Archibalds Awarded: Thank You to our Range Rover, Defender, Discovery, and Jaguar Clients

This month, amongst executives from JLR, peers throughout the retailer network, partners such as Louis Roederer, Partridge, and Craigs Investment Partners, friends of the brand Scott Robertson and Sir John Kirwan, and with host Kate Rodger, the annual JLR awards were held.

Archibalds are delighted to have been named as a finalist in two awards, as well as the overall winner of the Customer Experience Award.

These awards celebrate outstanding performance across the retailer network, recognising the teams who go above and beyond to deliver a premium experience. We’re incredibly proud of our team’s efforts and the recognition they’ve earned within a very competitive field.

The Customer Experience Award in particular holds huge importance to us. While departmental awards may be more closely related to transactions within the business, the Customer Experience Award is based on you, our clients, and your direct feedback regarding our business over the last year.

In that sense, this award is from you. And we won’t take it for granted.

Everything we do is with a focus on being the South Island’s number one premium vehicle dealership, and while we’re currently on this journey and know that we can make mistakes, we’re reliant on our clients to let us know when we’ve slipped up so that we can right wrongs and get back on track, continuously improving our level of customer experience for all, whether you have a brand new vehicle, an older vehicle, or a classic.

The Archibalds Team at the JLR Awards

From left, Mark Lincoln, Andre Heyns, Corey Gray, Simon Unger, Mark Milligan, and Jensen Early

Second Place in the Events Award

Meanwhile, we were delighted to have been named as second place in the JLR Events Award.

Over the past year, we’ve renewed our focus on creating and hosting exceptional automotive events for our clients. While we’re ultimately a vehicle dealership, we recognise the value in creating unique, money-can’t-buy experiences for our guests. This is in recognition of the fact that when you choose to buy a vehicle from an official JLR retailer, that initial experience along with the experience throughout the ownership of the vehicle is, and should be, worlds apart from that of buying a similar vehicle from a third-party car yard.

We’re committed to our client relationships and providing unparalleled experiences that complement and enrich our clients’ ownership of their Range Rover, Discover, Defender, and Jaguar vehicles.

Thank you for joining us on that journey. We look forward to seeing you at the next event.

Finalist in the John Fairhall Emerging Leadership Award

Last year, our own Parts Manager Jensen Early was the first to take the new John Fairhall Emerging Leadership Award. An incredibly fitting achievement for one of our team.

This year, Curtis Valaidum, one of our JLR Technicians, was a finalist in the awards, again ensuring the Archibalds name was recognised within this hugely meaningful award category.

Congratulations, Curtis, and thank you for all you do in the care of our clients’ vehicles.

Curtis Valaidum

Curtis Valaidum, Finalist for the John Fairhall Emerging Leadership Award 2025

Jensen Early

Jensen Early, First Winner of the John Fairhall Emerging Leadership Award in 2024

John Fairhall Emerging Leadership Award

The John Fairhall Emerging Leadership Award

Scott Robertson and Sir John Kirwan share notes

Sir John Kirwan and Scott Robertson compare notes

Simon Unger acknowledged for long service

Simon Unger acknowledged for his long service to Archibalds and JLR

Thank you.

Thank you again to our clients for your support, and to our team for maintaining a high level of professionalism and dedication to our clients in all that they do.

For those considering joining the JLR family, we encourage you to view our Range Rover, Defender, and Discovery range or our Jaguar range.

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