A dozen years have gone by since the first GLVADA Auto Tech Competition began. In recent years some things have changed, but some things have remained the same. The constant is the venue, the Northampton Community College automotive department, along with NCC’s instructor, Mr. Warren Farnell as the host. All of the area vocational schools continue to be invited yearly to participate. Mr. Vince Luppino continues to be the chief judge along with Troy Miller as chairman; both help to organize the technical aspect of the competition. However, each year the automobile chosen for this event is different. This year, the New Dodge Dart became the challenge for the competing teams.

Doug Strohl, GLVADA’s liaison for the event and owner of Strohl Automotive Services, was instrumental in obtaining the Dodge Darts the students used before and during the competition. The generosity of the following dealerships made it possible for them to compete: Brown Daub, Reagle Dodge, Gray Chrysler Dodge, Rentschler Dodge, Rothrock Chrysler Dodge, Kalafer Organization and Sands Chrysler Dodge.

On Saturday, February 16th the teams from seven area vocational-technical schools faced off for the twelfth annual competition. The schools competing were, Bethlehem Area Vo-Tech, Carbon County Technical Institute, Lehigh County Technical Institute, Monroe County Technical Institute, Upper Bucks Vocational-Technical, Western Center Technical, and Hunterdon County Technical.

There were two students on each team. The event tested their skills in electrical wiring repair, brake measurement, engine performance and much more. They also had a question and answer segment, as well as a computer work station. It was a grueling and stressful day for these young men, who someday hope to be employed by a local automotive dealership in their service area. But on this particular day, they were focused on winning the first place trophy.

The 2013 first place winning team members are Ethan Gaither and Aron Nemes from the Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School. Their instructor, Jeff Cantrell was also a first place winner when he attended CIT, Easton back in 2002. Presented the second place trophy are Danny Simon and Hoa Vuong from Lehigh County Technical Institute. Finishing in third place, the trophy went to Sayre Kresge and Tyler Hahn representing Monroe County Technical Institute.

All the team members who participated went home with a personalized trophy, and commemorative hat and shirt from GLVADA. The top winners were also offered scholarships.

The winning team will have the opportunity to compete in the National Auto-Tech Competition in New York City, which is scheduled for April 1-3.

While there are many important and exciting things about this year’s show, I believe the biggest change we will see is the number of attendees. Yes, the new Luxury Pavilion, featuring every nameplate sold in the Lehigh Valley, will be huge for GLVADA. Many people think the introduction of the Harley Davidson exhibit will make this year’s show stand out. Just as many people will point to our “Community Days at the Auto Show” as setting a new benchmark. There is no question about it, the 2013 edition of the Lehigh Valley Auto Show is the most comprehensive, and most exciting we have ever presented. However, I think what will be remembered most will be the great increase in the attendance this year.

My enthusiasm for a record attendance starts with our choice of Gala recipient… the Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN). From the very start, the LVHN Marketing, Development, and Event staffs have been tireless in their pursuit to be the ideal partner. They have embraced the “LVHN Night at the Auto Show” promotion, and have created programs, flyers and countless emails to excite the 12,000 staff members. From 6:30 to 9:00 PM on Thursday, we expect to see a large crowd, on a traditionally slow evening of the show. In addition, their Development staff has invited 400 of the system’s top donors to be their guests at the Show, and at a reception in our Hospitality Suite on the second floor of Stabler Arena. Not only will it be a large audience, it will be a highly qualified audience.

As you may be aware, we have extended an invitation to area non- profits to partner with us in our “Community Days at the Auto Show” promotion. As part of this program, these non-profits can sell tickets admitting the holder to the show on Thursday or Friday, traditionally our two slowest days. I am happy to announce that we have 28 charities that are participating, and selling tickets right now. Many of these charities will set up booths, at the show, on the Community days as well.

LHVN has announced plans to conduct the “Child Safety Day” program at the show this year, instead of in their hospital. Once again, they are promoting this enthusiastically. In all, 19 different pediatric departments/ services will be displayed. This includes a hands-on surgical robot exhibit, the full Medivac team, including the helicopter on Saturday, texting while driving simulators, and much more. These activities, and the advertising generated by them is sure to motivate more families than ever before to attend the show.

I am extremely proud to confirm our partnership with Cetronia Ambulance Company. They are producing a 5-K race on Sunday, March 24th on the Stabler Campus at 8:00 AM. The race is sponsored by the Lehigh County Bar Association, and is named “the Great Ambulance Chase”. This creates more awareness for the show, and presents the Show to a whole new, affluent market.

To introduce our show to our host, Lehigh University, we have entered into an agreement to market us to their staff and faculty through their internal communications systems. In exchange for a discounted admission, they will promote us to this large, qualified group. To expand upon that effort, we offered a similar discount to their alumni office, and they have agreed to promote the show on all correspondence to its wide alumni base.

Finally, we are co-sponsoring the 2013 Parade of Shamrocks, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Downtown Bethlehem. We get to display a variety of vehicles that the crowd could see at the auto show starting 5 days later. The parade is televised live on RCN television, and rebroadcast 3 times before the show. We will promote the show to a large audience on the streets of Bethlehem, and to a home audience watching on TV.

