7:57 am, October 1, 2022
Mazda has opened a brand new training centre for dealer staff.
The 11,000sq foot facility in Stewartby, Bedfordshire, has been designed to train a variety of dealership roles, from apprentice through to master technicians, as well as management training in sales and service roles. It’ll be operated by the Mazda Academy.
With the capacity to host 40 delegates a day the building also has live broadcast rooms for remote online training.
Mazda plans to host 5,500 delegates a year who will work with a dedicated team of three technical trainers and three commercial/product trainers.
The building has been designed in Mazda’s latest corporate identity, while the interior features Japanese decor and a display area for one of Mazda’s heritage fleet of cars.
Along with training rooms, there’s also a workshop for eight cars suitable for ICE, plug-in hybrids and full-electrics.
Mazda UK sales director Peter Allibon said: ‘I’m delighted that we’ve opened this state-of-the art Mazda Academy facility that will not only host a range of important physical and virtual dealer training activities, but it will also include a studio for developing video and to deliver live broadcast modules.
‘The automotive industry is changing at a rapid pace, with new vehicle technologies and electrification, as well as changing customer demands and preferences, so supporting our dealer network in being set up for success through these changes is crucial and the new centre is an investment to ensure that’s exactly what we do.’
He added: ‘The training provided at and from this centre will ensure Mazda customers get a premium service whenever they interact with our network.
‘And crucially, having the capacity to provide dealers with a range of different mediums for learning, will ensure this is done in the most effective and efficient way.’
Mazda Academy manager Rob Hancock said: ‘We have capacity for 40 delegates onsite per day, but in addition we will also train dealer staff from the live broadcast rooms, so can mix and match between face-to-face and online training.
‘We will offer a brand new apprentice programme and launch a new service, senior and master technician online training programmes, which will include more bite-sized video tutorials ensuring ease of access to training at the point of need.
‘In fact these video training clips are already supporting the launch of the all-new Mazda CX-60.’
