Northern Ireland business Eakin Bros Limited was among the winners at Isuzu’s annual Dealer Conference and Awards evening.
The family-owned dealer – which has showrooms in Claudy and Maydown – triumphed in the Marketing and Social Media category at the event which was held in London.
Peter Eakin – the Managing Director of Eakin Bros Ltd – and his son, Joel, were on hand to collect the award. Judges praised the professional, clean look of their official website and how they promoted the Isuzu range.
Speaking at the awards, William Brown, the Managing Director of Isuzu UK, said: “It was fantastic to host our Dealer Conference and Awards this year as a live event, having done it virtually last year.
“After a difficult couple of years for everyone, we wanted to use this year’s awards to recognise not just top-selling dealers, but to identify and honour those dealers and individuals who have gone above and beyond in this past year.
“We have some very inspirational and deserving winners and runners-up, all of whom merited recognition. So much so, it was extremely tough to decide between them,” he added.
On the night, a total of 14 awards were presented, with Shipton-by-Beningbrough-based dealer York Van Centre taking home the coveted Dealer of the Year title, along with the regional award for their area.
The title of ‘New Dealer of the Year’, meanwhile, was awarded to Hunt Forest Group. Based in Blashford on the edge of the New Forest National Park, Hunt Forest Group received their accolade “for an impressive first full-year sales performance” along with “their customer and brand experience and positive attitude”.
Hunt Forest Group was also named as the recipient of the ‘Dealer Event of Year’ Award for a launch event they held at Thruxton Motor Circuit in Hampshire.
Sherwoods Isuzu Washington received a special ‘Dealership Community Award’ in recognition of the support they provided to local charities.
Additionally, four special ‘Hero of Isuzu’ Awards were presented to Tony Huggins from York Van Centre, Gareth Thomas from Hunt Forest Group, Rob Dean from Threeways Garage and Howard Hicks from F.Troop & Son Ltd.
They were all nominated by colleagues and team members for “individual outstanding contributions either to the brand, the dealership or their local community”.
