Walser tells dealers: Let's ‘create our own destiny'

Franchised auto dealers are now better positioned to defend their historic way of retailing vehicles in the U.S. and continue to improve the experience for customers because the interests of dealers and their manufacturing partners have never been more closely aligned, outgoing NADA Chairman Paul Walser said Friday in his final address.

Walser said dealers are facing threats to their business model from direct sellers, but they "have a better idea: Let's take what's already built and improve it."

"Rather than letting seismic shifts [in automotive propulsion] rock us to the core, let's make this a defining moment and create our own destiny," he told the NADA Show audience.

He asked retailers to "imagine a working relationship with our OEM partners built on mutual trust — where short-term goals take a back seat to long-term success, where both parties are fully committed to each other, and where communication is centered not so much on who gets what, but rather on how, together, we can capitalize on more than 16,000 existing dealership rooftops to provide the kind of service that a direct model simply cannot."

Walser spoke of his efforts to tie NADA more closely to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the joint automaker lobbying group.

"For the first time in our history, our top priorities should be exactly the same: making the dealer franchise system an enormous strategic advantage," Walser noted. "I promise you, none of the [OEMs] are rooting for the direct-sales competitors to gobble up their dealers. No OEM is betting against their dealers because they know that their success at selling EVs depends on us."

But Walser said dealers have to continue to improve and streamline their sales processes, making them more convenient and less time-consuming for customers, while continuing to defend the franchised sales model.

"It's not direct selling that drives success. It's product and a great experience," said Walser. "And no place delivers an experience like dealerships."