County winners for ZEVI Electric Vehicle Dealership of Year Awards announced
Zero Vehicles Emissions Ireland (ZEVI), a dedicated office within the Department of Transport, and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) have announced the winners of ZEVI’s EV Dealership of the Year Awards, which is now in its second year.
The awards recognise and reward excellence in the promotion and sales of electric vehicles (EV) in Ireland.
The Westmeath winner is Sleator Kia.
In total, 124 car dealerships from 24 counties participated in the 2023 awards, a six per cent increase in entries from 2022.
Funded by ZEVI, the SEAI administered awards recognise the dealerships who are working to increase consumer understanding and experience of EVs and their uptake on Irish roads.
Car dealers competed through a mystery shopping exercise in which they were scored on factors including how visible EVs were in the showroom, how knowledgeable their salespeople were on EVs, and their sales approach.
Other evaluation areas included EV training, sales trends and the dealership’s website.
The winners announced today are on the shortlist for the regional awards which will be announced at this year’s Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) annual dinner on Thursday February 16.
The four regional winners will then be on the shortlist for the overall national winner award, which will be announced at the SEAI Energy Show in the RDS on March 30.
Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said: “We saw record sales of EVs in Ireland last year, and these awards commend the hard work of the car dealers supporting their clients making the switch to electric and celebrate the growing shift towards sustainable clean transport.
“As sales of EVs continue to grow, it is the award winners of today who are setting the standards and demonstrating the expertise needed in this industry in future.”
Declan Meally, the director of Business, Public Sector and Transport at SEAI, said that the 2023 dealer awards were extremely competitive, and congratulated the 24 county award winners.
“It is inspiring to see the continued commitment and dedication of the dealerships to reducing emissions in the transport sector and helping Ireland develop a cleaner, more efficient transport future,” he said.
“It is great to see a significant increase in EV sales, and in participation in the 2023 awards. SEAI recognises that car dealerships and their staff are a key enabler of EV uptake and are delighted to reward excellence in the showroom.”
As well as the new entries for 2023 there are also five returning winners who will represent their counties for the second year: Cavan, Cavan Autoparc Ltd; Cork, Kearys Eastgate; Longford, O’Reilly & Sons; Meath, Windsor Clonee; and Monaghan, Doran Motors.
For full details on all winning dealerships, visit www.seai.ie.