Volkswagen to sponsor Sligo Rovers

Sligo Rovers have officially unveiled the club's new sponsor, Connolly Volkswagen.

Bit O'Red and the Volkswagen dealership will begin a two-year venture that sees Connolly's Volkswagen as the main sponsor and marketing partner of the club.

Connoly Volkswagen is a family business headed by brothers Neil and Kevin Connolly. Both represent the third generation of the Connolly family involved in the motor trade since their grandfather, Thomas Connolly founded his successful business in Ballina in 1939. Their expansion into Sligo in 2007 provided a service to all VW customers in the North West. The state of the art VW showroom at Carraroe includes a 15-car showroom 12 bay workshop, 5000 sq ft parts department, a customer waiting area, outdoor display area and customer parking.

Both the staff and the customers of Connolly Volkswagen are avid fans of Sligo Rovers.

Merlin is officially one of best places to work

Merlin Group is officially one of the Best Small Workplaces 2012, according to a detailed assessment by the Great Place to Work Ireland. The honour was announced at an awards ceremony in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, attended by over 400 guests last week.

The Best Workplaces study, now in its tenth year, uses confidential employee feedback to identify employers who follow a policy of creating positive workplaces in which management build high-trust relationships with their employees, based on mutual respect. Great Place to Work conducts similar studies in forty-five countries worldwide.

Merlin were awarded the Deloitte Best Managed Company in 2011, winning the Innovation of the Yer trophy at the SIMI Awards in 2010 and being nominated for an Eircom Spider award.

Merlin Group consists of Merlin Property, Merlin Car Auctions and Ganly Craigie. The group manages major commercial sales of assets from cars to residential homes and farms.

Mini Clubvan Concept for Geneva

Mini will reveal its Clubvan Concept at Geneva. This compact van for business and leisure is the first premium model in the small car-based segment.

The Mini Clubman-based concept opens the door to a completely new market for Mini, premium small businesses who want to combine sharp driving dynamics with low cost of ownership, while also making a style statement with their company van.

This is a five-door car with a twist. Two front doors for the driver and front passenger, two side-hinged rear doors and the rear-hinged Clubdoor on the right-hand side to create useful access. So smaller items can be loaded from the side of the car as well as the rear.

Limiting the car to two seats creates the capacity needed by business owners on a day-to-day basis, as well as opening up customisation potential.

The flat load area reaches from the split rear doors right up to a partition grille behind the two seats.

The Mini Clubvan Concept has the same exterior dimensions as the Mini Clubman.

A hot blooded Concept car from Citroen

Citroen will debut the new DS4 Racing concept at this year's Geneva Motor Show.

Developed by Citroen Racing Citroen's seven-time WRC winning motorsports division, the car features 256bhp and C02 emissions of 155g/km.

The car has a lowered chassis, wider track, more powerful brakes and larger wheels alongside a unique matt grey paintwork, two-tone roof and two tone wheels.

The 1.6 turbo petrol engine provides up to 256bhp which is a record for a Citroen series production car. The car is fitted with larger diameter 19-inch wheels.

Motor Industry Award Winners

At last Thursday's SIMI Annual Dinner in The Burlington Hotel, Dublin, SIMI President Gerry Caffrey highlighted the inclusion for the first time of the Motor Industry Awards in association with Castrol, writes Trish Whelan.

While there could only be one winner in each section, the SIMI President said 'every one of the nominated finalists is already a winner, each having reached a standard of excellence that made the job of the independent judging panel extremely difficult'. He added they had commented that 'these companies bring honour not just to their own organisations, but to the whole industry'.

Winners of the Motor Industry Awards, in association with Castrol, were:
Franchised Retailer Operator of the Year - Tony Burke Motors of Galway
Franchised Aftersales Operation of the Year - Audi North Dublin
Franchised Dealer of the Year - Audi North Dublin
Bodyshop of the Year - Frank Byrnes Autobody Repairs Ltd, from Oranmore in Galway.
Independent Retailer of the Year - Mobility Ireland.
Motor Industry Outstanding Achiever Award - Sligo SIMI members and BEN organising Committee (Art Nicholson and Mary O'Dwyer received the award).

The winners are pictured above with guest speaker, Ronnie Whelan.