MOTORING FEATURE 2021

Four brands under one roof at Aherns Castleisland

Aherns Garage Castleisland is a rarity in Irish motoring as there is nowhere quite like it in the county with four different brands under one roof.

WELCOME:

Aherns BMW welcome the new full Electric BMW iX3 to Kerry.

Pictured from right to left are some of the Aherns BMW team: Paul Ahern, John Cronin, Gordon Lunn and Tony Casey.

It’s like a shopping centre for cars, and while everything is accommodated in their vast Tralee Road complex, a visit there feels like you are stepping into four different showrooms.

Car buyers won’t be short on choice there.

“We have something for everyone and all under the one roof,” Paul Ahern said.

Ahern’s is one of Ireland’s longest serving Opel dealers and the full range is on view at the family run premises.

Highlights include the new Opel Mokka SUV, one of the few cars in Ireland availa ble in full electric and low emission petrol or diesel.

A few short metres away sits their Mazda showroom. A highlight here is the brand

New look Bowlers is a one-stop motoring shop

Bowlers Garage, no longer tied to a franchise, is in the unique position to source any make or model, new or used, for cus tomers ready to change their car.

The Ballycasheen premises, which is a family run business, has undergone a major facelift in recent weeks, with new signage and logos to reflect their new approach to car sales and servicing.

As well as sourcing new and used cars, their service department will look after any make or model making the garage a unique one stop shop for all motoring needs in the locality.

“The motor industry is changing as we all know,” Brian Bowler explained. “But we are ready and we look forward to welcoming customers, new and old, into our revamped garage.”

Bowlers have also upgraded their web site, www.bowlers.ie, and all new and used cars can be viewed online, includ ing detailed videos of what is on offer.

new MX-30, Mazda’s first venture into electric cars along with the best selling CX-30 and CX-5 in low emission diesel and petrol.

The newest addition to Ahern’s expand ing range is SEAT, the new Arona SUV which has had a facelift, and the 2022 Ibiza models have just gone on display in the Spanish section of the showroom.

Aherns BMW is an another arm to the garage. The all new BMW iX3 full electric SUV has recently arrived to Castleisland and the brand new i4 Electric Gran Coupe and IX full electric SUV are expected to go on show this side of Christmas along side the other BMW models in the range which are now available in plug-in hybrid and low emission petrol and diesel.

NEW LOOK: Bowlers Garage has undergone a huge facelift.

High demand expected for Renault range

Renault’s newest edition to the range, the all-new Arkana is available on the road from €259 per month. Arkana is Renault’s first purpose-built hybrid, and first SUV model with sleek coupé styling.

Launched here in September, Arkana is already proving popular with Irish cus tomers, with Arkana in the Top 10 of all passenger car models.

For 221 Donagh Hickey Motors will offer low monthly on-the-road prices includ ing delivery charges starting from 0% APR.

The Renault Zoe E-TECH one hundred percent electric will be available for 221 from €189 per month on the road.

Customers can get a brand-new Renault Clio from just €199 per month on the road, the range includes the Clio E-TECH hybrid. Renault’s popular supermini is the definition of a success story with over 30 years of providing excellent val ue, comfort, and enjoyment.

Renault’s Captur, a strong competitor in the B-SUV segment, will be available on the road from €239 per month. Captur comes with a range of petrol and plug-in hybrid powertrains across several trim levels, offering SUV buyers an enticing family car with flexible, high-quality interior, strong performance and low running costs courtesy of three different engines.

“This year, with high demand and limited supply for new and used cars, customers looking to buy a new Renault are advised to order early,” Donagh Hickey said. “The Renault 221 finance on the road offers are available on all new cars ordered or registered by March 31 next year.”

All 221 finance offers are available through Renault Bank which is celebrat ing 10 years in Ireland this year.

The latest Dacia Duster has arrived at Donagh Hickey’s Rathmore.

Its new enhanced design elements in clude new LED headlights for sharper looks and much improved vision, as well as a new grille design, providing a stronger personality with improved CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. Customers can get a brand-new Dacia Duster for just €45 per week on the road with Dacia Finance. The latest model is available with a selection of up-to-date features, including a new 20 centimetre touchscreen and a dual-clutch automat ic gearbox.

