As a young man, Ashir Singh (33) had a need for speed that saw him compete in drag races in his Opel Superboss and sign up for numerous advanced driving courses at Kyalami.
But in 2020, the winner of VW’s Grand Prix New Vehicle Sales Executive Awards in Newcastle, says hillclimbs in a veteran race car is now more his speed, but a slow Sunday cruise is even better.
Born and bred in the scenic town of Newcastle with its surrounding battlefields, Singh could not help but become an avid nature lover and a bit of a history buff. After school he qualified as a tour operator through Varsity College in Pietermaritzburg. An only son, he returned to KwaZulu-Natal’s third biggest city to take care of his retired parents and “to be where every season is just beautiful”.
He has been selling cars for eight years and is very grateful that VW Newcastle managed two good months during lockdown. The lower interest rate helped, but he says having the right size models in the line-up is in fact his best sales tool.
“I sometimes think we are all car nuts in Newcastle. People here buy a surprising number of what we call heavy metals, like the 3.0-litre V6 TDI Amarok and Touareg, followed by the Tiquan. But the Tiquan was often a bit of a stretch for our customers who wanted to upgrade from their Polo. Since the arrival of the T-Cross (in September 2019) we now have the model for them.”
He said with all predictions pointing to a low fourth quarter as the economic destruction of lockdown takes full effect, the arrival of the entry-level T-Cross Trendline could not be better timed. “Buyers love cross-overs, and the T-Cross ticks all the boxes,” he said.
Singh said the best thing about selling cars in his part of the world is the test drives. A few minutes in any direction puts you in big sky country, where motorists can “sho’t left” and live the VW philosophy to “drive local, support local”.
He said the saying about buying when there is blood on the streets also applies to vehicles. “Right now, interest rates look to be as low as they can go, which creates a lot of scope for us as car sellers to sharpen our pencils and structure deals that will put our customers in the most car for the least money on the long run,” he said.
The bearded young bachelor is full of hope for a post lockdown recovery. “I love this quote by 1950s author and anthropologist, Robert Adrey, who said humans are ‘bad-weather animals, disaster's fairest children – for the soundest of evolutionary reasons man appears at his best when times are at their worst.’ Our ancestors made it though much worse things than the economic meltdown of lockdown, and we will get through this time too.”
The National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) announced the nationwide roll-out of its new dealership decal programme, designed to empower South African consumers in making confident, informed choices about where to purchase or service their vehicles.
As we all know, the profit of a motor dealership comes from several areas and each of them needs to be monitored closely if you want to ensure that your dealership performs well.
The bakkie war has intensified with the local launch of Mitsubishi’s next-generation Triton, an evolution in the iconic bakkie’s 46-year legacy.
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I always do like seeing other people dance in their cars. It's one of the things that makes me happy.
Ariel Gore
As we all know, the profit of a motor dealership comes from several areas and each of them needs to be monitored closely if you want to ensure that your dealership performs well.
Unlike in the past, when dealerships primarily waited for customers to come to them, we now take a more proactive approach, bringing our vehicles directly to places where people gather, allowing them to experience the product first-hand, including offering test drives,” says Gerrie van der Kaay, Dealer Principal at Supergroup Dealerships Jetour Midrand.
One of the latest Chinese automotive brands to establish itself in South Africa, GAC Motor, is benefitting from the expertise of well-known motor groups in the country, like the BB Motor Group.
