With all that is going on in the world, I wanted to take a moment to congratulate all of our recipients from this year’s Distinction Awards.
Though we were unable to celebrate in typical fashion, due to the postponement of the 2020 Vancouver International Auto Show, award recipients were honoured in several categories. The categories were: Community Driver Awards for Outstanding Community Involvement; Salespeople of the Year Awards; CleanBC Green Star Dealer Awards for Outstanding Work in the Sale of Clean Energy Vehicles, and; Automotive Dealership Management Graduates from the Automotive Business School of Canada.
The Association represents more than 390 car and truck dealers across the province, who employ more than 30,000 individuals. I am immensely proud of the work that each and every one of them do to contribute to the automotive sector in BC. Each individual and dealership, not only those honoured here, demonstrate a remarkable level of commitment to our industry and to all of the communities in which we work and live.
The Community Driver Awards honour those dealerships for outstanding community involvement and achievement of new car dealers throughout British Columbia. Recipients of the Community Driver Award exemplify business strength and community excellence with a focus on making a tangible contribution to the growth and livability of their community and/or region. This year’s recipients include: Brian Jessel BMW, Glacier, Toyota, Castlegar Toyota, Lexus of Kelowna, Kia Victoria, and Applewood Kia.
The CleanBC Go-Electric Green Star Dealer Awards recognizes those dealerships that sell the highest number of clean energy eligible vehicles annually across all brands by provincial region, including Most Improved Dealership Award. This year’s winners across all categories were: Campus Nissan (Vancouver Island – Top Battery Electric Vehicle sales), Nanaimo Mitsubishi (Vancouver Island – Top Plug-In Hybrid EV Sales), Kia West (Lower Mainland – Top Battery Electric Sales), Wolfe Mitsubishi (Lower Maindland – Top Plug-In Hybrid Sales), Kelowna Hyundai (Interior BC Top Battery EV Sales), Valley Mitsubishi (Interior BC – Top Plug-In Hybrid EV Sales) Northland Hyundai (Northern BC Top Battery EV Sales), Prince George Toyota (Northern BC Top Plug-In Hybrid EV Sales), Mertin Hyundai (Most Improved Battery EV Sales), and Kia West (Most Improved – Plug-In Hybrid EV Sales).
The Distinction Awards also celebrates the top Salespeople of the Year in BC – presented in part by Post Media as the Founding Award Sponsor and Cox Automotive – across all classes who have excelled. This year’s awards winners are: Gurp Mangat of Lougheed Acura, Andy Tsai of Aston Martin, Tim Cheung of Capilano Audi, Mark Cheema of Bentley Vancouver, Valentino Almeida of Brian Jessel BMW, Borko Nikolcic of Maple Ridge Jeep Dodge Ram Chrysler, Mark Harrison of Brian Ross Motorsport, Harry Dhaliwal of Barnes Wheaton North Surrey, Leo Chang of Open Road Honda Burnaby, Brent Miscisco of Maple Ridge Hyundai, David Chung of Morrey Infiniti, Adam Smith of Jaguar Vancouver, Jane Zhang of Land Rover Vancouver, Zohreh Layegh of Applewood Kia Surrey, Patrick Kam of Lamborghini Vancouver, Amy Wu of Regency Lexus, Eric Chan of Brian Ross Motorsport, Justin Kim of Signature Mazda, Shaun Donnellan of McLaren Vancouver, Patrick Ng of Mercedes Benz Richmond, Katie Chan of MINI Richmond, Lance Torkos of Wolfe Mitsubishi, Karan Kundhal of Applewood Nissan, Brian Yeung of Porsche Centre Vancouver, Steven Wu of Rolls Royce Motor Cars Vancouver, Freddy Ghanei of Jim Pattison Subaru Northshore, Kalim Mohiuddin of West Coast Toyota, Jayson Wadud of Jim Pattison Volvo of Surrey, and Nicholas Yan of Cowel VW.
I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize all of the 2019 Automotive Dealership Graduates from the Automotive Business School of Canada. These include: Antonio Almeida, Murray GM Fort St. John, Brett D’Ambrosie of Auto West Group, Kathleen Harding of MINI Richmond, Zachery Kenney of Edwards Garage, Sandro Mati of Volvo of Vancouver, Derek Rattenbury of Auto West BMW, Kevin Thai of Richmond Honda, and Christopher Thimer of Abbotsford Volkswagen.
I would like to congratulate all winners from this year’s Distinction Awards and I look forward to celebrating with all of you in person, when the time is right.
As always, in the words of Dr Bonnie Henry, BC’s terrific Chief Provincial Health Officer, please be calm, be kind and stay safe, and. And remember to wash your hands!
Take care.
Blair Qualey is President and CEO of the New Car Dealers Association of BC. You can email him at [email protected].