“The new Duster is the embodiment of Dacia’s hallmark of delivering the bestvalue-for-money without compromising on quality,” Donagh Hickey said. “Dacia’s 221 finance offers are available on all or ders taken and registered by March 31, 2022.

The all-new Dacia Sandero and Sandero Stepway are also on show in Rathmore.

Three new Dacia models at Donagh Hickey’s

Donagh Hickey Motors have announced their new finance of fers across the range of Renault and Dacia passenger cars.

ALL NEW: The new Dacia Duster is one of three new models on show at Donagh Hickey's Rathmore.

LATEST: Renault's latest offering, the Arkana, can be test driven at Donagh Hickey's Rathmore

MANOR WEST RETAIL PARK, TRALEE, (BEHIND TK MAXX). TEL: 066 712 4275 MUCKROSS ROAD, KILLARNEY, CO. KERRY. TEL: 064 6631237 www.randlesbros.com

Randles Bros are Kerry’s longest serving dealership

This year was a special one for the Kil larney-based firm as the family cele brated its 100th anniversary. The garage business was founded by brothers Con and Thomas Randles, the

“I want to say thank you all our loyal customers and staff who got us to this milestone. Here is to the next 100 years – 2120!” Bros is preparing to enter its 101st year of trading.

grandfather and grand-uncle of current Dealer Principal David Randles. Their first garage was in Kenmare, be fore operating two premises, including an additional one on the Muckross Rd.

The Killarney branch remains the hub of the business and while the Kenmare arm is no longer operational Randles Bros have operated a Tralee branch for over 20 years.

“2021 was a very special year for us as a family and a business,” said Dealer Prin cipal David Randles.

MILESTONE:

Nissan Ariya crossover is a game-changer

all-wheel control technology. Striking a balance between powerful performance and unprecedented control, e-4ORCE is designed to ensure driver and passenger comfort and a feeling of stability.

With the Nissan LEAF firmly established as Ireland’s best-selling Electric Vehicle (EV), Nissan has announced that it is starting a new era for its electric vehicles with the unveiling of the all-new Nissan Ariya electric coupé crossover.

The launch will come as welcome news to anyone interested in driving EV with the new Nissan Ariya building on the pioneer ing EV and crossover expertise that has made both the Nissan LEAF and Nissan Qashqai market leaders in Ireland.

The Nissan Ariya all electric coupé cross over is designed for the autonomous age, combining powerful performance, connected technologies and revolution

ary new EV design as the icon of Nissan’s innovative and electric future.

With an all-electric drivetrain, an estimat ed range of up to 500 kilometres (WLTP) and a lounge-like interior that is packed with advanced technology, the stylish new Nissan Ariya is designed to take the excitement and potential of zero-emis sion mobility to the next level.

It sets a new standard for EVs with five core models combining 63kWh and 87 kWh batteries with two-wheel-drive and all-wheel drive with the unique e-4ORCE powertrain options to meet the needs of a wide range of customers. e-4ORCE is Nissan’s most advanced

The Nissan Ariya represents the ultimate expression of Nissan Intelligent Mobility, featuring Nissan’s latest safety technolo gies and driving performance, promising drivers a seamless, intuitive and adaptive experience.

It comes with an enhanced version of ProPILOT which is already familiar to many Nissan LEAF drivers, providing hands-on assistance to help drivers stay centred in their lane, navigate stop-andgo motorway traffic and maintain a set vehicle speed and distance to the vehicle ahead.

ProPILOT also takes the stress out of parking by helping recognise an open

parking space and guiding the vehicle into it. Driver assistance features also in clude e-Pedal, which was first introduced in the Nissan LEAF, allowing drivers to launch, accelerate and decelerate down to a stop by using only the accelerator.

“The launch of Nissan Ariya marks the start of a new era for Nissan Electric Vehi cles and the acceleration of Nissan’s path to electrification. Nissan started the jour ney to electrification 10 years ago with the mass market LEAF and invented the crossover segment with the launch of the Qashqai in 2007. The Nissan Ariya builds on our brand’s pioneering expertise in EVs and crossovers to better answer the needs of our customers,” Dealer Princi pal, David Randles, said.

