Thank you, Dallas! Another NADA show is in the books and, like most of the people I spoke with, I’m energized about what I saw for the future of our industry. Even in Texas, talk of electric vehicles was buzzing (yes, I said it!) throughout the show. Mini-sessions and workshops were held each day to keep dealers informed on everything from EV tax credits to changes in fixed ops.
In other NADA news, there were two winners of the Women Driving Auto Retail Contest this year! NADA and sponsor Tekion named both Leslie Jefferson and Alicia Rivera as the winners of the 6th annual contest.
Among the major company announcements was Vehlo’s acquisition of Rapid Recon and Velocity Automotive. Since the companies offer competitive services, many were wondering what’s going to happen and how were dealers going to be affected. To answer everyone’s questions, Rapid Recon Founder and CEO Dennis McGinn sat down with Velocity CEO David Penney for a special “Your Place” interview at NADA. (“Your Place is a Rapid Recon/AutoSuccess video series, which you can find under the Video category on the AutoSuccess website.)
Penney described it as “two great recon powerhouses coming together” for the benefit of the dealer. McGinn wanted to reassure dealers that they are being given more choices and won’t be asked to give anything up.
Both of those companies are part of our Best of the Best NADA 2023 program, which highlights companies that are striving to help dealers improve their businesses this year. Other Best of the Best company show news included FlickFusion showcasing its Nucleus video marketing platform, which the company says brings the traditional “on the lot” handshake experience to the digital marketplace.
Gubagoo launched a new offering it calls the In-store Experience in which both the customer and dealer can navigate the deal at any time, resulting in a smooth, seamless and transparent car-buying experience.
Vistadash and DealerBuilt announce they’ve partnered with Autometrics, a provider of automotive predictive purchase intent data that enables dealerships to optimize advertising spend.
Valvoline launched a fixed-operations software service, branded as Vision Service Lane Technology. The company said Vision’s ability to provide a tailored, VIN-specific menu of services will give dealers a platform to increase revenue and streamline their operations and communications in the service department.
On the show floor, we were happily surprised to see enormous versions of AutoSuccess covers! Automotive Innovations’ Hoss Devine blew up the two recent covers he’d been featured on to use as images throughout his company’s booth. We definitely loved seeing that!
Overall it was another incredible show. I left feeling hopeful for the year ahead. See page 11 for the rest of our Best of the Best NADA 2023 companies, and you can find more on these announcements, NADA news and automotive company updates throughout the year in our Industry News section of our website
