Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) has opened a R8 million technology support centre at the company’s vehicle production plant in Uitenhage.

The centre links the company and its franchised dealers to the technical operating divisions of Volkswagen and Audi and is designed to ensure trouble-free motoring for VWSA customers.

VWSA's managing director Andreas Tostmann says that almost all local Volkswagen and Audi dealerships had already been fitted with the infrastructure to enable them to link up with VWSA and, in turn, with Volkswagen and Audi in Germany.

The centre's core function is to control all vehicle repairs, from diagnosis to final repair as well as provide product support. It will also assist with practical and problem-orientated on-the-job training for VWSA's dealer technical service personnel.

The direct link with Volkswagen and Audi's technical operating divisions minimised the amount of time customer vehicles will be required in dealer workshops.

Tostmann says complete customer satisfaction for Audi and Volkswagen owners is not possible unless the technological sophistication in the product is matched by the levels of sophistication in after-sales service.

"Consequently, Volkswagen has established an international technology support centre in Germany as the central competence centre where specialists are trained in every aspect of the new vehicle's engineering and development, long before each new product is introduced to the market.”

These specialists will be fully equipped to advise and guide the national technology support centres in the various markets where Volkswagen and Audi are present.

It is VWSA's objective to become the benchmark for customer satisfaction in South Africa.

“Our investment of about R8 million illustrates how serious we are about customer satisfaction,” he says.