Management
Continuing to Earn Customers’ Trust: The Philosophy Behind the Honda Cars Award’s Top Dealership
POINTWhat you can learn from this article
- Honda Cars Mie Kita Yokkaichi Akatsukidai Store, named the top dealership in the Honda Cars Award for the fourth consecutive year, achieves both outstanding business performance and high customer satisfaction through disciplined goal management and strong mutual trust among its team members.
- Sales, service and customer support staff all work with a shared focus on what is best for each customer, bringing Honda Philosophy’s Three Joys—the Joy of Buying, the Joy of Selling and the Joy of Creating—to life in their daily work.
- The store manager’s philosophy of trusting people and empowering them to take ownership has fostered an open, supportive workplace where every team member takes initiative. That culture continues to be passed on to the next generation, helping the dealership remain one that customers continue to choose.
Across Japan, nearly 2,000 dealerships belonging to Honda Cars (the official Honda automobile dealership network in Japan) provide customers with Honda vehicle sales and after-sales service. Each year, the Honda Cars Award recognizes outstanding dealerships based not only on sales performance, but also on customer satisfaction and service quality. Honda Stories visited Honda Cars Mie Kita Yokkaichi Akatsukidai Store, which was named the top dealership in the 2026 New Vehicle Division, marking its fourth consecutive year at the top. Behind that achievement was not a special sales technique, but a culture in which every team member, regardless of role, thinks first about what is best for the customer and is trusted to take ownership.
Four consecutive years at the top: What the Honda Cars Award reveals
The Honda Cars Award recognizes outstanding dealerships from among approximately 2,000 Honda Cars locations across Japan. Rather than focusing solely on sales performance, the program evaluates dealerships comprehensively, taking into account customer satisfaction, service quality and other key indicators.
In 2026, dealership representatives and staff from across the country gathered once again to celebrate the achievements of their peers.
During the ceremony, Kazuhiro Takizawa, Chief Officer of Honda’s Automobile Operations and I Regional Operations, praised the recipients, saying:
“This award is the result of the daily dedication shown by every dealership and every company.”
The venue responded with warm applause.
Honda Stories visited Honda Cars Mie Kita Yokkaichi Akatsukidai Store, which received the Top Dealership Award in the New Vehicle Division for the fourth consecutive year.
Why does this dealership continue to be recognized year after year?
Following the awards ceremony, Honda Stories spoke with the store manager, sales staff, service staff and customer support staff to find out.
Customer-first thinking creates teamwork beyond job titles
The greatest strength of Honda Cars Mie Kita Yokkaichi Akatsukidai Store is its teamwork. Sales consultants, service technicians and customer support staff naturally work together across departmental boundaries, always keeping the customer at the center of everything they do.
Supporting that teamwork is a disciplined approach to goal management. Sales plans, service targets and customer satisfaction (CS) metrics are shared with the entire team and reviewed regularly so that everyone works toward the same objectives.
Assistant Store Manager Makita believes that this consistent approach is the foundation of the dealership’s success.
(From left) Assistant Store Manager Makita, Sales Manager Takao and Store Manager Emori
One of the people who helps make that teamwork possible is Ogawa, who is responsible for reception and administrative operations. In addition to preparing vehicles for delivery and handling sales administration, Ogawa supports the entire dealership by welcoming customers and answering telephone calls whenever the sales team needs assistance.
Ogawa explains her approach.
I always prioritize the work that’s needed most and try to complete everything as efficiently as possible. When speaking with customers, I like to make small talk to help them relax and feel comfortable.
Sales Manager Takao says Ogawa’s support is indispensable.
She always has a good sense of what’s happening on the sales floor and naturally steps in whenever support is needed. The reason our sales consultants can devote their full attention to customers is that Ogawa serves as that bridge.
That spirit of collaboration extends beyond teamwork and has become a shared philosophy throughout the dealership. For the sales team, success is measured not simply by the number of vehicles sold, but by how well they understand and support each individual customer.
What matters most is doing what’s best for the customer. That includes recommending a purchasing plan and timing that truly fit their circumstances. We want to build relationships where customers feel comfortable asking, ‘What should I buy next?’
The role of the service team extends well beyond repairing vehicles. Just as important is giving customers peace of mind throughout their ownership experience.
