RENAULT South Africa named Eastern Cape vehicle sales specialist Kelston Motors its 2023 Group of the Year at an awards function in Pretoria recently.
Kelston Renault in Makhanda also brought home the Dealer of the Year in the Micro category.
“This is a great achievement for us,” said Kelston operations director Peter McNaughton. “Renault is a relatively young franchise in the group.”
The first branch was acquired in 2019 and the second two years later. Renault SA bases its awards on a 70 percent sales (parts and vehicles) component and 30 percent quality (including CSI).
Founded in 2000, the Gqeberha-based group has grown to more than 20 dealerships, representing 14 vehicle brands across the province.
Managing director, Mike McNaughton, put his team’s success down to a focused approach.
While Renault was part of a multi-brand strategy, it was important to separate it from a sales team, sales performance and sales management perspective, he said.
The Group’s community-facing strategy in the province was one that was working well, said McNaughton.
“Buying a car or bakkie is often a big decision, and is in many cases either the biggest or second largest purchase a person makes. As such the consumer often likes to deal with a person, and we have many examples of people buying the car from the person irrespective of the brand.
“Our community-based sales model is based perhaps on a question of trust in both the salesperson and the brand. If something goes wrong, the dealership is right there to take responsibility.”
McNaughton accepted that the trading environment was “tough” but said that Kelston had worked hard to increase employee productivity, boost returns from after-sales departments and cut costs while ramping up its focus on vehicle sales and other opportunities.
“The external elements currently affecting the market are not driving people away from making new car purchases,” he said.
“The OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) are hard at work adapting to the new market and there are a number of new affordable cars coming into the marketplace.”
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