EXCELLENCE was the focus at the recent Mercedes-Benz Australia Retailer of the Year event held in Adelaide with numerous awards covering M-B Cars, M-B Vans and M-B Financial Services.

The company says it marked a year of notable achievements at a gala event hosted to honour the accomplishments of 2023 and saw the reinstatement of Mercedes-Benz Cars “Circle of Excellence” recognition with ten agents (retailers) inducted into this top-tier program which, M-B assessed, have outperformed their peers across many levels, to become members of the 2023 Circle of Excellence.

“Throughout 2023 they consistently achieved the best results across multiple KPIs, and they focused on continuously improving their performance in both sales and customer services,” said the German importer in a statement.

Circle of Excellence members are invited to attend the exclusive 2024 Product Forum in Stuttgart, Germany in April this year.

Metro Circle of Excellence inductees were Mercedes-Benz Berwick, Mercedes-Benz Sunshine Coast, Mercedes-Benz Toowong, Mercedes-Benz Adelaide, Mercedes-Benz Brisbane, 3 Point Motors (Melbourne), Mercedes-Benz Perth and Silver Star Motors (Melbourne).

Mercedes-Benz Berwick

Rural Circle of Excellence inductees were Mercedes-Benz Bunbury and Wagga Motors.

Customer Services Retailer of the Year went to Mercedes-Benz Toorak and Wagga Motors was named Sales Agent of the Year.

For Mercedes-Benz Vans, top awards went to: Mercedes-Benz Bendigo (Retailer of the Year) and Mercedes-Benz Melbourne (Retailer of the Year).

Mercedes-Benz Brisbane took out Finance Retailer of the Year in the cars category. Mercedes-Benz Melbourne took out Finance Retailer of the Year in the vans category.

For outstanding individual performances, Mercedes-Benz Australia recognised exceptional individual achievements in 2023 with various awards distributed throughout its operations.

In the cars category Rod Bertram of Mercedes-Benz Ballarat was named Rural Parts Manager of the Year, Andrew Holford of Mercedes-Benz Brighton was awarded Metro Parts Manager of the Year, Ben Collins of Carlin & Gazzard (SA) took the Rural Service Manager of the Year prize and Jack Xiong from Mercedes-Benz Waverley got the Metro Service Manager of the Year gong.

Mercedes-Benz Cars Autobody Manager of the Year went to M1 Autobody Geelong.

Star Guild awards honour what Mercedes-Benz Australia describes as “the remarkable accomplishments of individuals in sales throughout the Mercedes-Benz Cars network”.

For the Mercedes-Benz Cars division, Star Guild recipients from metro areas were Deepak Kataria of Mercedes-Benz Adelaide (Pre-Owned Vehicle Sales Consultant of the Year), Kelvin Yu of Mercedes-Benz Brisbane (New Vehicle Sales Consultant of the Year), Jake Buxton of Mercedes-Benz Berwick  (Pre-Owned Vehicle Sales Manager of the Year) and Ali Ghazavi of Mercedes-Benz Waverley (New Vehicle Sales Manager of the Year).

Rural Star Guild recipients among Mercedes-Benz Cars retailers were Thomas Buggy of Wagga Motors (New Vehicle Sales Consultant of the Year), Troy Neal of Mercedes-Benz Wollongong (Pre-Owned Vehicle Sales Consultant of the Year) and Peter Danvers of Mercedes-Benz Gosford (New Vehicle Sales Manager of the Year).

Richard Ford of Mercedes-Benz Ballarat and Ariane Hawily of Mercedes-Benz Bunbury were both named Rural Pre-Owned Vehicle Sales Manager of the Year.

Mercedes-Benz Toorak

Other Star Guild recipients from Mercedes-Benz Cars were Shaun Hutton of Mercedes-Benz Sydney (EQ Vehicle Consultant of the Year), Daniel Bey of Mercedes-Benz Berwick (AMG Brand Manager of the Year) and Cedric Lee Kam Sang of Mercedes-Benz Perth (Rookie Salesperson of the Year).

For Mercedes-Benz Vans, Star Guild recipients in metro areas were Morris Dimaiuta of Mercedes-Benz Melbourne (Service Manager of the Year), Simon Jones of Mercedes-Benz Unley (Parts Manager of the Year), Joanne Eisel, Daimler Trucks Huntingwood (Sales Executive of the Year) and Peter Chen of Mercedes-Benz Melbourne (Sales Manager of the Year).

Mercedes-Benz Melbourne 

Star Guild recipients from rural Mercedes-Benz Vans dealers were Scott Taylor of Mercedes-Benz Geelong (Service Manager of the Year), Andrew Holford of Mercedes-Benz Sunshine Coast (Parts Manager of the Year), Andrew Harrison of Mercedes-Benz Geelong (Sales Executive of the Year) and Mark Bain of Mercedes-Benz Geelong (Sales Manager of the Year).

Rounding out the Star Guild recipients were Matt Cole of Mercedes-Benz Geelong (Mercedes-Benz Vans Service Advisor of the Year) while Mercedes-Benz Service & Parts Retailer of the Year went to Mercedes-Benz North Shore.

Attendees were treated to a preview of the incoming CLE Coupe and E300 and were given an exclusive preview of the highly anticipated C63 S E Performance Formula 1 Edition, which is set to debut in Australia ahead of the Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Mercedes-Benz Bunbury