WHEN I meet the HR managers or senior leaders of motor companies, I often askif the company is experiencing a higher turnover of staff particularly service manager, service advisor and technicians.

Almost all the time, the response will be that, “We are within industry benchmark”.

Probed further, they would mostly answer “about 2 per cent but when I ask if this turnover rate was for the month or year and then I start to get the feeling that I may be treading on “no entry” territory of the organisation.

Suffice to say that many managers do not recognise the impact of employee turnover to the bottom line. Yet more than half franchise dealers said they have experience difficulty in finding service advisors and technicians.

Account for every Golf produced since 1974 and there’s one for every Malaysian to treasure. Over 29 million hatchbacks (including other variants) have been produced making the Golf, Volkswagen’s best-selling marque in the group and world’s top selling model of all time across all brands. Many people I know would like to own one if at all as a “trophy” car.

Upon accepting the media invitation to test the new Golf, I couldn’t help but make reference in my mind of the Golf to the decathlon event at the 2012 Olympics; where the title for the greatest athlete in the world is crowned. The above numbers and accolades for the Golf speak for themselves.

The Golf 6 was no different. It wasn’t the fastest hatch, best handling or the most comfortable drive in the segment according to most reviews. But, it does all of them well enough in a package that’s not a show-off, a great all-rounder and enough the take the podium, event after event, allowing the VW brand to savour the applause of a wider world audience, time and time again.

Resetting the Benchmark?

The Golf 7 however is bent again on resetting the benchmark in this field yet again. Despite “athletes” swelling by the month in this segment, competition will be fiercer than the present tablet war. In light of the uncertain global economic environment, the C segment hatch is where “head wind” to growth will be seen amidst shrinking consumer dollar.

We will see unprecedented battle on scale and pace. Any new entrants wishing to compete would need to go back to the “drawing board” if it were to qualify for the “heats” event at all.

Walter de Silva, Head of Design for VW said, “One of the keys to the Golf’s success lies in its continuity. There are a handful of cars with a design that, like the Golf’s , has been refined, tweaked, and enhanced down the decades and thus becomes timeless”