ONE of the North-East’s longest-established motor dealers has scooped the “retailer of the year” title at a national awards ceremony for the second consecutive year.
Sherwoods Motor Group was awarded the prize at Citroën UK’s annual retailer awards – The CUBE Awards – during a black-tie ceremony at De Vere East Midlands Conference Centre, in Nottingham. CUBE stands for Citroën United By Excellence.
Sherwoods Citroën Gateshead retained the award for its “continued strong performance throughout the year” after also being named the winner in 2020.
On a glittering night for Sherwoods Motor Group, Sherwoods Gateshead also won the ‘Medium Retailer League’ category, while Sherwoods Town Centre, in Sunderland, won the ‘Large Retailer League’.
There was also individual success for the group with Karen Raynsford, pictured below, of Sherwoods Town Centre, being named Best Retail Sales Executive.
Managing Director Simon MacConachie said: “I am absolutely thrilled for our Citroën teams who have worked so hard to achieve these awards. Achieving retailer of the year in 2020 was an outstanding feat by our Gateshead team. For them to back this up and do it again in 2021 is truly exceptional.”
Sherwoods Motor Group Chairman Chris Elvidge added: “I am bursting with pride at the performance of all our sites in 2021 and I thank all our staff for their hard work in achieving so much in a short time. Now I have set them the challenge of pulling off an unprecedented hat-trick next year!”
Eurig Druce, Citroën UK’s Managing Director, said: “2021 was another challenging year for the industry, with Covid and supply constraints affecting the whole sector. Yet despite these challenges, our retail network continued to offer customers excellent service throughout and showed great resilience and determination.”
Sherwoods, which was established in Darlington in the 1920s, embarked on a new era in 2019 by purchasing the Springfield Motor Group, incorporating Peugeot, Citroën and Suzuki franchises at Gateshead, alongside Durham Peugeot. The business quickly made its mark by being named “Best New Retailer” at the Citroën UK Awards in 2019.
The group expanded again by taking over another successful business in the Citroën network – Town Centre Automobiles, in Sunderland – to strengthen its relationship with the Stellantis Group.