(From left) Customer Support staff Ogawa and Service Manager Wada
Service Manager Wada explains.
It’s rewarding when we discover an issue that the customer wasn’t even aware of and they thank us. When major repairs are required, we work closely with the sales team to determine whether repairing the vehicle or replacing it would truly be in the customer’s best interest. The greatest satisfaction comes when customers say, ‘I’d like to come back again.’
Although the sales team, service technicians and customer support staff each have different responsibilities, they all share the same goal: doing what is best for the customer.
By pursuing that goal day after day, they naturally bring Honda’s Three Joys philosophy—the Joy of Buying, the Joy of Selling and the Joy of Creating—to life in their daily work.
Trusting people and giving them responsibility builds a stronger team
The teamwork at Honda Cars Mie Kita Yokkaichi Akatsukidai Store did not develop overnight. At its foundation is Store Manager Emori’s belief in trusting people and giving them responsibility.
Inside Honda Cars Mie Kita Yokkaichi Akatsukidai Store, which features comfortable consultation areas and a children’s space where customers can relax.
When I was younger, I believed that a store manager’s role was to work alongside everyone on the front line. Now, however, I leave more to Makita, Takao, Ogawa and the others. Each person takes responsibility for their own role, and that experience is then carried forward to the next generation. To me, that is what makes an organization a team.
Rather than taking responsibility for everything himself, Emori places his trust in each team member and allows them to take ownership. This approach has helped foster both initiative and a strong sense of responsibility.
Supporting that culture is a workplace where everyone feels comfortable expressing their opinions.
Service Manager Wada reflects on his own experience.
When I was younger, there were times when I wanted to speak up but could not. That is why I want to create a workplace where people feel comfortable asking for advice and where everyone can work with confidence. We regularly set aside time to exchange views and discuss issues and areas for improvement.
Emori also places great trust in Wada’s approach.
Since becoming a manager, Wada has consistently valued the importance of creating an open team. No matter when someone comes to him, he listens carefully and always responds in his own words. That is why everyone feels comfortable speaking openly.
In this environment, each staff member has gradually come to think and act with greater independence. Sales Manager Takao recalls the experience of receiving the Top Dealership Award.
The year after we became number one in Japan, there was pressure to continue producing results. But rather than focusing too much on the award or the numbers, I was reminded of how important it is to stay focused on the customer in front of us. We listen carefully to each customer and help resolve whatever concerns they may have. I believe that those individual efforts ultimately lead to the results achieved by the dealership as a whole.
The store manager places trust in the team and gives people responsibility. Managers create an environment where staff feel comfortable seeking advice. Each individual, in turn, acts to meet those expectations.
Together, those efforts have supported Yokkaichi Akatsukidai Store’s fourth consecutive award.
In addition to receiving the Top Dealership Award, the store’s staff have earned numerous individual honors.
Passing the Joy on to the next generation
Receiving the Top Dealership Award for four consecutive years is not the final goal. What matters most to Yokkaichi Akatsukidai Store is passing on to the next generation its culture of trusting people and remaining focused on customers.
Emori explains.
First, I want our staff to be able to come to work every day in good spirits and act on their own initiative. If that can then be passed smoothly on to the next generation, an organization can truly become a team. That is the kind of culture and working environment I want to carry forward.
Takao is also looking ahead.
To earn customers’ trust and make them happy, it is important to study the products and provide them with the right information. I want to continue growing toward my goals so that I, too, can experience that sense of joy.
Honda’s philosophy speaks of the Joy of Buying, the Joy of Selling and the Joy of Creating. At Yokkaichi Akatsukidai Store, these are more than ideals displayed in words.
One of the most memorable aspects of the interviews was how naturally staff members expressed appreciation for one another. Again and again, comments were met with words such as, “That is thanks to Ogawa,” or, “That is thanks to Wada.”
Thinking first of customers, trusting colleagues and passing those values on to the next generation. It is the accumulation of these everyday actions that has created the culture of Yokkaichi Akatsukidai Store—a dealership that customers continue to choose.
Everything starts with sharing our rules and goals, then making sure we put them into practice. Every team member stays conscious of the numbers while remaining fully focused on each customer.