Penske Elite Technician finalists from the US and UK Elite Technician Winners gathered at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to celebrate Elite Technician Weekend on August 12-13, 2023.  The UK winners were announced previous to the celebration in the US. 

The Elite Technician Program honors the contributions of our most accomplished technicians, recognizing and rewarding their outstanding credentials, skills, and achievements. Identification as an Elite Technician carries high honor and respect throughout the Penske organization.

The US and UK Elite Technicians were nominated from within each of their locations, and competed in several online tests that cover theory and process for maintaining, repairing, and diagnosing sophisticated vehicles. The nominees were rewarded with a trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where they took part in Team Penske activities and watched the Gallagher Grand Prix on Saturday and Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on Sunday.

UK Elite Technicians with ‘The Captain,’ Roger Penske.

 

US Elite Technicians with Penske Corp. President, Bud Denker.

 

US Elite Technicians with PAG’s Fixed Operations Directors.

 

Congratulations to this year’s Elite Technician winners, Adam Kuchik from Mercedes-Benz of Bedford (US), and Luke Welling from Jaguar Land Rover Bristol (UK).

Thank you to all the nominees who participated in the 2023 program!

Click here to learn more about the Penske Elite Technician Program.

 

 

 

 

 

Women’s History Month gives us a chance to recognize the contributions of women from within our global organization.  We are pleased to feature an amazing individual from the Nicole Group, based in Kanagawa and Tokyo, Japan.

The Nicole Group represents the premium and luxury brands of ALPINA, BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and Ferrari through 15 locations with over 300 team members in the Kanagawa and Tokyo area of Japan.  With its origins dating back to 1977, the group has been wholly owned by PAG since 2021.

Kaori Tsukada joined Nicole Competizione (Ferrari Yokohama) as a Sales Executive in 2019. She has excelled by demonstrating her willingness to understand customer needs, driven by her passion and devotion to continuously pursue knowledge of the Ferrari brand. This has made her a great role model throughout the Nicole Group dealerships. In February, Kaori was awarded the prestigious “Personalization Performance of the Year” from Ferrari Japan at their annual dealer conference.  The award is given to the Sales Executive with the highest average option sales content per vehicle for all Ferraris delivered in Japan in 2022.

Upon receiving her award, Kaori stated, “I am very honored to receive the ‘Personalization Performance of the Year’ from Ferrari Japan. It was just in May 2022 with the great support of the Nicole team that I delivered my very first new Ferrari to a customer. I believe this award was a result of my focus to analyze and respond to the needs of each client while configuring a unique Ferrari which makes it a truly marvelous and attractive vehicle.”

Along with Kaori’s significant acknowledgement from Ferrari Japan, Nicole Competizione was awarded second place of all Ferrari dealerships in Japan at their annual dealer meeting in February 2023.

Thank you, Kaori, and congratulations to the whole team at Nicole. We appreciate your hard work and dedication to excellence.

In honor of Women’s History Month, we proudly recognize the contributions of women across our organization.

Commercial truck retail offers many incredible career opportunities for women.  Today, we’re excited to highlight two women who are successfully blazing trails at Premier Truck Group:  Ally Rocha and Deanna LaFranca.  Both women were semi-finalists in this year’s NADA Women Driving Auto Retail contest.

Ally Rocha, a Finance Manager in Dallas, has been with Premier Truck Group for 13 years. Her role involves working with customers and lenders to get the best deal on financing, including submitting credit applications and lots of face time with her customers.  “Some advice that I would give to a woman looking for a career path is to not overlook the trucking industry,” said Rocha. “I think any woman would enjoy working in the trucking industry.”

Deanna LaFranca joined the truck industry by chance, when she heard about a position opening through word of mouth. Starting in inventory, she worked her way through the department where she is now a Parts Manager in Midland, Texas. She has been with Premier Truck Group for almost eight years, and she lauds how the retail truck industry offers plenty of opportunities.  LaFranca stated, “the heavy-duty truck retail industry is a great career path for anybody because everything that we own or use is brought in by truck.  It’s not going anywhere. It’s a great opportunity and great field for anyone to get into.”

We appreciate the hard work and dedication that both women have brought to Premier Truck Group, and we celebrate all the women that support our retail commercial truck businesses worldwide.

Click here to learn more about their journeys and the advice they would give to women considering a career in the trucking industry.

This week, we highlight our Penske Automotive Dealerships in the Western region, and their collective support and recognition of the importance of Black History Month.

The Western region includes Penske Automotive dealerships in Phoenix, Texas and Southern California.  This February, they jointly donated $20,000 to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).

From left, Tristan Topps; HR Manager, Arizona Management, Dave Wallace; AVP Arizona Management and Elizabeth Keller; Area HR Manager, Arizona Management hold the donation check for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).

 

The United Negro College Fund’s mission is to build a robust and nationally recognized pipeline of under-represented students who, because of UNCF support, become highly-qualified college graduates and to ensure that their network of member institutions is a respected model of best practice in moving students to and through college.

In addition, several employees contributed to a charitable organization of their choice in honor of Black History Month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week we’re featuring our dealerships in the Central region and how they took part in recognizing Black History Month and encouraging others to support local Black-owned businesses and foundations.

