In the Boland town of Worcester there is a flourishing new vehicle dealership that has a rich family history stretching across several generations.
De Villiers Motors first opened its doors when the late Pierre de Villiers established the dealership in 1987. He soon became the “go to” guy, which helped him grow the business. Today, the De Villiers Motor Group sells Hyundai and Mitsubishi in a large, multi-franchise in the heart of the town.
Pierre started by acquiring a property in High Street that still houses the business. His son, Jean, joined his dad after he completed school and took over the business, while Jean’s son, Arnold, is now also employed and learning the ropes of the business of selling cars.
“We recently bought another property close-by with the idea of relocating one of the brands to a newer and, most importantly, larger premises. That will also create more space for the remaining brand in the existing property,” says JP Joubert, Dealer Principal at both dealerships. JP has been DP for the last eight years and has been with the De Villiers Motor Group for more than 16 years.
JP tells Dealerfloor that after Pierre de Viliiers’s success in the used car market, he acquired the Mazda franchise, but the alliance with Ford meant that the Mazda brand had to go the Ford dealership during the nineties. They then got the Daewoo franchise for a couple of years before parting ways owing to the General Motors alliance with Chevrolet.
“In 2006, Hyundai knocked at our door, and we have been a very happy member of the Hyundai family since then,” says JP. “Our business grew strongly, and we had major renovations done to the premises, which saw it being extended to double its original size during 2014.
“In the course of this year, we also opened the Mitsubishi franchise next to our Hyundai dealership, and both brands have a fully functional parts department and workshop with a BP forecourt,” JP tells us.
JP says that the limitations hampering business is more or less the same for all brands and that they have a strong used car division with its origins dating back to the days when the business first started.
“We are fortunate that we have two brands that complement each other. Between the two ranges, we have cars from R180 000 to over a million rand and a variety of ranges.
“In our area on the Hyundai side, the smaller Grand i10 and i20 are popular as well as the mid-sized SUVs and Crossovers like the Tucson and the Creta. At the Mitsubishi part of the business, the Pajero remains a star as well as the Triton.
“Agriculture is a big economic driver in our region as are state enterprises, and we have a broad spectrum of customers for both brands. With the huge agricultural sector in our region, we could benefit from having more single cab Tritons, but they are very scarce at this stage.
“Business conditions are not easy for all the obvious and well-known reasons, but we focus on what we have and what to do best, while we remain positive,” JP says.
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