Northland's Archibald Motors wins prestigious Mitsubishi awards

Archibald Motors' dealer principal Andrew Archibald and his partner Inna Shibalovam at the New Zealand Mitsubishi Diamond Dealer Awards earlier this month.

A Kaitaia business with nearly 100 years' history in the small Far North town has won two national categories at the New Zealand Mitsubishi Diamond Dealer Awards.

Archibald Motors won the award for Top Market Share; of all new cars sold in the Far North district, 38 per cent of them are sold from Archibald's.

The top team also won the Mitsubishi Diamond Dealer 2019 - judged out of 15 other dealerships of similar size and region. The criteria are sales performance, customer service indicators, physical premises and market share.

Archibald Motors previously won the Diamond Dealer award in 2009.

The company's dealer principal Andrew Archibald and his partner Inna Shibalovam attended the awards in Tauranga earlier this month. They then surprised his parents, Brian and Rosemary Archibald, who are still involved in the business, and their 30 staff with the news at the company's annual work function the next evening.

Andrew Archibald said he was ''completely surprised'' with the awards considering the quality of other companies in the mix.

The sales numbers and the awards prove how well Northlanders regard the Mitsubishi brand, he said.

''Northland has supported Mitsubishi for a long time. It's a brand that suits Northland needs and terrain and it represents really good value. They're a good company to deal with. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a customer who was aggrieved about any warranty matters.

''Our major difference is that we don't treat our customers as just a number. A lot of them come from outside our area too, because they know they'll get good service and we respect their effort, too.''

His great grandfather started ''Archibalds'' as a general store 99 years ago, and moved into vehicle sales when motorised wagons began to feature in the district.

Three generations have since continued the business that eventually became a Mitsubishi dealership.

Archibald said the family business has always embraced change and progress. The large workshop keeps up to date and latest figures indicate the company is number one in the country for parts sales and use, he said.