7:43 pm, July 28, 2011
HYUNDAI has officially opened its new training academy in High Wycombe – and Car Dealer was there to witness it.
The 17,695 sq metre academy will play host to the training of all Hyundai franchised dealers across the UK, and finally brings together all previous training sites located around the country once and for all.
Taking just 12 weeks from the signing of the contract to the official opening, the new academy boasts classrooms and training rooms, workshop space for technicians to train on real cars, and even a mock-up showroom has been constructed complete with a welcome desk, merchandise cabinet and cars for the training of sales executives.
The facility was officially opened by the president of Hyundai Motor Europe, Chang Kyun Han, and dealers across the UK including the Mayor of High Wycombe and individuals from the Korean embassy attended the unveiling ceremony.
‘This academy brings together all of our training of our taff at Hyundai Motors UK and our dealers together on one site,’ Hyundai UK’s aftersales director Graham Lightfoot told us. ‘It’s very much of the family atmosphere – everyone can understand and take part in our standards which is simply delivering excellent customer service.
President of Hyundai Motor Europe, centre, Tony Whitehorn, right
Brand identity is a key area of development for Hyundai, too. ‘We have recently won awards for our good customer service from Which? who recently named us as best manufacturuer of 2011,’ said Tony Whitehorn, Hyundai Motor UK’s managing director. ‘But we don’t just want to deliver good customer service, we want to deliver excellent customer service. We hope this new training facility will do this.’
The Mayor of High Wycombe attended the opening and it is this local element which Hyundai also wants to build on with the new facility.
‘The Hyundai training academy is a great thing for the local community. It not only brings in new business to the area, but we are hoping local charities and organisations will be able to get involved with the site too.’
Up to 70 delegates a day and 12,000 a year will be able to train at the facility – from dealer principles, sales managers and workshop controllers, to sales executives and workshop staff.
