Greater Lehigh Valley Auto Dealers has announced two local teens took second place in the National Automotive Technology Competition held recently in New York City.

Competing as Team Chrysler, Logan Koehler, a recent Northampton Area High School graduate, and Dan Mirza, a student at Bethlehem Catholic High School, combined their talents working on a Chrysler 200S loaned to them for the competition from Brown-Daub Chrysler in Easton. The duo, according to their instructors Jeff Cantrel and Mike Lemke, spent weeks working on this loaner sedan.

This national competition, held in conjunction with the New York Auto Show yearly at the Jacob Javits Center, affords students an opportunity to test their skills against the best and the brightest automotive technician students nationwide.

Last year, according to Richard Culver, education director for Greater Lehigh Valley Auto Dealers Association, the Lehigh Valley’s team from Lehigh Carbon Technical Institute came in eighth.

“So we’re absolutely delighted with this year’s second-place win,” Culver said. “It showcases the increasing quality of our local programs and students producing evermore qualified technicians to work primarily in local member dealerships.”

As for these talented teens, before going to New York City to compete nationally, the Bethlehem Vocational-Technical team had to win Greater Lehigh Valley Auto Dealer’s competition held in the automotive department at Northampton Community College under the direction of Warren Farnell, director of automotive technology program and host of the event.

The local competition used a Chevy Cruze, and member dealers were from Wind Gap, Outten, Brown-Daub, Chevy 21, Scott and Rentschler dealerships who provided vehicles.

This year’s competition also featured the first female team representing Carbon County Technical Institute.

The Greater Lehigh Valley Auto Dealers Association was founded in 1998 and is made of 61 new-car franchised dealers with more than 4,900 employees.