Nissan Canada Inc. holds automotive technical skills competition

Nissan Canada Inc.’s Mississauga, Ont. head office hosted the Canadian portion of the Nissan International Service Technical Excellence Contest (NISTEC) in early June. NISTEC is an automotive technical skills competition created to recognize the level of excellence of Infiniti and Nissan technicians.

Every two years, the best Infiniti and Nissan technicians compete in Mississauga for the honour of being recognized as the best among their peers in Canada. This year the winner was Marc Cuillerier of Pelemo Nissan in Qubec City.

Three major challenges lead up to the National event: the National Quiz, the Regional Quiz, and the Regional Hands-on Contest.

The first stage of the competition is the National Quiz, where technicians from across Canada registered in the Nissan XTRA dealer training program are sent a multiple-choice questionnaire and those results determine who moves on to the next level. Based on the scores, 300 technicians are invited to take part in the Regional Quiz, another multiple-choice questionnaire, which is conducted at regional training centres.

The top 24 technicians from each region are then invited to participate in the Regional Hands-on Competition, which ultimately narrows candidates down to four per region. The top 12 contestants are then invited to take part in the Canadian Hands-on Competition.

As national winner, Marc Cuillerier was the recipient of $1,000 plus a $3,000 tool gift certificate. The winner from the Eastern Region is Ken Heisler of Brampton North Nissan in Brampton, Ont. and the winner from the Western Region is Marty Vernon of Brasso Nissan in Calgary, Alta.

Category winners were Denis Gagn, St-Leonard Nissan – St-Lonard, Que. (Electrical), Darryl Saviskoff, Fish Creek Nissan, Calgary, Alta. (Drivability), and Denis Gagn, St-Leonard Nissan, St-Lonard, Que. (Mechanical).