The American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA) announced that Brad Strong will serve as its 2018 Chairman. Strong accepted the position in February of 2018 yet formally announced such to the public during AIADA’s 48th Annual Meeting and Luncheon over the NADA weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Strong will be joining Paul Ritchie, Immediate Past Chairman (Hagerstown, M.D.); Howard Hakes, Chairman-Elect (City of Industry, Calif.); Jason Courter, Vice-Chairman (Bellevue, Wash.); and Steve Gates, Secretary/Treasurer (Richmond, Ky.) who also serve on the Board of directors.
Brad Strong, a well-known Dealer from Salt Lake City, Utah, is co-dealer principal of Strong Volkswagen, Audi Salt Lake City, and Porsche Salt City. Growing up in the automotive retail industry, Strong became the third generation within his family to join and thrive among industry leaders. Due to his success and years of knowledge, Strong knows of the roles dealers hold in the United States and the economy.
Strong has served on the AIADA’s Board of Directors since 2009. Due to his success and long time career inside the auto retail community, he is hitting the ground running under his new title especially when discussing the impacts tariff policies could have in the dealer community. “We need to work with AIADA to hold congressional visits at our dealerships where we can share our investment numbers and our employment stats. That’s the best shot we have at convincing lawmakers that trade wars aren’t abstract fights between nations and political parties. Trade wars have real consequences, and unfortunately for us, they can have real casualties,” said Strong during the AIADA Luncheon in Las Vegas, where he also stated, “Washington has no sense of how price sensitive this industry is, and just how easily their tax and tariff schemes could send annual auto sales into a tailspin, costing thousands of jobs”.
