On The evening of Thursday 6 June, the top brass of the South African Motor Industry congregated at the glass cathedral of vehicle asset finance that is the home of Wesbank for the annual NADA DSI awards. In layman’s terms, the National Automobile Dealers Association, dealer satisfaction index awards.
The National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) is a professional body representing the interests of business persons who own, operate and manage new passenger and commercial vehicle franchise motor dealerships and qualifying used vehicle only outlets in South Africa. With dealer members representing the various motor vehicle brands countrywide, NADA operates through a structure of member-elected regional and national committees. In all forums, NADA is the fully representative and respected voice of the retail motor industry in South Africa.
NADA is one of 13 Constituent Associations of the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI) and has affiliations with a number of similar organisations worldwide. The RMI is the largest employers’ and business representative organisation in the South African retail motor industry. So when a Manufacturer gains praise for their efforts during this awards evening, it’s a big thing to say the least. This was most definitely the case for the leading Chinese vehicle manufacturer in SA, Haval Motors Southern Africa. In fact both brands imported by HMSA received great praise for their efforts during the 2019 awards evening. GWM, the bakkie brand of the Chinese manufacturer in fact received two awards in the form of Most Improved Award.
This award is in recognition of the GWM franchise achieving the most improvement in the 2019 NADA Dealer Satisfaction Survey in the Passenger and Light Commercial vehicle Category, a category with some stiff competition. GWM also achieved a Silver Award in the same Survey. Haval, the SUV arm of the same company walked away with an impressive Gold award showcasing the brand’s upward spiral not just in sales but also how they interact with their dealers. This accolade is especially outstanding as the brand attained a Bronze award in 2018 from a dealer group of 35 dealers and currently with a dealer network of 45 dealers nationally, this after only two years since operations started in May 2017.
What’s noteworthy is the fact that Haval and GWM’s levels of service and interactions with an ever increasing dealer network have increased rather than decreased even though the brand has expanded at an accelerated pace. The survey results are divided into a number of key focus areas – areas of interest to the NADA membership at large. These focus areas are: Dealer Satisfaction; Communication & Relationships; Customer Focus; Used Cars; CSI Program; Vehicle Range; Media Support; Vehicle Distribution; Parts; Goodwill, Policy Claims & Warranty; Franchise Compliance Audits; Dealer Support and Labour Rates.
Jay Jay Botes, National Sales Manager at Haval Motors South Africa had this to say: “I am ecstatic to be in a position to go up and receive three awards during such an auspicious occasion as the NADA DSI awards. My colleagues and I have worked hard to make sure our dealers are as strong and effective as possible through offering high levels of service and professional interactions with them. This positive and constructive interaction with our dealers will ensure the same high levels of service will be given to our customers in the form of both sales service and aftersales service ensuring customer satisfaction not only in our products but our service levels too. Our products are the life blood of our organisation but our dealer partners are the arteries. I am proud of our network of dealers and on behalf of our holding company, Great Wall Motor Corporation; I would like to thank each and every dealer for their confidence in us and we commit to increase our efforts and strive for a platinum award in the future.”