Leslie Motors' 2019 Year in Review
2019 has been another amazing year for us at Leslie Motors, in Wingham we completed our shop expansion, Harriston hosted another successful Ford Classic Car Show and Walkerton celebrated 20 years in business. We have added many new faces over this time and had a busy year in our surrounding towns.
Community Events :
Once again we had a busy year filled with community involvement of local hockey teams, Drive a Ford for your community, Toy & Food Drives and much more. Leslie Motors is a proud sponsor of many local hockey teams the Wingham Ironmen, Walkerton Hawks, Hanover Barons &Mount Forest Patriots in the PJHL Pollock division of Junior C where Zach Leslie is currently the General Manager of the Barons. This always makes games interesting against Don’s hometown team of the Walkerton Hawks.
We also made donations to each minor hockey association in our towns and a tournament that is especially close to our hearts that is taking place on December 28th of 2019 is the Derril Hoover Midget LL Memorial tournament. Derril was a very close family friend that was outstanding member of the community and someone that was always smiling and looking out for others that was taken much too soon.
Other memorial tournament we were proud to be a part of was the Frank Kelly Memorial Golf Tournament, Nolan Melchin Memorial Golf Tournament, & Jeff Davie Memorial baseball tournament in Minto (JYD). Each of these events are in place to raise money for great causes in addition to remembering community members that were taken before their time.
In addition to these events, we also donated to the Wingham Silver Stick Tournament, Pig Stock, Tough Truck in Harriston, the Special Olympics & the Howick Ag Society Pork Auction. These events are what separates our communities from many others. The amount of functions,that bring people together help better our communities and bring a sense of familiarity to one another, are truly remarkable.
Events that we organized and had a great success was the Drive a Ford for Your Community for the Outlaws’ Lacrosse team and Big Brothers & Big Sisters foundation in Mount Forest, the Family Pumpkin Carving Event in Durham, the Christmas Toy Drive and the Classic Ford Car Show in Harriston. We are always happy to meet new members of our communities as well as meet up with old friends that have been such an intricate part of our businesses’ success. We thank you all for your attendance to these events and look forward to seeing you at them in the years to come!
Lastly,we have made donations to our locals hospitals as well as attend the always great Gala events in our towns. We believe it is extremely important to make these donations as it is a great way to better the standard of health for our local citizens and could even lead to saving lives in our communities.
Ford Year in Review:
Finally,Ford has made a few moves over the year the definitely warrant a recap on. The introduction of the Mustang Mach E the all electric SUV Mustang that has raised much controversy in recent months, the launch of the redesigned Escape & Explorer and the comeback of the Ford Ranger.
The Ford Ranger was re-introduced after an 8 year hiatus and was welcomed back with open arms, this mid sized truck was a fan favorite with many Ford driver’s and currently has a 72% approval rating on driving.ca. The Ranger has the same trim packages as the F150 and is a strong alternative to the full sized F150. The Ranger offers strong towing capabilities while being a more fuel friendly vehicle. We were very happy when the Ranger was announced to be coming back and we hope that it sticks around for much longer.
2019 brought about the redesign of the Escape and the Explorer, both models received a full re-imaging that were great improvements in our opinion. The 2020 Escape feature a rounded out body bringing a modern feel to the classic SUV in Ford’s lineup. Many technical advances were added into the Escape as well, for example Lane Keeping Features and Adaptive Cruise Control are readily available in the higher trim levels of the vehicle. Dark Persian Green also made its way onto the scene for the 2020 Escapes this new dark green/bluish colour is a unique shade that has gained much traction in the short amount of time it has been offered!
The 2020 Explorer was launched this year with a more distinct body lines and more prominent back end. The platinum 2-tone leather interior is one of favourite features on the new Explorer. The 2020 Explorer is a perfect family vehicle that will still give you a feel of luxury while driving around. The 2020 Explorer offers a redesigned touchscreen that looks like an iPad is being used at the control panel of the vehicle. This enable more functionality on the touchscreen while making features such as navigation and 360°rear view camera much more visible and easier to use. Both the Escape and Explorer model upgrades have lived up to our expectation and surpassed them in many instants.
Lastly,the controversial launch of the newest Mustang to the stable is the introduction of the Mach-E. In November of this year Ford announced they would be launching an all electric SUV under the Mustang name. Many true Mustang lovers were distraught that Ford could go ahead and completely change what it meant to be a Mustang. We did a lot of research before forming our opinion on this decision and we have come to like the move that Ford made, and have almost sold all our allotted models. The Mach-E is still a performance powerhouse especially in the ST version that can go from 0-100km/h in 3.5 seconds. In the video debut of the Mach-E Ken Block demonstrates the power of the SUV and you can see his genuine reaction which shows how impressed he is with Electric vehicle. The all electric is going to be the way of the future and we are proud that Ford has recognized this and will be a leader in the field!
New Hires: Wingham
Denver Bouwman Sales Associate
Korey Goetz Technician
Dwight MacMillan Technician
Dalen Martin Technician Apprentice
Justin Ford Technician Apprentice
Craig Riehl Detail Specialist
Edwin Sanders Detail Specialist
Derek Vaughan Marketing Representative
Harriston:
Janelle Wagner Service Advisor
Jade Ross Parts Advisor
Skylar Reuber Technician Apprentice
Walkerton:
Lisa Beals Service Advisor
Matt Friel Parts Advisor
Andy McAskill Parts Advisor
Justyn McKay Apprentice Technician
James Ogg Apprentice Technician
Paul Gonder Driver
We are very proud of the team members we added to our Family each has brought their own unique skill set to our team and have been great champions of our values so far! We look forward to each of you developing and growing with us & look forward to a bright future with all new members.
Thank You:
In conclusion, we want to welcome all of our new team members to the Leslie Family, thank everyone in our communities for their support and helping us be part of such a great community and cant wait to see what Ford will bring us in the future. Wishing you all a Happy New Year! A great start to the next decade. And great success on your resolutions (wish us luck too)! From the bottom of hearts we appreciate our neighbours, business partners and customers thank you for making 2019 a year we will never forget!
