Volkswagen donated 12 Atlas SUVs to technical and trade schools across the U.S. The donations are the result of a partnership with local dealers as an element of the company’s Drive Bigger initiative.
“These vehicles will be essential in assisting the next generation of Volkswagen technicians to interact with and learn the latest technology that is part of our exciting model lineup” said John Peterson, Director of Fixed Operations.” At Volkswagen we strongly believe in investing in the next generation and with our growing model lineup, it’s critical we give these young technicians the opportunity to be hands on with our vehicles to help ensure we continue to deliver a high level of customer satisfaction in the future.”
New vehicles are a key component to training tomorrow’s technicians, especially with rapidly evolving powertrain options and new, more versatile platforms being used by more extensively by automakers across the world.
The donations will allow students to train on Volkswagen vehicles utilizing the VW ODIS software used to diagnose and perform updates. The selected schools will collaborate with local dealerships to provide supplemental assistance and instruction on the donated equipment.
The Northeast Region is the first group of schools to be part of the program. The schools receiving the vehicles and instruction include:
- Automotive Training Center (Warminster, PA)
- Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (Cincinnati, OH)
- Hudson Valley Community College (Troy, NY)
- Lincoln Technical Institute (Mahwah, NJ)
- MassBay Community College Automotive Technology Center (Ashland, MA)
- Medina County Career Center (Medina, OH)
- Saline High School (Saline, MI)
- Suffolk County Community College (Centereach, NY)
- SUNY Canton Automotive Technology (Canton, NY)
Volkswagen isn’t the only company helping to assist with the eduction of the next generation of technicians. Volvo announced earlier this year that they will be working with dealerships to provide tens of thousands of dollars worth of tools for beginner technicians as well as student loan relief.
