Author: Automotive News n Feed

I grew up in rural southwest Oregon in the 1980s and watched as our local timber manufacturing industry died off. Unemployment skyrocketed. Many of our family friends lost their jobs. Dealerships, however, remained strong.

NADA held its first annual meeting in 1918 in Chicago, adding an exhibition in 1948, again in Chicago. Since World War II, the convention has traveled to 14 cities, with the exhibition functioning largely as a hardware and equipment show.

From 2001-12, Phillip D. Brady served as president of NADA. Each year was eventful. In this column, he recalls some of the highlights.

NADA’s convention and exposition this month will kick off the celebration of the association’s 100th anniversary. New Orleans is hosting the annual convention for the 12th time since 1973.

When Harold Wells became NADA chairman in 2000, he’d already been in the thick of the fight against company stores. And new issues loomed for the General Motors and Chrysler dealer from Whiteville, N.C.: dealer consolidation and Internet sales.

NADA is made up of mostly standalone dealers that long ago realized they were much stronger together. This industry association is one of the most powerful groups in America. It gives us great pleasure to congratulate NADA as its odometer hits 100!

Of all the dealers who have volunteered to head NADA over the past century, Fred W.A. Vesper stands out.

NADA’s history is the history of the automobile industry. Retailers have always been an important part of business in America, and the franchise system is perhaps the biggest reason for the success of the auto industry in this country.

For nearly 70 years from its founding, NADA had never published a book.

Forecasts of what the future will bring for dealers abound. What makes car dealers special is their ability to adapt to the changes taking place around them and, if need be, reinvent themselves in order to survive.