The Nissan Ariya electric coupé crossover is available to pre-order at Randles Bros, Tralee and Killarney from January.

Randles Bros in Killarney and Tralee are looking forward to wel coming the all-new Nissan Ariya all-electric coupé crossover to their showrooms in the New Year.

Reen’s Rathmore open state-of-the-art showroom

Reen’s Garage in Rathmore is the first Peugeot dealership in Ire land to adopt the French make’s new branding and showroom standard.

Open for less than a month, the new showroom is a state-of-the-art facility that signifies Peugeot's new worldwide approach to car sales and customer sat isfaction.

“When you walk in here you can feel the quality,” said Dealer Principal John Reen. The new customer waiting area is one of the most impressive features of the new garage with a café-style waiting room where they stay while their car is being serviced or they are waiting to speak to a car sales person.

“Six leather seats and its own coffee mak ing machine,” said John. “No doubt, there is nothing like this anywhere else.”

It is a far cry from the humble beginnings he and his brother Vincent experienced when they opened their first garage in 1977.

“It was little more than a shed,” he ex plained.

The family run firm took on the Peugeot agency in 1987 and today are one of long est serving Peugeot dealers in Ireland. They have been named as Irish Peugeot Dealer of the Year three times, and such is the French company’s trust in the fami

ly run firm they have the honour of being the first garage in Ireland to operate un der the new branding.

“Others are in the process of doing this makeover, but we are the first in Ireland to complete it,” John added.

“It looks very impressive, especially at night when all the cars in the showroom are lit up.”

As John would say himself – “don’t pass the road” if you are looking for a deal on a new for 2022 Peugeot.

ON CALL: Helen Reen behind the new reception desk at the family garage in Rathmore. Photo: Grigoriy Geniyevskiy

BOSS: Dealer Principal, John Reen, is proud of his new showroom and facilities in Rathmore. Photo: Grigoriy Geniyevskiy

TEAM: Billy Clifford (Service Manager) and Gavin Sheehan (Service Advisor) ready to greet customers at Reen’s Rathmore. Grigoriy Geniyevskiy

FAMILY: John, Helen, Johnny and Timmy Reen in their brand new showroom. Photo: Grigoriy Geniyevskiy

Kelliher’s Garage recent ap pointment as the sole Toyota agent for Kerry means that current owners of the Japa nese marque have a place to go for parts and repairs, even if the car was bought elsewhere.

The family-owned Tralee firm took over the sole agency in October this year. They will honour any Toyota warranty issues and periodical servicing as required.

“We are open from 8am every day,” Deal er Principal, Tim Kelliher, said.

“We are here to help. If you have a tech nical issue or need a paid for or a free service, and some services are free these days, we can do it, it does not matter where the car was bought.”

Kelliher’s are also expanding their crash repair business. They have a new web site, www.kelliherscrashrepair.ie – and can fix any make or model.

“We can do everything from a small crash to the more complicated re-alignment jobs,” added Tim.

“We work with all the major insurance companies.”

As part of their new role as the county’s only Toyota dealer, they held a roadshow at the Gleneagle Hotel recently.

“We are very appreciative of the large crowd that came to see us and we are still getting back to everyone that visited us on the day,” he added.

Kelliher’s Garage appointed sole Toyota dealer for Kerry

Champion driver visits Murphy Brownes

Murphy Brownes Restaurant on High St welcomed some very special guests on the Thursday night before last weekend’s Rentokil Initial Killarney Historic Rally.

The event celebrated its 25th anniversa ry this year and the winner from a quar ter of a century ago, John Keatley from County Derry, was back in town. He used the same Porsche 911 that he

drove to victory in 1996 and the organ isers, Killarney and District Motor Club cleverly seeded him a number 25 to mark the occasion.

Very little had changed in the car – it

is now painted red and not its original white colour.

Keatley’s participation in the event was made possible by support from Murphy Brownes and he and his co-driver James McKeefrey were guests of honour there on the same night as the first Dine in Killarney pre-Christmas eating out pro motion.

