The increasing skills gaps in the vehicle mobility ecosystem, particularly in repair and maintenance, have shaped our organisational training programmes and support.

There are increasing skills gaps in the electric vehicle mobility ecosystem, particularly in the areas of repair and maintenance. The need to remain at the forefront of advancing automotive technology has shaped our organisational training programmes, with vocational training and instruction programmes becoming increasingly essential for servicing and repairing complex vehicles.

In the UK, we operate two technical training centres located in Milton Keynes and Goole. Both centres are approved by the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) and are capable of designing, developing, and delivering accredited IMI technical training for our operational teams. The Northgate UK Academy in Milton Keynes was recognised as a finalist for the IMI Contribution to the Work award, highlighting its increasing impact on the industry.

We continue to invest in these facilities, having installed Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) calibration equipment in Goole to train vehicle repair technicians and created a dedicated EV training room.

Over 3,000 colleagues have received EV training as part of a continuous education programme supported by the industry standards body, IMI.

We continue to advance our organisational-wide technical capabilities, undertaking structural aluminium vehicle repair training and educating our technical teams on hydrogen fuel technologies.

The development of our technicians has been the driving factor in attaining IMI accredited status and having our training centre; we have continued to add further in-house courses over the last 12 months, such as Tail lift, which a 3rd party previously provided, we can now deliver this more efficiently with training bespoke to the ZIGUP group, We have also undertaken the training of our colleagues within the CSC, and they are receiving EV Level 1 training on-site, we are further expanding our offering to our customers, with a focus on EV1 for those taking electric vehicles.

Steve Coble
Northgate UK Head of Workshop Operations