Sydney, Australia, May 7, 2018: AUSTRALIA'S Jaguar and Land Rover retailers donned their finest and stepped-out in style last week, celebrating the company's annual Retailer of the Year awards at Sydney's prestigious Ivy Ballroom.
Celebrating another year of significance for the two popular British brands, retailers and their partners joined Jaguar Land Rover Australia's management team for the gala event hosted by former Wallaby Phil Waugh.
Another 'special guest', a "new" 2016 Land Rover Defender 110 station wagon – one of the last brought into Australia before production ended – was also on hand as first prize for the overall Retailer of the Year winner.
"Just as our two brands have been strong achievers, so have our retailers," Mr Wiesner said. "It is a pleasure to be able to recognise them for the dedication and hard work they put into continually delivering on outstanding customer satisfaction in both the retail and service areas."
Jaguar Land Rover Australia's annual Retailer of the Year awards are held to honour the best of the best from around the country, recognising those who continually meet the high standards needed to be sales and service leaders.
The Retailer of the Year judging criteria covers a number of areas including customer satisfaction, retailer presentation, sales performance and staff training.
Presenting the awards, Jaguar Land Rover Australia Managing Director, Matthew Wiesner, said the past year had been a strong one for the two brands on a number of fronts, including design, technology and motorsport.
The 2017-18 Jaguar Land Rover Retailer of the Year Award winners are:
Metropolitan Retailer of the Year: Purnell Jaguar Land Rover, Blakehurst, New South Wales
Provincial Retailer of the Year: Berwick Jaguar Land Rover, Berwick, Victoria
Regional Retailer of the Year: Blacklocks Jaguar Land Rover, Lavington, New South Wales
The 2017-18 Overall Winner
Overall Retailer of the Year: Rodney Dale, Purnell Jaguar Land Rover
Anniversary awards were also presented to Perth dealership Barbagallo Jaguar Land Rover (40 years), Wollongong's Southern Classic Jaguar Land Rover (25 years), Cannington's Southern Jaguar Land Rover (20 years) and Geelong West dealership Rex Gorell Jaguar Land Rover (10 years). Jaguar Land Rover Australia heartily congratulates the management and staff of all the winning retailers.
Retailers celebrated a year of achievement in which the Jaguar E-PACE crossover made its Australian debut, the all-electric I-PACE made its world debut and the Jaguar Panasonic Racing team continued to perform strongly in the Formula E world championship.
On the Land Rover side of the ledger the kudos went to the popular New Discovery for its 2017 carsales Car of the Year and 2018 4x4 Australia Car of the Year awards. The new Range Rover Velar model was also launched to universal acclaim, winning World Car Design of the Year.
About Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover is the UK's largest automotive manufacturer, built around two iconic British car brands: Land Rover, the world's leading manufacturer of premium all-wheel-drive vehicles; and Jaguar, one of the world's premier luxury sports saloon and sports car marques.
We employ more than 43,000 people globally and support around 240,000 more through our dealerships, suppliers and local businesses. Manufacturing is centred in the UK, with additional plants in China, Brazil, Austria and Slovakia.
At Jaguar Land Rover, we are driven by a desire to deliver class-leading vehicles, which will provide experiences our customers will love, for life. Our products are in demand around the globe. In 2017 Jaguar Land Rover sold 621,109 vehicles in 130 countries, with more than 80 per cent of our vehicles being sold abroad.
Our innovation is continuous: we will spend more than £4 billion in the coming year on new product creation and capital expenditure.
From 2020 all new Jaguar Land Rover vehicles will be electrified, giving our customers even more choice. We will introduce a portfolio of electrified products across our model range, embracing fully electric, plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid vehicles as well as continuing to offer ultra-clean petrol and diesel engines.