William Peffer Jr, Mark Huston and Chris Mandile
William F. Peffer Jr, Managing Director and CEO of Nissan Motor Company (Australia) Pty Ltd with Mark Huston from Huston Nissan and Chris Mandile, Nissan’s Executive General Manager National Sales and Fleet at Saturday’s Platinum Dealership awards ceremony in Melbourne

August 20, 2013

The South Burnett has been recognised as home to one of the top 10 Nissan dealerships in Australia.

On Saturday night, Huston Nissan was awarded Platinum Dealership status for the second year running at a gala ceremony in Melbourne.

Huston Nissan’s principal Mark Huston received the award as State Dealer Of The Year for the Northern Region, which stretches from the northern rivers area of NSW through to Cape York.

Last year Huston Nissan was one of four Nissan dealerships in the Northern Region to receive the Platinum Dealership honour.

But this year they were the only one.

The Platinum Dealership Award is the highest honour that Nissan bestows on their dealerships, and to win it a dealer not only has to meet all Nissan’s top-level evaluation criteria but also exceed them.

Dealerships are assessed on every aspect of their business, from marketing and promotion through to after-sales service and customer care as part of Nissan’s drive to encourage “best practice” throughout their Australian distribution network.

And this year the competition was particularly tough.

Nationally, the Nissan brand achieved a 20 per cent growth rate in Australia and also set new sales records for 11 consecutive months despite a relatively flat economy.

As a result, only 10 dealers Australia-wide achieved Nissan’s “Perfect Game” performance levels in the Platinum Dealership gradings.

From this, Nissan then selected six State Dealers Of The Year. And the South Burnett’s Huston Nissan was one of them.

Today Mark Huston said he was delighted to receive the rare award for the second year running, but added that it was an honour shared by everyone who worked at the company’s Kingaroy and Murgon branches.

“Achieving top performance in Nissan’s tests was a team effort that we couldn’t have passed without the whole-hearted involvement of everyone who works for us,” he said.

“So I’m very proud of our staff and the dedication they show every day to delivering the best customer service we possibly can.

“I’m also proud that we’ve been selected as Nissan’s State Dealer Of The Year over much larger dealerships in Brisbane and other areas.

“It’s really a big tick for the South Burnett by a major international brand.”

Huston’s are an iconic South Burnett company.

The firm began operations as a Ford dealership in Wondai in 1935, then moved to larger premises in Murgon in 1979 where they still operate today.

In 1989 they opened a second outlet in Kingaroy, then purchased Kingaroy’s Nissan dealership in 1996.

And not long afterwards they relocated from the heart of town to their current premises at Rogers Drive on the D’Aguilar Highway, where they continue to sell and service the full range of Nissan, Ford and Suzuki cars.