Led by long-serving dealer principal Gary Fitch, the Victoria Park-based dealership has been in John Hughes’ stable since 1980 – when Mr Hughes took over the franchise from the Skipper Bailey Motor Company (and traded as Skipper Mitsubishi until 2005) – and has consistently ranked as one of the top-performing dealerships in both Western Australia and nationwide.

It won a string of ‘Dealer of the Year’ and similar awards back when Mitsubishi singled out overall winners in specific categories for its annual retail incentive program, and is understood to have been one of the top three dealers by sales volume over some three decades.

Go west: Long-serving John Hughes Mitsubishi dealer principal Gary Fitch with Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited chief executive John Signoriello.

So it comes as no surprise that Mr Fitch was again among a select group of dealer principals – just seven this year – to receive the brand’s highest award from Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited (MMAL) chief executive John Signoriello, who attended a series of awards presentation ceremonies held across the country in recent weeks.

Three other metropolitan dealerships made the grade: Paceway Mitsubishi, also in Perth, which is led by dealer principal Colin Shaikh and has now won a ‘Distinguished Dealer’ award seven times; North East Mitsubishi in Adelaide, under Mark Papillo, which has received the award seven times; and Australian Motors Mitsubishi (Wayville), also in Adelaide, which has Dylan Nunn at the wheel and has achieved the honour four times.

Two provincial dealers, both from Queensland, also received the coveted award – Keystar Mitsubishi in Morayfield (its third award, with Robert Sica overseeing operations), and Anderson Mitsubishi in Gladstone (its second, with Bradley Anderson at the helm) – and one rural dealer, Castlemaine Mitsubishi in Victoria, which has reached this level four times with dealer principal Tim Barrett leading the way.

The ‘Distinguished Dealer’ program was established in 1981 and, according to Mitsubishi, “acknowledges outstanding performance throughout the previous year in areas such as sales, parts sales, service and customer experience” and is designed to “drive performance improvement and demonstrate best practice” across the brand’s 200-plus national dealer network.

MMAL chief operating officer Tony Principe described the program as “an opportunity for us to recognise our strongest dealers, who have performed well in multiple facets of business operations”.

“We have a competitive dealer network, and this award is the culmination of all-round excellence in representing the Mitsubishi brand,” he said.

By Terry Martin

Colin Shaikh of Paceway Mitsubishi (right) with MMAL CEO John Signoriello