John Solarino (left) with Hyundai Motor Company Australia managing director Charlie Kim

MANTELLO Motor Group in Victoria has taken out Hyundai Motor Co Australia’s 2015 Platinum Dealer of the Year award, ending Jefferson Hyundai’s domination of the retail network development program since it was established in 2013.

In accepting the award at a gala event on the Gold Coast earlier this month, Mantello Hyundai dealer principal John Solarino said customer service, vehicle reliability and factory warranty all contributed to the result, which placed the Roxburgh Park dealership, located north of Melbourne, ahead of more than 160 other retail outlets.

Hyundai said the 2015 DOTY award was closely fought, with several dealerships in contention throughout the year.

The awards program involves monthly assessments across a number of key areas including customer satisfaction, dealership facilities, service and parts, individual business and sales targets and, Hyundai says, compliance with the car-maker’s “operational and business standards”.

“Our award assesses the overall quality across each dealership, not just performance against sales targets,” said Hyundai Motor Co Australia sales academy and training manager Glenn Forster.

“We also look at things like data quality, sales staff product knowledge, customer satisfaction levels, and the standards of sales and service training, both face-to-face training and via monthly e-learning. “Everyone in the dealer network can access our website to see their monthly point scores, so it becomes quite competitive

Out in front: Mantello Hyundai dealer principal John Solarino with HMCA chief operating officer Scott Grant and (behind) CEO Charlie Kim.

“No single dealership dominated the race for Platinum Dealer of the Year honours during 2015. In fact, we had three different leaders for each of the final months of the year,” he said.

Meanwhile, Harrison Hyundai (Vic) received a special award for outstanding sales CSI, Mornington Hyundai (Vic) took out the CSI award for service, and John Hughes Hyundai (WA) was rewarded for highest sales volume (4234).

Several other dealerships were recognised for their performance in 2014, including Barton’s Hyundai (Qld), Castle Hill Hyundai (NSW), Cranbourne Hyundai (Vic), Essendon Hyundai (Vic), Gold Coast Hyundai (Qld), JH Rosewarne Hyundai (SA), Paul Wakeling Hyundai (NSW) and Werribee Hyundai (Vic).

Jefferson Hyundai, in the south-east Melbourne suburb of Mentone, won the inaugural 2013 Platinum DOTY award, and backed that up in 2014 with a second win.

By Terry Martin