A two-year apprenticeship programme has just been launched, aimed at training young people to become customer advisers for the Peugeot dealer network.

Devised by both Peugeot and East Midlands-based technical support service company EMTEC, the programme is a combination of block training and training in the work place.

The programme incorporates 16 weeks of training at the EMTEC training centre in Derby and is followed up with regular visits by trainers to the work place for ongoing assessments.

The group of apprentices to go through the programme have been selected from Peugeot's dealer network.

Tony Linturn, contract manager at EMTEC, said: “The objective of the programme is to provide Peugeot dealers with a future source of well-trained young people who can play a major part in insuring that the standards set by the Peugeot brand are maintained and that customer satisfaction is totally assured in all aspects of after-sales.”

Ian Kay, Peugeot service development manager, said: “The importance of the customer adviser role within the dealer has grown dramatically over the last few years. This growth is fuelled by the recognition of the increasing demands of customers, coupled with the increased complexity of the dealership operations. The only way dealers can satisfy these requirements and guarantee suitably skilled staff for the future is to grow their own customer advisers through this programme.”