Nissan SA romps home with Gold in the Overall, Leasing and Rental Sections.
From left, Nissan SA’s Chris Schell, Lara Gunning, Ria Tolken and Lionel Hillary
show off their well-earned booty!

Top industry awards for Nissan SA

For the second year, Nissan South Africa dominated Friday evening’s 2004 Southern African Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association’s (SAVRALA) awards taking the overall title of Manufacturer of the Year as well as top honours in both the leasing and rental sections.

Nissan’s combined overall score of 71,3 put them 2,2 points ahead of Ford/Mazda and 7,1 points up on third-placed Volkswagen of South Africa – the top three placings overall for 2004 remaining unchanged from the 2003 results. Mercedes-Benz was fourth overall followed by Toyota SA and General Motors SA.

In the rental section, Nissan walked away with the Gold ahead of Ford/Mazda (Silver) with Mercedes-Benz (Bronze) filling third place. Volkswagen was fourth ahead of Toyota. Leasing section honours went to Nissan with Ford/Mazda in second and General Motors SA in third places, this time with Toyota fourth ahead of Volkswagen.

“It’s very pleasing for us to be in this position once again,” says Mike Whitfield, Nissan’s marketing and sales director. “It verifies the direction in which we are heading is in accordance with customer expectations but, more importantly, demonstrates a level of consistent delivery.”

The SAVRALA awards reflect the service and support levels afforded by South Africa motor manufacturers and importers to the car rental and leasing sectors during the previous 12 months and are based on the results of independent research and evaluation carried out by research house, Smart Practice. Vehicle makes and models are not rated in the surveys undertaken.

“Nissan places great importance on the role and reflection of the SAVRALA organisation and we consider the players within the industry partners in many of the product and marketing decisions we make,” continues Whitfield.

“This year has been a very active and interesting one for the motor industry with growth well above all expectations. In this kind of growing market, it is important not to lose focus on core business such as fleets and Nissan SA will continue to provide the professional fleet market with products and levels of services and commitment that meet and exceed the requirements and expectations of each specific customer.”

“The stature and importance of the SAVRALA MOTY awards has grown tremendously over the last few years,” says John Broadway, president of SAVRALA. “They reflect the importance that our members have as one of the largest vehicle purchasing blocs in the country and emphasise the needs of our members in their dealings with the motor manufacturers and importers.

“To ensure that the manufacturer/SAVRALA dynamic is continuously reflected over time, we did review some of the elements of our scoring, but not to any point that we compromised the objectives and purpose of MOTY. I am very pleased to see that the final scores do actually reflect the assessments of the SAVRALA members.

“On behalf of the members, I would like to congratulate the winners and thank the manufacturers and importers for their support. The fleet management and vehicle rental industries are vitally dependant on both parties for the successful delivery of their products and MOTY is one method of determining the health of these relationships, which of course benefits our mutual customers,” states Broadway.