December 19, New Delhi: The fourth edition of the National Technician Grand Prix (NTGP) 2013 organised by Yamaha Motor India, concluded with the announcement of winners at Hotel Stellar Gymkhana, Greater Noida a few days ago.

The three-day contest saw 25 finalists from across India compete for the title of ‘No.1 Yamaha Technician’ in India for 2013. Masaki Asano, managing director along with Ravinder Singh, VP (Strategy & Planning) and Roy Kurian, VP (Sales & Marketing) from Yamaha Motor India Sales, felicitated the winners. Alam Ansari of M/s Auto Zone, Vapi, Gujarat, won the first prize while the second and third prize were awarded to Ram Awadh of M/s Choubey Motor Works, Etawah, UP and Meenakshi Sundaram S of M/s Alagendran Autos, Madurai, Tamil Nadu respectively.

In the nationwide contest which aims at strengthening the role of customer service engagement, over 700 contestants from across India vied for the title and an opportunity to represent Yamaha Motor India in the World Technician Grand Prix 2014 in Japan. From the regional round, 100 winners were selected for the five zonal rounds. From the zonal rounds 25 winners (5 from each zone) were selected to compete in the final round which concluded on December 14.

The contest is designed to judge the contestants’ skill in the areas of ‘proper service knowledge’, providing service that ‘communicates the image of the Yamaha products’ and providing amiable customer service. To judge the level of these skills, the contestants are tested in theory, troubleshooting, repair on actual motorcycles and skill of dealing with customers (customer and vehicle reception). The winners are decided based on cumulative points earned in these three test areas. Speaking on the occasion, Yamaha Motor India Sales’ Ravinder Singh said, “We have witnessed an encouraging number of participation of technicians this year. This highlights the fact that more and more dealerships and technicians are realising the importance of holistic development in today’s customer-centric market scenario. Yamaha acknowledges the importance of an engaging service network. The company has always successfully strived to not only offer its customers an exciting and excellent product line to choose from, but also provide them with excellent value-added services and best-in-class customer aftersales experience. This contest seeks to raise the service mechanic’s consciousness of their importance in the Yamaha business, stimulate the desire for improvement and strengthen the Yamaha Service. With such unique initiatives, we go one step ahead to accomplish customer delight instead of mere customer satisfaction and create differentiation for ourselves.” The National Technician Grand Prix (NTGP), which was first held in India in 2010, is part of the Yamaha Technical Academy program promoted by Yamaha Motor Co, Japan and the cornerstone of Yamaha’s Technical Training Program. Yamaha's YTA Instructors combine comprehensive technical model information from the Yamaha Factory with ‘real-world’ diagnostic and troubleshooting skills developed over many years of actual dealership experience.