Jonathan Biggom knows all about the great careers available in the retail automobile industry. The senior service technician at Motorcars Toyota, Cleveland, got hooked on working on cars when he took part in a vocational program during high school. After graduation, Biggom elected not to go to a traditional four-year college—“I wanted to do…

Charlie Gilchrist is taking over as NADA chairman armed with more than 30 years of experience operating automotive dealerships. But he started out on an entirely different career path: accounting. Gilchrist’s career as a number cruncher was brief because he realized he didn’t actually like accounting. “I like to talk to people and interact,” he…

In his outgoing remarks as 2018 NADA Chairman, Wes Lutz encouraged America’s franchised auto dealers to continue embracing change, listening to their customers and writing the narrative about the future of the auto retail industry. Lutz, president of Extreme Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram in Jackson, Mich., led NADA during a year in which U.S. new-…

NADA annual highlights. In 2018, NADA was active on many fronts, including several legislative and regulatory actions that have had a powerful impact on dealers and their stores. Here’s a look at just some of the initiatives and projects NADA has focused on to benefit dealers. JANUARY Chinese automaker GAC Motor announces it will exhibit…

More than 37,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2017. A new nation-wide awareness initiative launched at NADA Show 2019 seeks to tap into the franchised dealer network to change that. The “So Let’s Do This” initiative is organized by the National Foundation for Teen Safe Driving (NFTSD) and was unveiled during a press conference on the…

SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 25, 2019) – In keynote remarks today at the American Truck Dealers (ATD) Show in San Francisco, ATD Chairwoman Jodie Teuton announced the launch of a new coalition of industry stakeholders whose goal is to repeal the federal excise tax on commercial truck sales. “Repealing this 102-year-old tax remains our No. 1 priority.…

SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 25, 2019) – Several macroeconomic trends bode well for both U.S. new and used vehicle sales in 2019, said Patrick Manzi, senior economist with the National Automobile Dealers Association. “The current posture of the U.S. economy is strong,” Manzi said at a press briefing during the NADA Show in San Francisco. “A tight labor…

The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Foundation has announced the next phase of its Workforce Initiative, which includes the launch of a new consumer-facing website – www.nadafoundation.org – to promote the value of service technician jobs and provide the first and only centralized source of all OEM and industry training programs and…

More than 22,000 people from all aspects of the automotive retail sector descended on San Francisco on Thursday as NADA Show 2019 and the concurrent American Truck Dealers (ATD) Show kicked off. Billed as the “Automotive Industry Event of the Year,” the NADA Show includes keynote speakers, educational workshops, dealer franchise meetings,…

SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 24, 2019) – Bruce Anderson, president of the Iowa Automobile Dealers Association, was elected chairman of the Automotive Trade Association Executives (ATAE). “I am honored to serve as ATAE chairman and excited to work with Charlie Gilchrist, chairman-elect of the National Automobile Dealers Association, and his team at NADA…