the overall dealer of the year gong, at Volkswagen’s 2020 Dealer of the Year awards.

The Mount Maunganui business’ haul included prizes for customer experience excellence and marketing campaigns for passenger and commercial vehicles. 

Euro City in Napier was named the provincial dealer of the year, while WR Phillips in New Plymouth claimed a hat-trick of wins in parts, commercial service, and passenger service.

The winners were announced during a glitzy event in Auckland that was attended by representatives from 21 dealerships nationwide, along with staff from European Motor Distributors and Volkswagen New Zealand.

Greg Leet, general manager of Volkswagen Passenger, says: “Dealer of the Year is an opportunity to share our aroha for the brand and equally our gratitude to the dealer network for their everyday commitment to Volkswagen.

“We are privileged to have world-class products from Volkswagen AG but it is our dealer teams that ultimately deliver the Volkswagen experience to our customers.

“This event is about acknowledging those efforts.”

Dealer of the Year is a global program run by Volkswagen that focuses on topline results, quality and delivery of brand experience.

The New Zealand awards were hosted by TV journalist Miriama Kamo on April 15, with singer Stan Walker announced as an ambassador for the Golf GTI during the ceremony.

Kevin Richards, general manager of Volkswagen commercial vehicles, says the event was a “true testament to the work, resilience and dedication of the entire Volkswagen dealer network and the team at head office”.

2020 Dealer of the Year winners

Parts Department of the Year: Provincial winner – WR Phillips, metro winner – Farmer Volkswagen

Commercial Service Department of the Year: Provincial winner – WR Phillips, metro winner – Continental Cars

Passenger Service Department of the Year: Provincial winner – WR Phillips, metro winner – Farmer Volkswagen

Business Manager of the Year: Mandy Boyce-Bacon, Giltrap Volkswagen

Commercial Customer Experience Excellence: Provincial winner – Robertson Prestige, metro winner – Farmer Volkswagen

Passenger Customer Experience Excellence: Provincial winner – Euro City, metro winner – Farmer Volkswagen

Marketing Campaign of the Year: Passenger winner – Farmer Volkswagen, commercial winner – Farmer Volkswagen, overall brand winner – Gazley Volkswagen

Provincial Dealer of the Year: Passenger and commercial winner – Euro City

Metro Dealer of the Year: Passenger and commercial winner – Farmer Volkswagen

Overall Dealer of the Year: Farmer Volkswagen

Picture credits: Logan West Photographer