Toyota dealership reinvigorated

Manukau Toyota's reception area.

The guiding principles at Toyota are global and each and every dealership worldwide must buy into the following seven ideals.

* Honour the language and spirit of the law of every nation and undertake open and fair corporate activities to be a good corporate citizen of the world.

* Respect the culture and customs of every nation and contribute to economic and social development through corporate activities in the communities.

* Dedicate ourselves to providing clean and safe products and to enhancing the quality of life everywhere through all our activities.

* Create and develop advanced technologies and provide outstanding products and services that fulfil the needs of customers worldwide.

* Foster a corporate culture that enhances individual creativity and teamwork value, while honouring mutual trust and respect between labour and management.

* Pursue growth in harmony with the global community through innovative management.

* Work with business partners in research and creation to achieve stable, long-term growth and mutual benefits, while keeping ourselves open to new partnerships.

The new, and much improved, Manukau Toyota that recently re-launched in the old Cable Price premises, embodies these principles.

They have new Toyota and Daihatsu vehicles and over 150 used vehicles and signature branded vehicles in stock. Their all-new commercial centre is dedicated to new and used commercial vehicles. They have four service and parts centres and a Firestone store. For peace of mind motoring, Manukau Toyota are there to look after their customers and their motto is, "Passionate about motoring, meticulous about service."

CEO Michael Gapes is looking forward to what the new dealership will offer to not just its existing customers, but new and prospective customers as well. "The original building was purpose-built for the Cable Price dealership in 1984 and was surrounded by farms," said Gapes.

"With the growth of the Manukau area, it was noted the city would soon come to us. Toyota has always had a long-term vision and would have taken into account all the demographic stuff and encouraged the setup here."

Although a Toyota dealership, the Manukau business is an individually owned and run franchise that makes its own decisions while following the overall Toyota vision.

"We all talk to each other and will swap stock and all the other stuff when the need requires but we are all very competitive among the various Toyota dealers here and all around the world really," said Gapes.

The Toyota network gets on well with each other and if one dealership has got a part or a car another dealer needs they are happy to sell it to them. It could be summed up as healthy competitiveness where the customer always comes first.

"The building we're in now, apart from the odd bit of maintenance, had not had a proper facelift since it was built in 1984," said Gapes. "Toyota have corporate identity standards and their programme in New Zealand is called drive and defines a look their dealers have to implement.

"It's mainly signage, colours, interior fit-out, lighting, carpark layout and staff dress. We've also branched out a bit and gone even further. Toyota's pressure for the dealers to adopt the new look is a fine idea, and along with customer's increased expectations, we decided to really give everyone a really great experience.

"I think probably five or 10 years ago, going to a dealership was a bit like going to the dentist - you just shut up and paid up. But now people are saying 'no I'm not just going to pay you unless I get value for money, service and respect. I want you to tell me what you're doing to my car or why I should buy a new car from you and I want to talk to someone who knows what they're talking about. Not some guy in gold chains and white shoes'. People have a lot of choice now so we have to be more customer focused."

And that's exactly what Gapes and his team have set out to do at their reinvigorated dealership. The customer area is bigger and better. Gapes looked around the world at other dealerships and best practices, and took what they thought would work well in Manukau and moulded it into Toyota requirements.

The light, toilet and bathroom fittings are all from Italy, and the customer area is fully tiled. The showroom is air conditioned. The seating area is arranged so customers aren't on top of each other as they wait for their car or service. There's also a kitchen area where people can get a hot or cold drink, a children's play area and a TV. Access is easy and there's lots of parking.

"The staff have been trained to the highest order, some would say too much, but with the technology of cars these days, technicians, mechanics and staff have to be. We think we've got the best-looking and run dealership in New Zealand and even possibly Australasia. It looks like a five-star hotel but it's not stuffy. We've got a staff of 90 of which 15 have been with us for 10 years or longer and all of them know how to service the customer's needs," said Gapes.

Manukau Toyota is open seven days a week, 8am-6pm and is at 579 Great South Rd, Papakura 2113, Auckland.

For more information go to, www.manukau.toyota.co.nz or phone (09) 262 2887.