“It was a pleasure to have them, they were two lovely men and we had great fun,” said Murphy Browne co-owner, Deirdre Browne. “We had other rally people in too, they had been with us during previous events.”

Keatley and McKeefrey have lost none of their flair over the last 25 years. They won Class B5 on Saturday.

ROADSHOW: Tim Kelliher (Dealer Principal) showing a Toyota Rav 4 Hybrid to Kuba Jedyczowskif, Denis Murphy and Sinead McCarthy, at the Kelliher's Garage Toyota Hybrid demonstration and open day at The Gleneagle Hotel last week.

Photo: Eamonn Keogh

VROOM VROOM: Killarney Historic Rally winner John Keatley and his co-driver James McKeefrey with Murphy Brownes co-owners Deirdre Browne and Denis Murphy.

Photo: Sean Moriarty

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†On the Road Price includes/Retail excludes delivery & related charges. Model shown for illustrative purposes only. if you or the vehicle at the end of the Further may to kilometre limits/condition of vehicle. *Lending and by a way of PCP agreement provide by Toyota Financial Services Ireland DAC. Finance example is based on a xed rate APR and is inclusive of a and purchase fee of €63.49 each. A deposit of 0% - 36% of the nance amount may be required and a maximum term of 49 months Rate quoted is at 22/10/2021 and is to Rate of 3.9% on all Toyota C-HR Models purchased between 22/10/2021 and 31/12/2021.

Model shown for illustrative purposes only. Spec detailed relates to Toyota C-HR Sport model only.

The Dutch motorsport engi neers who supplied Craig Breen and Paul Nagle’s Rentokil Initial Killarney Historic Rally winning car have vowed to return to Killarney after getting such a warm welcome last week.

Father and son team Mark and Mats Van den Brand are BMW specialists. They prepared the BMW M3 E30 for the World Rally Championship stars and while they were delighted to return to the Netherlands with a victory they

Dutch rally engineers wowed by Killarney hospitality

were most impressed with the people and atmosphere in Killarney. They arrived in Kerry last Wednesday (November 24) and left on Sunday morning.

“For me the people are warm nice peo ple,” said Mats. “We made many new friends. We really enjoyed the week

end. The town in beautiful, there are many good hotels and the restaurants are very good.”

Breen and Nagle’s participation in the event was made possible by support from Rentokil Initial Ireland and Aherns BMW.

“The stages and scenery are absolute

ly stunning,” he added. “I was here in 2019. We are very busy but I told my fa ther that this was not a rally he should miss. It was really good for business too and I got a lot of enquires out of being there. Thanks to Paul Ahern, he looked after us perfectly, for sure I will be back.”

IMPRESSED: Mats and Mark van den Brand, shown here with Killarney Historic Rally winner Paul Nagle, were impressed with Killarney. Photo: Paul Ahern

CHRISTMAS CHEER: The Aherns BMW sponsored M3 strikes a powerful pose un der Killarney's Christmas decorations. Photo: Seamus Counihan

Autopoint Motor Group is an industry leader in e-commerce

And not only that, they also believe in going the extra mile for their customer's motoring needs and specialise in selling high quality pre-owned vehicles at com petitive prices.

Autopoint Motor Group is an industry leader as the first to have an e-commerce website that allows customers to pur chase their vehicle of choice online.

Once the vehicle has been purchased they offer free nationwide delivery so the whole buying process could not be easi er. Their seven day money back guaran tee gives the customer peace of mind and reassurance with their purchase.

Autopoint Motor Group MD Brian Hanaf in founded wesellyourcar.ie in 2014, with the car selling solution a huge success ever since.

"At wesellyourcar.ie, we endeavour to provide the quickest, simplest and most hassle-free way possible to sell your car," he said.

This allows customers to get the retail value for their car and takes the hassle out of trying to sell it privately. They also offer a free collection service for custom ers in Kerry, Cork and Limerick.

A wide range of car finance options is also available for its customers as the garage is aligned with several finance companies to ensure the customer gets the best op tion available to them.

