Emal Noor began working at Biggers Mitsubishi in Elgin 19 years ago after striking up a conversation with the owner, Joe Mitchell, while getting his car serviced. He has since worked his way up to general sales manager. Under Mitchell's leadership, Biggers Mitsubishi has experienced rapid success, becoming a top Mitsubishi dealer in the U.S. through its focus on customer service and loyalty. Noor credits both Mitchell's management style and the dealership's emphasis on a no-pressure sales environment and matching customers with the right vehicles for their long term success.

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Sunday, April 19, 2015
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By Arlene Miles
Daily Herald Correspondent
Little did Emal Noor realize that a
trip to a dealership to get his car ser-
viced would result in a career-chang-
ing event.
Although he had always been inter-
ested in cars, Noor had never con-
sidered working in the industry until
one day in 1996 when he drove to Big-
gers Mitsubishi in Elgin. There he hap-
pened to strike up a conversation with
someone who indicated Noor should
apply for a job at Biggers. That some-
one turned out to be the owner, Joe
Mitchell.
The rest, as they say, is history. Noor
applied for a job as a salesman and 19
years later he is still with the dealer-
ship, having spent the last 10 years as
Biggers Mitsubishi’s general sales
manager.
“I immediately felt that there was
a different atmosphere here,” Noor
said. “It was very relaxed, no pressure.
They let me test drive an Eclipse even
though I had no intention of buying
one at the time.”
A student at UIC pursuing a degree
in finance, Noor was still green to the
world of automobile sales and service.
But Mitchell indicated Noor’s lack of
an auto industry background wasn’t
a problem but rather welcomed and
good for training purposes. Appar-
ently, Noor learned quickly because
within a year he became the No. 1
salesperson for Mitsubishi Motors in
the U.S.
By 1999 he was doing even bet-
ter, winning Mitsubishi’s National
Walkaround Competition for the best
30-minute sales presentation, for
which he received a new Mitsubishi
Galant GTZ as a prize. After winning
the award, Noor was promoted to
sales manager for Biggers Mitsubishi.
“It was quite an adjustment
because not only did I have to worry
about my own sales, I had to worry
about everyone else’s, but it was a
challenge and I loved it,” Noor said.
In 2005, Noor was once again pro-
moted. This time to general sales
manager, effectively running the Elgin
store for Biggers Mitsubishi.
“I never anticipated being here for
so long,” he said. “What kept me here
is the ever-changing landscape of new
products, new technology and the
relationships built with our longtime
customers.”
Noor has seen the automobile
industry change completely since
he began as a salesman. In 1996, the
dealership had no Internet. The fol-
lowing year, there was only a single
computer in a back room. Now, like
every other dealership, Biggers has an
entire department devoted to com-
puters and the Internet, handling
information on its website.
Also significant is the way Biggers
weathered the economic downturn
several years ago.
“We really owe a lot of debt and
gratitude to our devoted staff as we
have had very little turnover here over
the years,” Noor said. “But our biggest
debt and gratitude goes to our loyal
customers. The one thing that we are
consistently recognized for by Mit-
subishi is our high customer reten-
tion percentage. That really is a mea-
sure not only for loyalty as a brand,
but for the dealership itself. I feel that
with our customers we have the best
cheerleaders in the world.”
Those repeat customers have
allowed Biggers Mitsubishi to remain
in business for 25 years as a volume
leader for Mitsubishi in the U.S. mar-
ket. The automaker honored owner
Joe Mitchell and the dealership at a
dinner in January to mark the store’s
anniversary.
Noor credits a lot of his success to
Mitchell, saying he learned a lot about
business simply by working at the
dealership and watching how Mitch-
ell works through various issues on a
daily basis.
“I gained an appreciation for what
he does. Joe participated and chaired
severaldealeradvisoryboardsforMit-
subishi and there were a lot of times
when he could have voted for a deci-
sion that would have benefitted a big
volume dealership like ours, but he
voted for what was good for the dealer
body and brand as a whole. “It’s more
about the way he handles daily opera-
tions with attention to detail, his lead-
ership, style of management and pro-
moting teamwork. It’s always been a
fair environment here. There never
has been a rule here that didn’t apply
to everyone, Joe included.”
One of the concepts Noor has liked
from the beginning about Biggers
Mitsubishi is the way the dealership
sells cars. He likens his sales staff to
tour guides who are there to give cus-
tomers information and show them
around a vehicle.
“Because we award our salespeople
on a volume basis, rather than straight
commission, that really puts the focus
on the customers,” Noor said. “They
listen to customer needs and wants so
that they’re matching customers with
the right car. We have a no-pressure
environment here and that makes a
big difference. We would rather sell a
Mirage for $12,000 than a Lancer Evo-
lution for $40,000 if a Mirage is what a
customer really wants.”
