Chris Collins criticizes the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), arguing the organization has failed to strengthen dealers or keep them competitive. He recounts being told not to discuss Tesla at NADA (claimed as because 'it's not a popular subject') and says dealers have lost leverage compared with 20 years ago; he also reports that manufacturers view dealers as the problem.
One of the reasons I'm not a fan of NAD is because they told me I couldn't talk about Tesla. And I asked them why, and they said because it's not a popular subject, not because it isn't reality. And NADA has done nothing to make the dealer body stronger, to position them in any way where they're competitive. Nothing has changed in the approach. Dealers just keep losing leverage. They have way less leverage now than they had 20 years ago. Yeah, with the customer and with the man, but everybody goes to that convention like it's ridiculous. The thing that I think most don't get about this is that I've also sat in meetings with manufacturers, and they see the dealers as the problem.