For customers that have a low credit rat ing, they have a number of finance com panies that offer car finance to customers while repairing their credit rating at the same time.

“This gives customers, who may have had difficulty in the past, an opportunity to have access to affordable finance rates while at the same time repairing their credit rating for their next purchase,” said sales director John Dillon.

Autopoint Motor Group prides itself in looking after its customers right through out the sales process and beyond.

“In these challenging times it's more im portant than ever to make the sales pro cess as seamless and as easy as possible,”

Brian added. “I would like to thank all our valued customers from Kerry for their continuous support throughout these changeling times. We look forward to dealing with you again in 2022."

Autopoint Motor Group is a national multi-award winning inde pendent car dealer based in Tralee that is passionate about the motor business.

INDUSTRY LEADERS: Autopoint sales team John Dillon (Sales Director) and Ken Wheeler (Sales Executive) at their Tralee premises.

The Hyundai Tucson is the best-selling car in Kerry. So far this year, up to the end of November, 150 versions of the Hyundai Tucson SUV have hit Kerry roads. That is 39 more than this time last year when the Tuscon was also the county’s best selling individual model.

The Tralee dealership is celebrating its 22nd anniversary this year but a large proportion of the garage's success can be put down to Killarney men. Three of the staff hail from town, these include Mechanic Jason O’Connor, Sales Executive Liam Shannon, and General Manager Marcus O’Shea from Aghadoe.

“Adam’s of Tralee is in the top five Hyun dai dealers in the country,” Marcus told the Killarney Advertiser. “Our customer service is one of the main reasons be hind that – if you become an Adam’s customer, you tend to stay.”

Examples of their customer support in clude traditional services like collecting and returning cars to customers when an annual check-up or service is due, but it goes beyond that.

The Killarney connection to Kerry’s best-selling car

“If a customer was moving house we would give them a van,” he added.

Despite being 30kms away from Killar ney, Adam’s of Tralee enjoys great sup port locally, helped of course by the four staff members who are based here, but

also because of the range of products and services on offer.

Hyundai is one of the leading manufac turers of petrol-hybrid or all electric cars.

“Many of the hotels in Killarney have bought electric cars from us,” added the

Aghadoe man. “It is important for them – these days when people are checking out a hotel they ask what is the pool like, where is the bar and is there an electric charge point on site? It helps the hotels to say they have an electric car on site."

Škoda has plenty of new offers at Liam Lynch Motors

success. To ensure that this will remain the case, Škoda have re-developed it further. I am confident that this overall package will enable us to continue the Škoda Karoq’s success story,” said the dealership’s marketing manager Noreen Scanlon.

Highlights from the Czech Republic man ufacturer include the recently launched Škoda Karoq and the new all electric Ško da Enyaq which has been nominated for a very prestigious award.

Four years after it first arrived in Ireland,

the popular SUV, the Škoda Karoq has been given a makeover.

Improvements include a fresher design, optimised aerodynamics and state-ofthe-art assistance and infotainment sys tems.

The car is so popular with Škoda custom ers that only the Škoda Octavia and Ško da Kodiaq have surpassed it sales-wise in Ireland.

The Škoda Kodiaq has also received a facelift and the new all electric Škoda Enyaq has been nominated for the pres tigious 'European Car of the Year' award.

“The Škoda Karoq is key to our brand’s

Noreen gave customers other reasons to be cheerful too as the ever popular Škoda Scala line is available to purchase with a 0% percent APR finance package.

“We are now taking orders for the entire Škoda range for 2022 registration,” she added. “Come and take a look at the all electric Škoda Enyaq – it is a contender for the 'European Car of the Year', and when you see it you will know why!”

Liam Lynch Motors in Farranfore, Kerry’s main Škoda dealer is taking orders for its 2022 model line-up.

TOWN FOLK: Killarney men, Liam Shannon and Marcus O'Shea, work at Adams of Tralee.

SKODA: Sales director Mark O’Shea with newly appointed sales executive Noreen Scanlon show off the new Škoda Kodiaq at Liam Lynch Motors, Farranfore. Photo: Sean Moriarty