Sytner Elite Technician 2023

The Sytner Elite Technician Challenge 2023. This year we had brand new categories including electric vehicles and an astounding 800 applications, making this our biggest and most competitive challenge yet!

The Sytner Group Elite Technician Challenge is our unique, industry leading competition that champions the exceptionally talented Technicians working across our nationwide dealerships and stores.

Supported by our partners; Shell, Pirelli , CitNOW, Wurth and the The Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), exceptional applicants representing each of our brands compete in a theory and practical test to challenge their skills. The prize; a once in a lifetime trip to Indianapolis; to watch NASCAR and IndyCar at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as official guests of Team Penske!

On Wednesday 15 March 2023, the Elite Technician competition came to a climax with the practical final, where the 42 finalists competed to be ultimately named as an ‘Elite Technician’ for their category at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire.

Since the inaugural event in 2017, the competition has been built upon each year, with this year seeing the addition of the Electric Vehicle category.

The new category attracted nearly 230 applications alone, a testament to the training and investment Sytner Group are making in this area. Francesca Summers, Human Resources Project Manager at Sytner Group, said:

“The competition continues to go from strength to strength, and every year exceeds our expectations. As innovation within the industry moves forward, it is important the competition reflects such change, and therefore we are thrilled with the addition of the EV category for 2023. This expansion means we are able to reward more of the outstanding technical talent within our business than ever before in the history of the competition.”

Overall, there were 800+ applications across the competition in 14 categories, but only 14 winners

will be awarded the once-in-a-lifetime, new-for-2023, all expenses paid trip to Indianapolis to experience a special unparalleled race weekend, affectionately known as the ‘Brickyard Weekend’.

As guests of Team Penske, our winners will enjoy both NASCAR and IndyCar races, with more than

100-star athletes taking part in one of the biggest sporting weekends in America. To make this trip even more memorable, it will be in collaboration with the Penske USA Elite Technician Winners, which provides a fabulous opportunity for the technicians to get to know each other.

Finalists had already completed an online theory assessment in February, which combined with the scores from the practical final, gave Sytner Group their winners for each category.

Working against the clock, the finalists had just 90 minutes to identify and diagnose a variety of real-world failures in vehicles rigged with exterior, interior and engine faults. Following diagnoses, competitors had to record and submit a video describing all faults and the required solutions.

The event was invigilated and regulated by the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) and benefitted from primary sponsorship from Shell Helix Motor Oils, and support from Pirelli, CitNOW and Würth.

Melvin Rogers, Director of Human Resources at Sytner Group, presented the winners with their

Awards at Elite Technician, he said:

“Our technicians are such a crucial part of our progress as a company –their drive, talent and passion for the profession is the backbone to our aftersales departments and the future within the automotive industry. We continue to make the Elite Technician Challenge a centrepiece of our technician reward, recognition and recruiting efforts in such an ever-evolving landscape.”

As the motor industry is ever changing, the Elite Technician Challenge enables Sytner Group to recognise that it is imperative to nurture, retain and build technician’s expertise.