to learn more about the contest, last year\u2019s winners and the upcoming launch of the winning 2015 product.<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cThe automotive industry is going through a period of extensive change,\u201d said John Pappanastos, President and CEO of EFG Companies. \u201cConsumer expectations and buying habits have shifted towards a more value-conscious and long-term mindset. The Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are continuing to focus on transparent auto lending practices. Manufacturers are undergoing a shift with the rise of electric vehicles, connected cars and ride sharing services. Each of these aspects of a dealership\u2019s operations is in a mutually effective relationship with F&I. As new, young talent has brought significant advancements to other areas of the auto industry, it makes sense for the F&I industry to avail itself with new ideas from fresh minds, as well.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\nAbout the Competition<\/h4>\n
The Annual F&I Innovator of the Year Competition pits six teams of Northwood\u2019s junior and senior automotive students against one another to conceptualize and build a new F&I product<\/strong>, while earning course credit. With an F&I director as a mentor and guide, the competing teams develop a business case for their new F&I product that incorporates industry research, market viability, and the product\u2019s potential to facilitate F&I product sales in franchise dealerships. The teams will also keep weekly, YouTube video diaries of their progress, challenges and breakthroughs.<\/p>\n\u201cThis competition puts Northwood University students at the forefront of the innovation that will forever change the dealership landscape,\u201d<\/strong> said Keith Pretty, President of Northwood University. \u201cThrough this competition, our students have the opportunity to provide a never-before-seen solution to current dealership challenges and drive dealership profitability. This exemplifies our philosophy of hands-on learning and developing the leadership skills and talent necessary to bring the automotive industry into the future.\u201d<\/p>\nA panel of leading dealer principals from across the nation and EFG executives will judge the business case competition in late November, and crown the newest champion in early December. The winning team will take home $25,000, and more importantly, EFG Companies will develop the winning F&I product and launch it to the retail automotive marketplace.<\/strong> The company will donate a percentage of the profits from the sale of the product back to Northwood University.<\/p>\nLast Year’s Winner<\/h4>\n
Last year\u2019s winning team, Quantum Integration, applied consumer research, industry and mentor input and millennial sensibilities to create an F&I product for the connected car. Their product utilizes a mobile application to provide consumers a convenient way to stay current on vehicle maintenance, prevent theft, or recover their vehicle. EFG Companies will roll out the product in Q4 of 2016. Richie Durso, from Quantum Integration, had this advice for this year\u2019s competitors, \u201cThink of real world problems and see how you can solve them to make people\u2019s lives easier. Also, remember that your product can be a service and not just a tangible item. Even if you don\u2019t win, the experience is priceless!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winning team to be awarded $25,000 \u2013 innovative F&I product launched into marketplace EFG Companies, the innovator behind the award-winning Hyundai Assurance program, together with Northwood University, today announced the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[344],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-innovator-of-the-year-competition"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hsqu-jd","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/efgintelligence.com\/dealershipcorridor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/efgintelligence.com\/dealershipcorridor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/efgintelligence.com\/dealershipcorridor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efgintelligence.com\/dealershipcorridor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efgintelligence.com\/dealershipcorridor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1191"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/efgintelligence.com\/dealershipcorridor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1198,"href":"https:\/\/efgintelligence.com\/dealershipcorridor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions\/1198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/efgintelligence.com\/dealershipcorridor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efgintelligence.com\/dealershipcorridor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efgintelligence.com\/dealershipcorridor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"2016](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efgintelligence.com\/dealershipcorridor\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/NorthwoodAward_CMYK-2016-300x170.jpg?resize=300%2C170\")
Winning team to be awarded $25,000 \u2013 innovative F&I product launched into marketplace<\/h4>\n