Volkswagen Group India on October 17, 2012, inaugurated the Volkswagen group Academy, which would bring in global training models to its dealerships in the country. The academy is built with an investment of € 5.2 million and is spread over an area of 5,500 m2 at Volkswagen's manufacturing plant in Chakan, Pune. It was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan in the presence of several other state and group dignitaries.
The Academy provides technical and non-technical training solutions to the company's service brands and the channel partners. The academy houses ten classrooms for theory sessions and has six practice areas where practical sessions would be conducted. The academy has facility to train around 5,000 participants every year who would be provided training for over 2-10 days.
Training would be imparted in many areas which include sales, after sales, soft skills, IT, mechatronics, skill contests and skill mapping. This academy would act as the main centre for all the training programs conducted by the Volkswagen group in the country. This academy would also be the monitoring centre for the training and execution that will take place at the four regional training Academies present at Aurangabad, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Kolkata.
Talking about it Dietmar Hildebrandt, Director Group Service, Volkswagen Group Sales India Private Limited said on the occasion, “Volkswagen Group Academy is a platform for our dealership employees to harness their skills to meet our global standards. We are happy to announce the inauguration of the Academy which will offer various dealer training programs targeted towards offering various qualifications for sales consultants, service technicians, advisers, supervisors and internal staff. The Academy will provide platform for assessments, surveys, market research, skill competition and technical seminar amongst others. The Academy also runs a unique Technical Apprentice Program (VG-TAP). This is to create quality talent pool for the automobile industry and also supplement recruitment at dealership level.”
