The Alpine VW dealerships in Pinetown and Hillcrest won five awards in Volkswagen South Africa’s annual Grand Prix Awards.
At Pinetown, Sagren Naidoo is justifiably proud of his achievement to sell 220 cars in 2020, despite losing a month during hard lockdown and seeing slow trade since.
He told Witness Wheels when they re-reopened, he decided he would not give up. “I just decided to gave it horns,” he said, adding the theme of the awards, “Drive Your Future” was quite fitting as this was the spirit in which he responded to lockdown’s impact on business — not a victim, but steering his own course.
Hillcrest walked away with four awards. Dealer principal Tyrone Tait joined the Club of Excellence with his Grand Prix passenger vehicles award, Shane Govender won the service manager award, Dineshin Odayar won the new vehicle sales manager award and Dylan Riley the used car manager award.
This was the second virtual awards ceremony, streamed on a virtual platform due to Covid-19 safety regulations. Steffen Knapp, head of the Volkswagen Passenger Car brand said the VW’s 109-strong dealer network recorded a market share of 19% in 2020 and accounted for over 75% of Volkswagen’s total sales.
“I am proud of our dealers’ contribution and steadfast loyalty in growing the Volkswagen Brand in South Africa,” Knapp said in a statement.
During the ceremony, 86 winners across SA received awards in 17 categories.