Noor and his staff are also excited
about the advancements Mitsubishi
has begun to incorporate in its vehi-
cles, particularly the redesigned 2016
Outlander utility vehicle that will
appear on showroom floors this June.
“It has a fresh, new look with a
refined front fascia and a new rear
end,” he said. “It features a front col-
lision mitigation system, lane depar-
ture warning notification and adap-
tive cruise control, all of which are part
of the Outlander’s touring packaging
resulting in Mitsubishi’s Outlander
and Outlander Sport being dubbed as
‘America’ssafestCUVlineup.’”
The Outlander Sport is by far the
sales volume leader at Biggers and
nationwide, representing almost 70
percent of sales in any given month.
The 2015 Outlander Sport has been
fitted with a next generation Continu-
ally Variable Transmission (CVT) that
has dramatically increased the accel-
eration, performance and ride quality
of the vehicle. It also has next-gener-
ation power steering and better noise
and vibration control through thicker
glass and additional insulation.
“What really has us excited is the
2.4-liter engine that really gives the
Sport additional get up and go and it
only increases the cost of the vehicle
by $500,” Noor said.
Mitsubishi has always been at the
global forefront of vehicle technology.
Many Americans are unaware that it
is the oldest Japanese car manufac-
turer in the world and birthed many
industry firsts in all-wheel drive and
hybrid engineering.
“They are always testing the bound-
aries and pushing the envelope on
technology,” Noor said.
As for the future of the industry,
Noor believes that in addition to fuel
efficiency, personal mobile technol-
ogy, also known as vehicle “telemat-
ics,” will continue to be a catalyst for
change as vehicles have now become
mobile tech centers, with systems such
as FUSE that integrate Bluetooth, por-
table music and more into a steering
wheel-based controller. Technology
is also changing the way individuals
purchase cars and has considerably
reduced the time it takes to purchase
oneafterwalkingintoadealership.
“In 1996, it took about four to five
hours from start to finish,” Noor
said. “Now it takes less than an hour.
Sometimes it actually takes longer
for the sales consultant to explain
the car’s features when the customer
is taking ownership than it takes to
complete the transaction.”
Biggers Mitsubishi recently
launched a new website that offers
more features, allowing anyone in the
country to look at specific vehicles,
make initial inquiries, ask about pric-
ing and set up financing, so that virtu-
ally all preliminary work can be done
before the customer even enters the
showroom. In addition, every vehicle
Biggers receives is thoroughly photo-
graphed inside and out so customers
can see actual pictures of the vehicle
theywantversusagenericstockphoto.
With such practices, customers are
assured the car they want will be on
the lot when they get there. This, cou-
pled with doubling the inventory to
almost 200 new cars, has translated to
a 36-percent increase in sales in 2014
over the previous year. Noor expects
the increase to be even larger in 2015
because it is one of the only Mitsubishi
dealerships in the nation to provide a
freelifetimepowertrainwarrantyonall
newandnearnewvehicles.
Noor, who turned 40 in February,
is also a newlywed. He and his wife,
Carlean, married in August of last year
and live in Algonquin with their two
dogs. In his spare time, Noor likes to
golf, bike, and dine in downtown Chi-
cago, where he still feels like a tourist
sometimes.
Upon reflection, Noor realizes he
has spent nearly half of his life work-
ing at Biggers Mitsubishi, a relation-
ship that isn’t going to change any-
time soon.
“I love to make new acquaintances
and will continue the great relation-
ships we have with employees and
our customers,” Noor said. “I like
coming to work thinking I know what
to expect — and then being totally
surprised.”
Mitsubishi marks dealer’s 25 years
Rapid success
part of Biggers’
quarter century
P h o t o s B y J o h n S t a r k s / jstarks@dailyherald.com
Ten years ago, Emal Noor was promoted to general sales manager at Biggers Mitsubishi in Elgin, which recently
celebrated its silver anniversary.
Auto Biography
Biggers Mitsubishi
General sales manager
1325 E. Chicago St.
Elgin, IL 60120
www.biggersmitsubishi.com
(847) 742-5800
Emal Noor
Mitsubishi recently presented its
25-year award to owner Joe Mitchell
and Biggers Mitsubishi in Elgin.
Owner Joe Mitchell and Biggers Mitsubishi continue to earn high marks from
the automaker for customer retention and loyalty.
Biggers Mitsubishi recently launched a new website that offers more features
for people shopping its inventory of vehicles.