Drive Motor Retail has recognised its top performing employees at a black-tie awards ceremony in Bristol.

The AM100 dealer group’s annual OverDrive awards dinner was hosted by its joint managing directors Rob Keenan and Stuart Harrison, this year.

More than 250 employees from across the business, which operates Vauxhall, MG and Citroen car and van dealerships, attended the event at Bristol Harbour Hotel.

Keenan said: “It was fantastic to be able to get so many of the team together to recognise the amazing achievements of the past 12 months. After not being able to host the awards last year, we wanted to give the team a truly memorable celebration in 2021 after having had a strong year of trading following the effects of the pandemic.

“Everyone has worked really hard to exceed our targets and we are all looking forward to some very exciting plans for 2022.”

Drive Bury St Edmunds was named the Best Dealer and the achievements of more than 60 Drive employees were recognised on the night.

Harrison added: “As a company we know that we are only ever as successful as our team. The OverDrive awards are a great way of celebrating the talent of the individuals we have at Drive and we were able to unveil some exciting plans for improving our employee benefits programme going into 2022.”

Drive Motor Retail is one of the UK’s largest privately owned automotive retail groups with a turnover of approximately £250 million per annum and more than 700 colleagues employed in 16 dealerships across the country.

In the past year, the company has expanded its range of manufacturers with the opening of three MG franchise dealerships and one Citroen site.

The retailer set out to streamline its customer contact processes this year, using THREE360's CRM system, and is now using data cleansing to ensure it is targeting customers who have a high likelihood of purchasing a vehicle or using the company’s service and maintenance department.