NADA President Mike Stanton discusses new guiding principles for auto retail

In response to today’s shifting retail market in the franchise system, the NADA released guiding principles on “Evolving Business Models.” Today on Inside Automotive, we’re learning more about those guiding principles from NADA’s President and CEO, Mike Stanton.

“The goal was to get conversations started around the framework of hearing the OEMs talk about and the dealership’s concerns in terms of what their role will be moving forward.” Since business is changing, global and customer expectations are changing as well.

Stanton also mentions, “dealers look to NADA to provide solutions and guidance, so the goal was to get alignment with the NADA board, (65 over 100 ATAEs) influential dealers, and good retail thinkers across the country.”

If they could align on the most important thing and how we view the dealer role and helping the industry, that would be better served with the manufacturers. “We brought a conversation starter for dealerships and manufacturers to obtain information in a way that would benefit our enterprise to focus more on the consumer.”

In response to the guiding principles, Stations claims, “the receptivity has been monumental in prioritizing the main concerns and putting forward a strong stance in where we think things are going.” These guiding principles have changed more than a few conversations in terms of not what’s happening today but by being strategic in addressing opportunities that lie ahead.

The collaborative efforts to work more closely with the customer begin to differ between the OEMs and dealers. But by working together, the support from the vendors specifically allocates more education to the customer via the dealer and manufacturer for the ultimate buying experience.

However, there is no national franchise law; therefore, the role of the NADA is to support the states with the resources they need to reinforce the importance of franchise laws. The sole point of the guiding principles is to show support to the states as they work closely with developing the principles as well.

In an effort to gather more support for the NADA, Station reports, “there is so much coming at us, but with the dealers’ involvement and engagement, they have created relationships that have done an incredible job providing additional jobs and establishing relationships with lawmakers. The time to double down on our story now, and just as we know things are changing, we need to educate ourselves, but we also need to tell our lawmakers about all the changes coming our way.”

These guiding principles encourage dealers to think about the future and how it relates to the industry’s current state.