GM Middle East graduates 500th Automotive Technician From Filipino Training Academy

General Motors Middle East has passed a major training milestone and graduated its 500th student from the GM Advanced Technical Training Center in Angat, Philippines.

Located 90 kms from the Filipino capital Manila, GM Middle East opened the Advanced Technical Training Center in June 2008 to fulfill a need for more highly skilled automotive technicians in the region.

Each year four groups of 50 students participate in a 13-week intensive training program. They learn how to keep all GM vehicles in perfect service order and how to diagnose, repair and correct any potential fault or operating problem. Once fully trained, the graduate technicians are then assigned to Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC dealerships across the Middle East.

“A key objective for GM in the Middle East is to provide all our customers with a world-class shopping, buying and ownership experience. One way to achieve this is to ensure that GM has the very best dealer technicians in the region. So in 2008 we invested in the development of the Advanced Technical Training Center in the Philippines to ensure we can always provide our dealers with highly skilled automotive technicians that can give our customers the best service experience,” said Luay Al Shurafa, Director of Customer Services at GM Middle East.

Today, 22 percent of all GM dealer technicians across the Middle East are graduates of the Advanced Technical Training Center. There are currently 400 graduates working at Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC dealerships around the region, while 67 have completed their contracts. Another 44 graduates will start their dealer placement in early 2012, including Mr Jayson Deliquina who was the 500th graduate from training program and will soon start work at the National Motor Company - Bahrain’s Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC dealership.

The graduates from the Advanced Technical Training Center are among some of the very best dealer technician in the region. At the recent GM Dealer Technician Skills Competition held at the Dubai Autodrome in December 2011, graduates from the Filipino program achieved scores 10 percent higher than the average. The winner of the competition, Noel Pangan from Universal Motors Agencies in Damman, Saudi Arabia, was also a graduate.

The Advanced Technical Training Center forms part of GM Middle East’s $10 million annual investment in technical and customer care training for its dealer technicians, showroom staff and customer service personnel. As well as the training center in Angat, GM Middle East also operates academies in Dubai, UAE; and Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Together these facilities provide 2,400 training days a year from 70 technical and customer care trainers. Combined with web-based training, GM Middle East provides 169,000 hours of training every year.