It is, however, Luke Dreyer’s (Dealer Principal) words in a previous interview with Dealerfloor on the BMW award that remined us of his determination when he said: “…and for now it may be the first, but not the last time…”

And as they say, the rest is history. Not only did BMW Midrand recently win the BMW as well as the MINI Retailer of the Year titles, but also in a host of other categories, making a near clean sweep for this well-run dealership. This includes 1^st - BMW Financial Services Retailer of the Year, 1^st - MINI Financial Services Retailer of the Year, 1^st - MINI Aftersales Retailer of the Year, 2^nd - Social Responsibility Retailer of the Year and 3^rd - BMW Aftersales Retailer of the Year.

“In achieving these podium finishes, Midrand BMW became the first BMW Group partner in South Africa to win all four of the major awards,” Luke tells Dealerfloor.

We are super proud of this achievement, and every single staff member is on board with our mission and what role each one plays to reach our goals. This last year also saw a change in our management style.

I am also the chairperson of the BMW Retailer Council, which looks at a wide variety of aspects relating to all the BMW retail partners across the country. Here I had to adopt a longer-term strategic focus.”

I decided to extend the empowering of our staff. We cut down on a number of regular meetings that are time consuming. With more people empowered to take on more responsibilities with decision-making powers, it yields positive results, and we now have the accolades to show for it,” he says.

Luke says in the South African context, they are also very grateful notwithstanding the tough business conditions and that BMW outsold its two main rivals in the premium market combined.

Back to BMW Midrand. He says that the MINI side of the business picked up tremendously with a 35% sales increase in 2023, and under the leadership of Kyle Dreyer they are making serious inroads in bringing the MINI brand to customers who appreciate what the brand has to offer.

“I cannot stress enough how important our team and the camaraderie between team members are. We all know what the goal is, and the customers out there benefit from top service from a motivated and knowledgeable team,” Luke says.

• BMW Midrand was the first Black-owned BMW dealership in the country, having achieved that status in the late nineties. Today it is owned and operated by the Dreyer and the Ntsele families with Luke Dreyer the Dealer Principal and Themba Ntsele the Human Resource Manager of this large dealership with a staff complement of 159.