Fixed Ops Journal - December 2017 - 45

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

Interview by Dave Versical

minutes with ...

 Dave VandeLinde, director of dealer service

and parts process, Hyundai Motor America

ave VandeLinde joined Hyundai
Motor America in July. He had
served in a variety of positions
during a 23-year stint at Toyota,
ranging from district parts manager to distribution and production planning manager.
Most recently, VandeLinde was the service director for Kuni Lexus of Portland (Ore.).

On connected car technology
The modern currency is really time. Along
with that it becomes very customized personal solutions for customers. When you have all
the website and connected-car-technology
integrations that Hyundai has, it just develops
a deeper relationship between the customer
and their vehicle. We've got pretty strong data
that show that people who have connected
cars and keep that subscription active have a
much higher retention rate - and a much
higher customer-satisfaction rate - than
people who don't.
On the technician shortage
It's a twofold issue. We've got several initiatives that I'm working on for next year to really
recognize and retain the technicians we do
have. Hyundai's lucky in that we have some of
the youngest technicians in the industry and
that we don't have a lot of technicians who
would be retiring soon.
But we've got to keep the ones we have and
we have to keep them engaged, and a lot of
that is really just recognition and making sure
we have the right training programs in place
to allow them to use their skills appropriately.
But also, as fast as we can hold onto those new

On customer and dealer satisfaction
You've got to focus on your own team, the
customer and the end user at all times. The
other thing common across the industry is
that the best process in the world will never
make up for poor product. And again, dealer
satisfaction is absolutely critical to the success for brands. With both Hyundai and with
Toyota, I've been pretty blessed to be around
great people, great dealerships and great
product.

on the other side it's going to be very highly
specialized engineers that are working with
software updates, advanced emissions systems and multiplex problems inside the vehicle. We have to help the dealers and technicians make that change.

Working on cars in the
evening is going to
become a lot more popular.

technicians, with the advent of autonomous
cars, mass-market EVs and car-sharing programs, the technician role is going to change
drastically in another 10 years.

On service capacity
Ninety-nine out of 100 dealerships sit dark
all evening long, and I don't think it's a matter
of brick-and-mortar solutions for our dealerships. I think it's more about just being creative with facility utilization. That plays very
well into EVs and autonomous and car-sharing. Working on cars in the evening is going to
become a lot more popular.
There are things we can do right now. We
can do internals at night. We can do pre-delivery inspections at night. I don't think dealership capacity is the problem. I think having
the right number of technicians in the right
roles is a huge problem in the industry.
On the future
In five or 10 years the technicians we have
today will be basically pushing off into two
sides of the same room. It's going to be lube
guys and lab coats. Everything is going to be
very basic mainteance on the vehicle - tires,
brakes, wiper blades, lightbulbs, filters - and

On weekend hours
The Saturday model for most dealerships is
light maintenance or express, and I don't disagree with that.
There's a people side of the equation, too, so
for a dealership that has a strong after-service-hours model along with Saturdays or
even Sundays in some markets, it just expands
that capacity.
But if most of what's desired on the weekends is express or light maintenance, then I'm
not opposed to the current model that most of
our dealers have. As technology or consumers
demand more repair work on the weekends or
in evenings, then we'll have to adapt to that
model.
On the Genesis brand
Genesis is an opportunity for us to rethink
the entire customer experience. Valet is only
one piece of that. Genesis has created a whole
brand around not coming back to the dealership - about being able to have all of your
transactions done in the comfort of your own
home, or your office, or a local coffee shop
where you do the valet process. Genesis is really allowing us to rethink: If it was driven by
the consumer, what would an ownership experience look like?
On customer loyalty
The customers are fiercely loyal to the product, and the dealers are certainly very passionate about the product. Hyundai went
through their big growth trend when a lot of
other manufacturers were really struggling
through the recession and part of that was the
job-loss insurance and launching America's
best warranty, so we're at the position right
now where we've got a lot of new SUVs and
compact utility vehicles that are coming out
so the dealers are really poised for growth. 

DECEMBER 2017

PAGE 45

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - December 2017