On January 29th, Cumulus Media (CAT COUNTRY & WLEV) presented the “Putting the Greater LV Back to Work” job fair at the SteelStacks complex in Bethlehem. GLVADA stepped up to the plate for its community and its dealers. We served as a sponsor for this event, and received visibility and recognition through the ads the stations ran. As a sponsor, GLVADA was given a booth at the show located near the entrance, which was the best position there. A “dealer alert” email went out informing our dealers of our participation and the opportunity they had to advertise open positions in their shops. I asked every dealer who wanted to participate to give me the position title, and a brief description of what was expected.

Ten dealerships took advantage of this opportunity and sent us the required information. Those participating were: the Kelly Group, Rentschler Chevy, Rentschler Chrysler Jeep Dodge, Rothrock Motors, Lexus of the Lehigh Valley, Scott Cars, Gilboy Ford Volkswagen, Haldeman Ford Lincoln of Allentown, Haldeman Ford of Kutztown, and Star Buick GMC. Armed with materials, GLVADA staff worked the booth for the dealerships.

The response was tremendous and attendance totals were over 1,500. The candidates ranged from appropriately dressed and qualified to those who were just fulfilling a requirement. Overall, it was a great day; we handed out a substantial amount of materials, and came back with a fair number of qualified leads for those dealerships that participated.

Testimonial from Chris Saraceno VP/Partner Kelly Automotive “The job fair at SteelStacks exceeded my expectations. The GLVADA team had an opportunity to speak with over 300 people and received over 120 applications/resumes to share with the Lehigh Valley auto dealers. This is a MUST attend event for any dealer looking to add talent to their team.”

In November of 2011 and 2012, the GLVADA Service Managers and Education Committee met with members of PAA at the Northampton Community College. The groups concentrated on the development of new auto techs for our local dealerships. Together with NCC we have structured the auto tech program at the college to meet the needs of more of our GLVADA dealers.

Service Managers have expressed an interest in forming a partnership with GLVADA, NCC, and the PAA similar to the Lehigh Valley controllers group. The Education Committee has proposed we initiate two meetings a year, one in March, during the Auto Show at Lehigh University and one in November at Northampton Community College.

We will be scheduling the first meeting on March 21st at Lehigh University during our 2013 Auto Show. It will be held at Stabler Arena on the second floor in the Auto Show Lounge. The meeting will begin at 10:00 am and end at 11:30 am. Following the meeting lunch will be served.

Our guests from PAA will be Darren Miller and Skip Wagner. They will be introducing their new program called “Vehicletechusa.”

The Pennsylvania Automotive Association developed a program primarily for dealers to further enhance their Safety and Emission Inspection regulation knowledge. The program is designed for service managers, technicians, and service writers to explain conditions and regulations to customers. There are questions, answers, and photos of defective components or conditions.

PAA has upwards to $300,000 in development – IT, site expenses, clearance expenses, patent rights, and a host of other unbelievable expenses. They have been working on the material for over 6 months and are ready to proceed. The site is not finished and it never will be finished. Heavy trucks and trailers will be added by mid-2013. There will be constant updating and revisions, as we get new interpretations from PennDOT and as new material surfaces as a result of the manual rewrite. Vehicletechusa will reflect these changes.

The subscription cost to member dealers is $40.00 per month and $45.00 to non- members – a virtual steal. GLVADA strongly encourages you to attend the March 21st meeting to learn more about this program.

If you have yet to make a reservation for your service manager to attend this meeting, please email your reservation to Tom Kwiatek at tkwiatek@ptd.net. 

 

Last November, Northampton Community College and the GLVADA Education Committee held a meeting for dealer service managers to explain our new customized Global automotive program. Unfortunately it occurred shortly after Hurricane Sandy and many of the dealer service managers were unable to attend as originally planned. So, here is a short recap of the program.

Our Global automotive program is a two-year Associate Degree program. Unlike our GM and Chrysler program it is open to any student. All students serve practicums at either area dealers or independent repair facilities. In an attempt to maximize value to you, we have created some customized programs to better serve your needs for well-trained, entry-level techs. To date we have created a customized path for students who are working at Ford, Kia and Nissan dealerships. We also hope to have a customized path for Toyota and Honda shortly. We are open to working with all of you to develop paths that work for your dealership.

Briefly the customized plan is that as our students complete their courses with us they are assigned to complete any web-based training in each area of study that is required by the manufacturer. So, in order to be successful in our courses they must also complete the factory training in that area. While at this time it only covers web-based courses, it could also cover some hands-on courses at your discretion. So by graduation from our program the student should have completed about 70% of the training required of your technicians. (This percentage will vary by manufacturer.) While this will benefit the students it will also benefit you by saving training cost that you may incur if this training does not occur until after the student has graduated from our program. It further adds to the value of the student and to you, should you retain him as a permanent employee.

If you are interested in pursuing this for your brand, please do not hesitate to contact me. We can work together to plan a training path to enhance the value to you for sponsoring a student. I can be reached at 610-861-5327 or WFarnell@Northampton.edu.