Leading Dunedin City Motors into its second century with pride

As Dunedin City Motors celebrates 100 years in business, Dealer Principal Robert Bain reflects on his four decades at the company.
Even after almost 40 years in the motor industry, it is the thrill of a new car that most excites Robert Bain. Having started with the company as a schoolboy in 1984 when it was still Napier Motors, the Dunedin City Motors Dealer Principal remembers well his first experience of various vehicles. ‘‘I still get a thrill out of driving a brand new car when it comes in, I still take it as a real privilege,’’ he says. ‘‘I think of cars through the years, for example an XR6 Turbo. Just an incredible car and you just felt so special. There’s a lot of those cars we’ve had over the years. This week I jumped into a Mustang Mach-E, which is an electric Mustang. An incredible vehicle to drive and handle.’’ But it’s not just the new cars that’s kept him coming back to Dunedin City Motors every day for so long. Robert also enjoys the people he deals with every day - the company’s huge customer base, the organisations they sponsor, and of course the team he works with, both old and new. Welcoming enthusiastic young employees to the team is something he takes satisfaction from. But so is the fact that the company includes a healthy group of members in its Omega Club, for employees who have or did work there more than 25 years. “It reminds me of the Eagles song Hotel California - you can never leave!” Robert jokes. “Time creeps on you fast, but if you’ve always got challenges and new goals it gives you opportunities. This company gives people those opportunities.” When he began as a 15-year-old with the then Napier Motors in the mid-1980s, it was at the company’s original site on the corner of Hope and Princes Streets. Starting out on processing warranty repairs, Robert remembers the first car he worked on. The Ford Falcon with just 1000 kilometres on the clock belonged to a stock agent, who’d already had 13 warranty items since purchase. “I apologised to him profusely, because I was so sorry he’d had all these mistakes,” Robert recalls. “But he said, ‘don’t worry about it - my previous car was a lot worse!’”


There were over 100 staff working for the company at that time, across sites at Mosgiel, Andersons Bay Road, and Hope Street. Across the decades since, there have been name changes, consolidation, and economic fluctuations, with the team now numbering about 50. (See the history story pg5) Over those years, Dunedin City Motors have won plenty of awards, including Ford’s top President’s Award a number of times. But while it’s nice to get that recognition, it’s not what drives the company. “”I never really concentrated much on the awards - I concentrated on making sure that we’re doing what we need to do,” Robert reflects. He’s clear that they take more satisfaction from doing the best they can for their clients across new and used car sales, and in the parts and service areas. But it’s also important that the company’s staff are happy at work every day - the proof being in the team’s dedication to their jobs, and the many long term employees. It is however a challenging time for the motor industry, with massive fundamental change taking place. Robert says it’s the biggest period of change there has been over his company’s century long history. “You’ve got electric vehicles, and so many variants of electric vehicles,” he says. “It’s hard enough for us to get our head around everything, let alone the public. The change is just astronomical at the moment.” But accepting that change is constant and embracing the challenges has clearly been a strength throughout the company’s 100 years. Celebrating that impressive history this weekend is something that everyone involved is looking forward to. There will be a dinner at the Village Green in Fairfield on Saturday night, as well as the Cars Through the Ages car show. “I’m pretty proud to be at the helm when we are hitting 100 years,” Robert says. “We’re really understanding how important it is to a lot of the community, and to ex-staff members. They’re all looking forward to different events, and people are coming from far and wide to celebrate with us.”