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Notes from the NADA Convention and Expo

Big winner

Posted 5:36 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 5
Big winner
 
In a random drawing of Automotive News advertisers, Tony Jones, franchise sales director at Abra Auto Body & Glass in Minneapolis, won the Richard Petty Driving Experience of a Lifetime.
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It's no General Lee, but it goes higher

Posted 6:20 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 5
Chrysler Group's display on the show floor features a team of Mopar service technicians demonstrating a multi-point inspection on a black 2012 Dodge Charger every 15 minutes during the entire run of the NADA convention.
The technicians said the Charger has a grand total of 47 miles on the odometer -- all horizontal. But if you count the six feet it goes up and then down four times per hour for each hour the show is open, the black Charger will have accumulated almost a quarter mile of vertical travel by the time the expo ends Monday evening.
That should make it the highest-flying Dodge Charger since the General Lee, the 1969 Charger that was the star of the former CBS show, The Dukes of Hazzard.
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A Brute of a pickup

Posted 6:12 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 5
A Brute of a pickup
 
There were several pickup trucks scattered around the show floor at this year's NADA convention and exposition. But there was only one that said Jeep, and it's a monster in both size and popularity.
American Expedition Vehicles, a supplier for Chrysler Group that also sells upper-end aftermarket parts for the Jeep Wrangler and other off-roaders, featured its “Brute” pickup, a heavily-modified Wrangler Unlimited that features four doors, a full-sized truck bed, and a 6.4-liter HEMI engine.
The Brute will go on-sale this summer, said CFO Micheal Messink, starting at about $60,000.
“It's drawing a ton of interest,” Messink said.
 
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Sundays for church/oil changes?

Posted 6:08 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 5
Fresh from an emotional make meeting with Chrysler Group dealers a few hours earlier, Mopar Brand chief Pietro Gorlier had something else on his mind: even more extended service hours for dealerships.
“We've asked our dealers to open on Saturdays for service, and about three quarters of them are. So now we're pushing them about opening on Sundays too,” Gorlier said. “Independents are open on Sundays, so why shouldn't our dealers be grabbing that business, too?”
There's no official word on how Chrysler dealers may feel about giving up their “day of rest” for an opportunity to do some extra oil changes.
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Getting lonely back here

Posted 6:01 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 5
Gordon Goodwin could tell Sunday afternoon that the Super Bowl was just around the corner. Foot traffic near his booth, located along the far wall of the exposition, all but disappeared after lunch, as show-goers headed back to their hotels to prepare for game-time parties.
“Yesterday was pretty good. Today? Not so good,” said Goodwin, sales manager for Haartz Corp., of Acton, Mass., a supplier of paint protection film and other products to dealerships and manufacturers. Goodwin said his company only decided to come to NADA in Las Vegas in late January, and only after the association found some additional booth space.
“Next year, we'll decide earlier and hopefully be closer to the middle of the action,” Goodwin said.
 
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Mind on Vegas; heart in Indianapolis

Posted 4:00 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 5
Mind on Vegas; heart in Indianapolis
 
New York Toyota dealer Neale Kuperman dons an Eli Manning jersey to show support for his beloved Giants. Kuperman had two tickets to today's game. But because he's an NADA director and member of the convention committee, duty trumped the Super Bowl.
"My heart is Indianapolis," he said.
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Losing the sale

Posted 3:45 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 5
Reid Bigland, head of U.S. sales for Chrysler Group, on showing a Dodge Dart to President Barack Obama at the Washington D.C. auto show earlier this month: "I tried to sell him a Dart. Couldn't get a deposit though, so the deal could be a bit shaky. I got him behind the wheel, but I couldn't close. Maybe I'm a little rusty."
-- Larry P. Vellequette

How's this for a vendor

Posted 3:11 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 5
How's this for a vendor
(CHRISTINA ROGERS)
 
Olat Stanton knows he isn't the typical NADA exhibitor.
While others are showing off tool kits and carwash equipment, his booth is crammed with life-size figurines, including some that talk and move. There is a cowboy and gorilla, a moose head mounted to the wall, alongside several realistic-looking parrots. There's Santa Claus sitting off to one side and a replica of the fortune teller Zoltar from the movie "Big" facing the aisle.
Dealers like to buy the figurines for their head-turning, novelty effect, said Stanton, who owns Characters Unlimited, Inc. in Boulder City, Nev. He began exhibiting at NADA about 9 years ago and has returned about five times.
In a good year, he'll sell seven or eight figurines, which can cost anywhere from $800 to $4,300 each depending on their complexity. The cowboy, in particular,is a bestseller among dealers, especially those selling large, pickup trucks. One Chrysler dealer in Illinois centered an entire advertising campaign on the moose head -- a character now referred to as "Caboose" by the store staff.
For other dealers, the characters are a hard sell. Most dealers walk by and chuckle. One dealer told Stanton: "I don't need one of these characters. I already have a bunch of dummies working for me."
-- Christina Rogers

CADA at NADA

Posted 8:27 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 4
CADA at NADA
 
A contingent from the China Automobile Dealers Association check out the dealer management software at the exhibit of ADP Dealer Services here. ADP provides DMS to 1,200 dealerships in China.
-- Dave Barkholz

