REINHARD FISCHER: NADA UNIVERSITY BRINGS ‘VALUE AND CREDIBILITY’ TO AUDI’S TRAINING PROGRAMS

McLEAN, Va. (Aug. 22, 2013) - Audi of America wants to improve the customer experience in dealer showrooms across the country, says Reinhard Fischer, director of strategy.

To achieve this goal, Audi last year subscribed to NADA University's online premium training package on behalf of its network of 279 dealerships. "Elevating the quality and level" of corporate and dealership employees are priorities for Audi, which extended the training partnership with NADA last month.

"Giving our field people access to the wonderful classes from NADA University but also our complete dealer body … has created a lot of excitement and it's working," said Fischer on AutoFocus with David Hyatt , an NADA-TV interview program. "And that's why we're continuing to invest in this partnership."

Fischer says when he meets with dealers the topics often discussed include training, finding the right employees and retaining them.

"We know our brand. We know our product. But with this partnership I was able to basically double the range of offerings for dealership employees without investing all the money for developing classes," he added. "That's where NADA brings an unbelievable value to us. And not only the value of the classes, but it's from the dealers for the dealers so it has an unbelievable credibility that we, the manufacturer, would never get."

Over the first seven months of the year, Audi sales in the United States were up 13.6 percent. In July, sales were up 11.6 percent.

"We have an exciting product. We have a brand that's getting more and more recognized in the market, so you could lean back and say everything is going well, but I think what's great is that our dealers are thinking forward," Fischer said. "They are the ones who have the contact with the customers on a daily basis. That's where we really create experiences or disappointments."

The training partnership with NADA University is about "investing in people, finding the right people and bringing them on board with the dealership, and now once we have them, educating them and continuously raising the game," he added.

Related story/video: Audi Dealers Gain Edge with NADA University Online