With all the doom and gloom centred on the country at the moment, what with talks of health service cuts and mass emigration, you would be forgiven for thinking there is no good news about. Thankfully the guys at Volkswagen have come to the rescue. Or more specifically the guys and girls of Aftersales.
The Aftersales division of Volkswagen Ireland has just been announced as the Aftersales Best Practice Importer in Europe for 2012. Bit long winded we know but what it boils down to is that the team that look after the parts and accessories department (amongst other things) are the best in Europe.
To mark the accolade management from Volkswagen AG and the Heads of Aftersales for all European countries travelled to Dublin for a two-day Best Practice Conference to learn from the team how to do things the Irish way.
Commenting on the award, Alan Bateson, Volkswagen Ireland Head of Aftersales said, "We are truly delighted to receive this award and welcome our European colleagues to Ireland to showcase our strategic results over the last three years. In the Celtic Tiger Years many Irish businesses forgot about the customer after they had made the sale, whether that be a new car or any other product," said Bateson.
"In 2009 we sat down and devised a strategy to correct this and this was based on two key pillars, Better Service and Better Value. At the very base of these pillars was the belief that your Customer is for life and should never be forgotten."
As if being the best in Europe was not enough the growth in Aftersales business (up 20 per cent for 2012 so far) has resulted in an additional 100 jobs being created across the Irish Volkswagen network.