As the truck industry awards season winds on the latest company to announce gongs for its dealer body has been Hino Australia.
The company crowned its top dealers for 2023 at its annual Dealer of the Year Awards last week announcing that CMI Hino Adelaide once again has won the Metropolitan Dealer of the Year, while Coffs Harbour’s Southside Truck Centre was named as the Regional Dealer of the Year.
“The annual Dealer of the Year awards are an important opportunity for us to reflect and collectively celebrate the success of 2023, while also congratulating our
pre-eminent dealerships on their success,” said Hino Australia’s president and CEO, Richard Emery.
“Southside Truck Centre only commenced as a Hino dealer in mid-2021, and has hit the ground running, demonstrating commitment to the Hino brand with strong investment in its facilities.
“It is a particularly poignant award for the Southside team – its Lismore dealership was essentially destroyed in the floods of 2022, and Coffs Harbour was vital in keeping the business going, despite being in its infancy,” said Emery.
“This is the third successive Dealer of the Year title for CMI Hino Adelaide, which is a fantastic achievement for our longest serving Hino dealer,” he continued.
Nathan Chatfield, general manager of CMI Hino Adelaide accepted the award on behalf of his team.
“I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this team – every single person in our dealership consistently works hard across all areas of the business and stands by the CMI Hino values. This award is simply a tribute to that,” said Chatfield.
“To receive this award in our 90th year of operation is an honour – we have been a part of Hino for almost 55 years and Hino is a part of our DNA,” he said.
The accolades didn’t stop there for CMI Hino Adelaide as it also won the metropolitan awards for Customer Experience, Sales Excellence and Service Excellence, the latter for the second year in a row.
Collecting the Regional Dealer of the Year award, Southside Truck Centre dealer principal Steve Robinson said it was amazing.
“We are relatively new compared to other Hino dealerships and this win is particularly emotional as it has been almost two years to the day since our Lismore branch was wiped out in the floods – we lost everything including 21 Hino trucks and every single spare part and piece of furniture,” said Robinson
“While the Lismore dealership was starting from scratch, the new, young team in Coffs Harbour just went from strength to strength, and this award is a tribute to their determination, skill and passion,” he said.
The Southside Truck Centre also added the parts excellence award (regional) to its trophy cabinet.
CMI Hino Adelaide, Sci-Fleet Hino Brisbane and Sci-Fleet Hino Gold Coast for the third consecutive year, were recipients of the prestigious President’s Award and were joined by Sydney’s City Hino, Coffs Harbour’s Southside Truck Centre and Sunshine Coast’s Wideland Hino.
City Hino also claimed the Hino Financial Services Dealer of the Year, presented by Toyota Financial Services.
Adtrans Hino’s Stewart Scoon was awarded the salesperson of the Year while the customer experience (regional) award was won by Turnbull Hino.
The remaining major regional awards were claimed by Wagga Trucks Hino, which took out the sales excellence award (regional) and the service excellence award (regional).
For the second consecutive year, Sci-Fleet Hino Brisbane won the parts excellence award for metropolitan dealers.
The 2023 Hino Dealer of the Year awards were held in a bespoke marquee on the Bennelong Lawn at the Royal Botanical Gardens on Saturday 24th February and were attended by Hino Motors, Ltd. president and CEO Satoshi Ogiso.
