Elizade Nigeria Limited, Rivers State government, Metropolitan Motors, Peace Mass Transit, the Motoring Press and other institutions formed part of winners’ list in this year’s Toyota Annual Awards. Winning prices carted away by some of the winners ranges from various models of Toyota vehicles that include the RAV 4 SUV, Avensis, Avanza, Yaris, Corolla, workshop equipments and other cash prices.
Invited dignitaries especially fleet and corporate fleet buyers and dealers and friends of the Toyota brand from various parts of the country had defied the heavy vehicular traffic in Lagos last Thursday to be part of the Toyota Nigeria Limited (TNL) annual awards held at the Civic Centre Events Place, Victoria Island, Lagos.
This year’s edition marks the 9th edition of the yearly event, which serves as a platform for TNL to say ‘thank you’ to its numerous stakeholders for standing firm and showing their support and loyalty to the Toyota brand. This year’s event using the 2012 business year as the period to assess deserving winners for their respective contributions towards the growth and success of the brand was tagged “Celebrating Loyalty.”
Delivering the goodwill message before a capacity audience, Kunle Ade-Ojo, executive director, Toyota Nigeria Limited on behalf of the company chairman Michael Ade-Ojo, who was held up for two and half hours between the Ikoyi Club and Civic Centre, expressed his appreciation to the brand’s loyalists and committed dealers for their unshaken trust and loyalty.
In highlighting TNL’s success story over the years and most particularly in the year under review, the chairman of the 16-year-old manufacturer’s principal representative in the country remarked that, the year 2012 was quite eventful in the annals of company.
Few of the challenges during the beginning of last year was the fuel subsidy crisis followed by flood disasters that hit many parts of the country like hurricane including recurring security issues and other sundry fiscal challenges that made the economic landscape quite unfriendly for smooth business operations. All these and many more he regretted made the business extremely daunting.
As the septuagenarian company boss popularly known in the automobile circles as ‘Mr Toyota’ put it, “Nevertheless, all these limitations notwithstanding, we remained resolute and focused: by dint of hard work and dedication, we managed to finish the race reasonably well. This modest achievement was made possible by the immense goodwill of our customers and dedication of our dealers.”
Despite all challenges, 2012 for Toyota brand in Nigeria witnessed the introduction of very key models into its model line-up. While it increased its model portfolio by introducing the Fortuner offered in fabric and leather seats versions, TNL also brought in the Hilux automatic transmissions to complement the Hilux model range.
Similarly, the Avanza also underwent a full model change. All these moves according to the management, are aimed at meeting the expectations and aspirations of its valued customers. The two models also made it to the top spots in their respective segments.
And to fulfill its ultimate responsibility of customer satisfaction, Toyota Nigeria Limited embarked of its scope of operations with the completion of the first world class Body and Paint training centre in Oregun, Ikeja Lagos. The facility is a place where its accredited dealerships’ technical staff will be receiving training on Body repairs and Paints.
This is in addition to various other trainings given to the technical staff of these dealers at TNL head office in Lekki, Lagos free of charge. These are geared towards enhancing the delivery of superior and enduring quality service to prospective Toyota buyers and ultimately break the grounds in the realm of customer contentment at every touch point
MIKE OCHONMA
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
