MITSUBISHI Motors Australia Limited (MMAL) has announced the winners of its annual ‘skills program’ open to service advisers and technicians across its national retail network, with two employees from regional dealerships taking out the top awards.

Jessica Hankinson from McIlroy Mitsubishi in Victor Harbour, South Australia, was named 2016 Service Adviser of the Year and Antonio Sanelli from Callaghan Mitsubishi in Portland, Victoria, was presented with the 2016 Technician of the Year award.

The program also introduced a new category this year – ‘Sales National Skills Champion’ – which was won by Sharni Weinberg from Berwick Mitsubishi in Melbourne’s south-east.

MMAL described this year’s 18th annual program as its most successful ever, with an average of 942 service advisers and 1412 technicians participating in each stage, up 36 per cent on last year.

The program involves preliminary testing and regional qualifying rounds, with the top five staff in each category then facing off in the national final, which was held recently at MMAL headquarters in Adelaide.

As seen in a variety of other industry programs, participants are required to draw on “practical skills, product expertise and ability to solve real customer scenarios”.

The awards were presented at a special ceremony by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) corporate general manager (service office) Kazuo Yanagimoto, MMC corporate general manager (America and Oceania) Akihiko Mizumoto and MMAL CEO Mutsuhiro Oshikiri.

In accepting her second award for the triple-diamond brand’s top service adviser, having taken out the coveted title in 2013, Ms Hankinson said: “It was such an exciting moment and I feel proud to have been named the Service Adviser of the Year. I think it is fantastic that we can bring skills and expertise from around Australia together and learn from each other.”

Ms Hankinson won from Kylie Hocking (Zupps Mitsubishi, Qld), Leigh Wakeman (Mornington Mitsubishi, Vic), Justin Rowett (Kloster Mitsubishi, NSW) and James Tate (Rockingham Mitsubishi, WA).

Among the technicians, Mr Sanelli claimed the top award after edging out Michael Bitar (Parramatta Mitsubishi, NSW), Adam Spurrier (Dutton Mitsubishi, SA), Wing Yau (Southside Mitsubishi, WA) and Andrew Magann (Zupps Mitsubishi, Qld).

In the new sales category, Ms Weinberg won from Cody Butler (Redcliffe Mitsubishi, Qld), Matthew Watson (Cessnock Mitsubishi, NSW), Natasha Miller (North East Mitsubishi, SA) and Dain Murray (John Hughes Mitsubishi, WA).

MMAL head of dealer improvement and customer care Neil Dunn said: “The skills program is one of the ways we ensure that Mitsubishi continues to offer a consistently high standard of customer service and expertise to our customers.

“The success of this program lies in the dedication of our dealer staff improving their product knowledge, practical skills and interactions with customers.”

Meanwhile, Renault recently announced the winners of its newly developed incentive program for technicians and apprentices, which was designed to recognise and reward them for high levels of achievement – and to motivate them to improve their skills and work practices.

The winning apprentices were: Alexander Coleman (first year), Fraser Doran (second year), Luke Curnow (third year) and Joshua Robertson (wildcard).

The winning technicians were: Jacob Homan, Matthew Baker and Matthew Rawson; and the winning senior technicians were: Andreas Chloupek, Barry Heale, Colin Burstow, Sean McDermott, Anthony Sferopoulos, David Earle, Rozaiman Ramiee and Drew Anderson.

As GoAuto has reported, the 15 winning technicians were involved in hands-on preparation and maintenance of the Megane Trophy II racing car – developed for a now-defunct one-make ‘Eurocup’ racing series in Europe – and had the chance to ride shotgun with rally driver Brendan Reeves at the Phillip Island circuit.

The program was open to all Renault technicians in Australia – about 130 at last count – and around 50 apprentices enrolled in the company’s official apprenticeship program, run in conjunction with the Kangan Institute’s Automotive Centre of Excellence.

By Terry Martin