In NADA meetings, dealers hear reassuring words from executives

Dealers attended the NADA Show in Las Vegas with a slew of worries on their minds. Three of the biggest: inventory shortages, the push into digital retailing and the industrywide transition to electric vehicles.

But what many of them heard in their annual franchise make meetings was some reassurance.

In meeting after meeting, factory executives offered calming words that, despite the drumbeat of radical change and upheaval pounding across the business, automakers still intend to keep a steady hand on what's working well.

Brands are trumpeting their plans to transform into all-electric auto lines, which dealers have been hearing with a growing cadence. And retailers told Automotive News privately that they're fully on board with the changing technology. But, some of them wondered, are we truly ready? And why the rush to toss away some of the best internal combustion engine vehicles ever made?

Automakers appear to get that, according to reports of presentations inside various make meetings.

General Motors has vowed to boldly move into all-EV. But Chevrolet Vice President Steve Hill told Automotive News that the brand is rapidly updating its most popular internal combustion vehicles.

"When I talk to the dealers, I talk about Chevy being a big-box brand and Chevy having a foot in both camps — both in ICE and in EV," Hill said ahead of the brand's meeting. "I like our chances for growth."

Cadillac dealers went into their make meeting knowing full well that the brand intends to launch an all-electric portfolio in North America by 2030.

But executives told the group inside that it will continue monitoring customer demand for internal combustion vehicles along the way, and also keep an eye on electric vehicle margins.

"Dealers' biggest fear was, 'I'm in Texas. What happens with ICE?' " said Inder Dosanjh, Cadillac National Dealer Council chairman. "They said, 'We're going to keep looking at ICE.'

"So a lot of dealers walked out of the meeting very calmly ... with relief."

Lincoln executives also told dealers that their brand remains committed to investing in gasoline-powered products.

"What we got across is that there's still going to be demand for the ICE business," said Bill Dawes, the Lincoln National Dealer Council chairman, "and they're still going to support that demand."