Manufacturers and larger dealer groups have signed up to a new Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) management standard which will reduce the amount of replication in training across the industry.

So far 29 manufacturers and dealer groups have engaged with the IMI’s standard and 17 have completed mapping of their management training programs against it.

Currently a large amount of training is replicated when managers move from one franchise or manufacturer to another.

The IMI believes the ‘Automotive Management and Leadership Competency Framework’ standard allows professionals to transfer mapped programmes or qualifications if they move from one company to another.

Organisations engaged with the new standard include:

  • ARI
  • Audi
  • Autoglass
  • Benfield Motor Group
  • BMW
  • DAF
  • Ford
  • Ford Retail
  • Honda
  • Hyundai
  • Land Rover
  • Lookers
  • John Clark Motor Group
  • Kia
  • Listers
  • Marshall Group
  • Seat
  • Skoda
  • Suzuki
  • Toyota GB
  • Vauxhall
  • Volvo
  • VOSA
  • VW
  • VW Commercial Vehicles.

The IMI has created the standard after it was approached by the automotive Human Resources Directors Forum, which represents the larger dealers in the UK, to find ways of delivering cost savings and maximising the career potential of managers in the sector.

Steve Nash, IMI chief executive, said: “The IMI common standard for automotive management training makes resounding common sense in a sector which spends more than £100 million on training per year.

“With a strong focus on technical competencies, the automotive retail sector has, for too long, failed to recognise the impact of management training on the bottom line.

“Because of this there have been no previous efforts to unite management training programmes under a common framework. This has led to a crazy situation where organisations are replicating up to 90% of their training programs when a manager moved between brands with huge cost implications for the sector. With this external, independently verified, standard in place this in now finally set to change.”

The announcement comes on the back of results of an IMI study, released in April, which found return on investment from management training of up to 212%.

AM and the IMI have also launched a People Conference which will be held on June 12 at the Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington.

Read AM's in depth Q&A interview with Steve Nash, IMI CEO.