A further cherry on top of the award cake was Human Auto Bloemfontein winning the prestigious Dealership of the Year Award in Category A for large dealerships as well the National Dealership out of all categories in South Africa. Human Auto Welkom won the award for runner-up in Category C.

The Human Auto Group has dealerships in Bloemfontein, Welkom, Kimberley and Ficksburg.

Dealerfloor spoke to Pine Pienaar, Group Franchise Executive for the Human Auto Group, about its latest success. Pine, who is celebrating his fifth year at Human Auto, was previously with Mercedes-Benz, Jeep, Alfa, Fiat and Mitsubishi and has vast experience in the motor trade.

“We are enormously proud, honoured and humbled by these awards. It is not easy but when you have a solid and happy staff component who are committed to our goals, experienced Dealer Principals, an exceptionally low staff turnover as well as excellent customer service, it makes winning awards so much easier.

“Des Williams is the Dealer Principal at Human Auto in Bloemfontein, which won National Dealer of the Year and which was also the runner-up in the previous year’s competition. Pierre Beukes is Dealer Principal in Welkom, runner up this year in Category C, and PG Weldhagen is in charge at Human Auto Kimberley.

“It is no small feat to win the Dealer Group of the Year if you look at our competition within the blue oval stale and the same goes for Dealership of the Year, where your competition is 146 other Ford Dealerships,” Pine says.

He says the criteria are strict and cover the complete business model, from vehicles sales to after sales to customer satisfaction, and every aspect in between. He adds: “Our business is also audited by Ford South Africa and not a single aspect is not taken into consideration or evaluated. By doing everything in the correct fashion, awards will follow as a natural result of the way we conduct our business.

“We are also in the process of revamping of our dealerships to improve the overall customer experience. The process is currently underway in Bloemfontein with Welkom and Kimberley to follow soon. In the meantime, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new Ford Ranger and Ford Everests, both of which will be game changers in the respective segments towards the end of the year.”

Pine says notwithstanding the stock shortages, the group had a good financial year. “We are hard at work building on this foundation during the current abnormal trading circumstances. Owing to the aftermath of the pandemic with continued stock shortages on electrical components, the future is somewhat unpredictable and putting pressure on the supply chain,” Pine tells Dealerfloor.

Human Auto was born from the vision of Barnie Human, a businessperson in Bloemfontein. He started Human & Kie in 1950, which later became Human Motors that relocated to its current premises in 1969. Human Motors branched out to Kimberley in 1958 and Welkom in 1960. Different vehicle brands were sold through the three Human Motors outlets until they were transformed into exclusive Ford dealerships after the Ford and Mazda brands separated.

Today, Human Auto belongs to Jacques Strydom, grandson of Barnie Human, and he rapidly expanded it with Pine Pienaar acting as the Group Franchise Executive and as a link between the Dealer Principals and the owner. Today the group also added two Chery dealerships, one in Welkom and another in Kimberley. The latest addition to the Human Group is the Be-Human, Middelwater Farm – which consists of relaxing /fun activities and entertainment that brings families, friends and colleagues together. More information can be obtained on https://www.be-human.co.za/.