Atlanta Management

The Atlanta Management team enjoyed a lunch filled with meatless masterpieces from a local vegan hamburger restaurant chain, based in Atlanta Georgia.

CEO and Founder, Pinky Cole started the business from her apartment in July of 2018. Today, she has 7 locations in 3 states.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Atlanta Toyota

Atlanta Toyota’s General Manager, Omar Rahman donated $5,000 to the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia.

The Sickle Cell Foundation’s mission is to monitor Sickle Cell occurrences, to advocate and advance knowledge, to support research that improves treatment or seeks a cure, and to improve the quality of life for those battling sickle cell disease.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BMW of Gwinnett Place

BMW of Gwinnett Place had a delicious, hearty lunch, catered by local restaurant, Family’s Food for the Soul.

Family’s Food for the Soul specializes in healthy, homemade, southern meals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honda Mall of Georgia

The team at Honda Mall of Georgia had a special lunch delivery from Creolicious Café.

The Creolicious Café is a local food truck that specializes in healthy, Haitian cuisine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

United BMW

United BMW had a lunch filled with tasty delights from Uptown Food Truck.

The Uptown Food Truck serves the metro Atlanta area, specializing in everything from shrimp and grits to delicious chicken and waffles to gourmet burgers.

Throughout the entire Penske Automotive Group network, our dealerships are recognizing Black History Month.  This week, we’re highlighting several stores in the East region that created thoughtful celebrations to promote an understanding of the importance this historic month, as well as foster inclusivity within their local communities by featuring local area Black-owned businesses.

BMW of Bloomfield Hills

BMW of Bloomfield Hills enjoyed a team lunch catered by a local, Black-owned and operated Chick-fil-A and some delicious desserts from Good Cakes and Bakes bakery.

Good Cakes and Bakes is a southeast Michigan bakery with a mission to provide quality baked goods that are wholesome and organic in nature, and to provide baked goods in an environment that is positive, creative, educational, and friendly to their employees and communities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audi Chantilly, Audi Tysons Corner, JLR Annapolis, Mercedes-Benz of Chantilly, Mercedes-Benz of Tysons Corner, Porsche Tysons Corner and Porsche Chantilly

The DC-area stores enjoyed a java break while showing support for local area coffee truck, Jaliyaa Coffee.

Jaliyaa Coffee is an ethically sourced African coffee brand creating meaningful connections between Africa and the dispora through storytelling, 5% of their profits go towards the fight against food securities within various African communities.

 

 

 

 

 

BMW Tenafly, Hudson Chrysler Jeep Dodge, Hudson Nissan, Hudson Toyota, Jaguar Land Rover Englewood, and Jaguar Land Rover Paramus

The North New Jersey stores hosted a book club featuring ‘In My Mother’s Voice’ by African American author and speaker G. Jaaz Jones.

G. Jaaz Jones is also a transformation specialist and energy empowerment coach. She is dedicated to helping mothers, daughters, women, and teens to connect with their inner self to morph their pains, problems, and fears into a platform of powerful possibilities.

The NADA Women Driving Auto Retail contest is back for its sixth year, and we’re excited to congratulate the three Penske Automotive employees selected as semi-finalist in this year’s competition.

Women Driving Auto Retail celebrates all women who work in the country’s more than 18,000 car or truck dealerships. The contest aims to magnify the voices of women working in the automotive industry, as well as increase opportunities for women by providing dealers with the proper tools and expertise.

Contest submissions share the women’s experience, how their dealership career journey began, and their advice for other women considering a career in the automotive industry.

Click below to view the videos for our semi-finalists, Hamida Ali-Miller, Deanna LaFranca and Ally Rocha.

 

Hamida Ali-Miller, Warranty Specialist, Atlanta Toyota

 

Deanna LaFranca, Parts Manager, Premiere Truck Group of Midland

 

Ally Rocha, Financial Services Manager, Premiere Truck Group of Dallas

 

Congratulations to all those who entered the contest and to our semi-finalists!

The grand-prize winner will be announced at Live Stage at NADA Show 2023 on Saturday, Jan. 28th. Click here for more information.

We are pleased to announce that Penske Automotive Group has been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Employers for Veterans in 2022 and ranked #9 overall!

Forbes along with market research company Statista set out to identify the 200 companies succeeding in being an employer of choice for this highly regarded group.

To compile the ranking, more than 7,000 U.S. veterans were surveyed who work part-time or full-time for companies employing at least 1,000 people within the U.S. The evaluation was based on direct and indirect recommendations from employees that were asked to rate their willingness to recommend their own employers to friends and family. Employee evaluations also included other employers in their respective industries that stood out either positively or negatively. Furthermore, participants were asked to give their opinion on a series of statements related to general topics regarding their own employer, for example: atmosphere & development, image, working conditions, salary & wage, workplace, diversity, and a set of topics related specifically to the interests of veterans in the workplace.

Penske Automotive Group remains passionate about our service members and veterans, and we look forward to continuing to support them through hiring, training, and partnership initiatives.

Click here to read the full article in Forbes.