Simply the best: John McGuigan, pictured here with wife Lorraine, became the world’s youngest VW dealer in 1971, and has now become only the second Australian to win a diamond pin for outstanding service to the brand.

JOHN Oxley Volkswagen dealer principal John McGuigan was recently awarded an international ‘diamond pin’ for outstanding service to the brand.

Mr McGuigan, who became the world’s youngest Volkswagen dealer in 1971 at age 19, continues to lead the Port Macquarie dealership on the New South Wales mid-north coast, with son Shane serving as general manager and responsible for other brands in the eight-franchise John Oxley Motors Group stable.

The diamond pin is presented annually to select Volkswagen dealers across the globe who continuously display operational excellence in areas such as sales, servicing, customer satisfaction and parts sales over many years.

Mr McGuigan received the award in Germany last month at Volkswagen AG’s international dealers’ Commendation Day, becoming only the second Australian to receive the honour.

In 2017, Waverley Volkswagen dealer principal Dino Di Benedetto from Melbourne became the first Australian dealer to receive the award.

VW says that to be eligible, a dealer must have “prolonged and outstanding service with the Volkswagen brand” and also be included among the company’s annual premium dealers – the top 10 of the brand’s 105 Australian retailers.

As GoAuto has reported, John Oxley Volkswagen was last year named 2017 Rural Dealer of the Year.

There are more than 10,000 dealerships (or “touchpoints”) for the Volkswagen brand worldwide, and GoAuto understands that 53 pins were awarded last year.

Volkswagen Group Australia general manager of network development David Stone said that after five decades, Mr McGuigan remained “one the nation’s foremost dealers of any brand”.

“In 2013, John completed one of first ‘module concept’ showrooms in Australia in 2013,” Mr Stone said. “He’s also earned many Volkswagen awards, including the ‘gold pin’ in 2012 and the title of 2017 Volkswagen Rural Dealer of the Year.

“Today, John’s son Shane manages the operations of all the dealership brands – except one. John remains dealer principal for Volkswagen 47 years after our relationship began.”

The story goes that Mr McGuigan convinced his mother to mortgage the family house to finance the lease on a petrol station that also sold new VWs, so on his 19th birthday – October 1, 1971 – he officially became the world’s youngest dealer for the German brand.

By Terry Martin