Accessorizing

Posted 10:10 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 4
Accessorizing
(JAMES B. TREECE)
 
Charlotte Pyle, president of the National Auto Auction Association, shows off her appropriate purse while attending the NADA convention.
-- James B. Treece

Gnome of your business

Posted 8:07 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 4
Gnome of your business
(JOE WILSSENS)
 
NADA attendees were invited to find George the garden gnome on the expo floor, take a picture of themselves with the miniature figure, and upload it to NADA's Facebook page to qualify for a free registration to the 2013 NADA convention.
-- Joe Wilssens

A Doctor visit; catching 'The Bus'

Posted 6:00 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 4
A Doctor visit; catching 'The Bus'
"Dr. J" -- Julius Erving-- signs autographs at the Safe-Guard Products display. (DAVE VERSICAL)
 
Sports fans had a tough choice to make Saturday afternoon at the NADA exhibition hall. They could stand in line to get an autograph from Dr J -- former NBA star Julius Erving -- or from retired Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis.
Dr. J, looking dapper in a pin-striped suit, was at the Safe-Guard Products booth and is scheduled to be back Sunday. Bettis was at TD Dominion. He wore a black golf shirt with an over-sized Polo logo and a stylized black Detroit Tigers baseball cap with a black old-English D logo.
"I was born and raised in Detroit," said Bettis, who boasts that he is still a Tigers fan despite his years in Pittsburgh.
And as for the $214 million, 9-year contract that brought Prince Fielder to Detroit: "Wow, that's big," said Bettis. "Expensive, but big."
-- Edward Lapham

Fun with hitches

Posted 7:08 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 4
Fun with hitches
(MARK RECHTIN)
 
When dealers have had enough of wading through the booths of DMS providers, CRM solutions, sales training vendors and social media helpers, they may look for the unusual on the show floor.
The winner of the "unusual" prize this year belongs to Hitch Critters, which sells rubberized, miniature ducks, fish, dogs, you name it, to mount on the trailer hitches of trucks. The toys plug in to the tailgate-lights connection, so that when a truck hits its brakes, the animal wiggles furiously on the hitch. Some even light up.
Dan Chesnicka, director of Evoke Ventures, which makes the Critters, says he has sold nearly 500,000 of the things. His latest venture is fake deer antlers to mount on rolled-up car windows. Next up is Collegiate Critters, which will have mascots of your alma mater dancing on your hitch.
Hey, there's no accounting for taste, and if you can make a buck doing it...
-- Mark Rechtin

Demonstrating a 'virtual' future

Posted 5:16 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 4
Demonstrating a 'virtual' future
(DAVE VERSICAL)
 
FordDirect's Marc Fecker demonstrates a "virtual showroom" iPad app to Ford dealers. The idea -- now in pilot stage -- is to give salespeople a tool to show products, inventory and technology videos to consumers at the sales desk and beyond.
-- Dave Versical

NADA not just North American anymore

Posted 3:01 pm U.S. ET, Feb. 4
A quick scan of the hall and it's obvious that NADA is quickly becoming the United Nations of the dealer world.
There are 100 dealers from Russia here this year. Another 50 Italians, which host their own version of NADA in Verona, Italy, each spring, are here this year. And then there's Michael Beros, a regional general manager at Toyota WA, a distributor who handles Toyota and Lexus cars in East Perth, Australia.
Beros flew 26 hours to get to Las Vegas this week and will take a swing through Canada to check in with Toyota before heading home.
"We wouldn't miss this show for the world," Beros told me this morning. "It isn't easy to get here, but it's essential."
-- Jason Stein

#nada2012 and get on the wall

Posted 6:47 am U.S. ET, Feb. 4
#nada2012 and get on the wall
(DAVE VERSICAL)
 
A “social media wall” in the registration area captured vendor promises and workshop-attendee passion, as reflected in Tweets to hashtag #NADA2012.
-- Dave Versical

When is a deadline not a deadline?

Posted 6:50 am U.S. ET, Feb. 4
When is a deadline not a deadline?
(DAVE VERSICAL)
 
On the eve of the convention, messages outside the exhibition hall sought a timely end to set-up work. There was enough activity inside at 5:50 p.m. to indicate some exhibitors had trouble meeting the deadline. A security guard nodded at this sign and said, “It’s kind of a joke, right?”
-- Dave Versical

Warm winter = stronger sales

Posted 6:44 am U.S. ET, Feb. 4
Warm winter = stronger sales
(DAVE VERSICAL)
 
As a massive February storm brought a belated winter blast to Colorado Friday, NADA chief economist Paul Taylor offered one reason for the year’s strong sales start: “Dramatically warmer weather than normal.” Despite January’s 14.2 million adjusted selling rate, he’s sticking with his earlier forecast for the full year: 13.945 million light vehicles in the U.S. That would mark the third straight annual increase in the 10 percent range. What’s behind the projection? A growing economy, low interest rates, an aging vehicle population that needs replacement, and vehicle stocks recovering from last year’s natural disasters in Asia. By the end of the first quarter, inventories at Honda, Toyota and Subaru will be back to typical levels, Taylor says. That means competition will head up … and some automakers will respond with higher incentives.
-- Dave Versical
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