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2015 NADA Chairman Bill Fox.

LAS VEGAS (April 1, 2016) - In his final address as 2015 chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, Bill Fox reflected on a year in which he oversaw some significant changes at NADA - all part of the organization's ongoing efforts to best serve its 16,500 dealer members.

“As the retail automotive industry has evolved, so have we,” Fox told thousands of new-car dealers and their managers and auto industry executives gathered at the 2016 NADA Convention & Expo in Las Vegas. “And the result is that we have not only survived, but we have prospered.”

Under Fox's leadership, in 2015 NADA transitioned two business units - the NADA Used Car Guide and the NADART retirement plan - in order to better position each for continued growth, and to help NADA focus more energy and resources on its core mission of advocating on behalf of America's franchised new-car dealers.  

“Through these changes, NADA has emerged stronger and more focused than ever,” Fox said. “And if NADA is to be the voice of the dealer for the next 99 years, then we must recognize change, confront change and adapt to change. And that's exactly what we are doing.”

Fox, a multi-franchise dealer in upstate New York, compared his yearlong term as chairman to taking the wheel of a high-performance sports car.
 
“You're moving at phenomenal speeds through twists and turns,” he said. “At the end of the experience, you can't believe how much ground you covered or how much you've learned.”
 
But for Fox, the undertaking was well worth the effort. A survey of NADA members taken at the onset of Fox's chairmanship called on the association to focus on government and regulatory advocacy, manufacturer relations and defending the franchise system.

“We serve you best when we lobby Congress on your behalf, when we step between you and harmful regulators, when we advocate for you with the manufacturers, and when we fight to preserve the franchise system,” Fox said.
 
He called on NADA, its members, and all of their industry partners to continue working together to identify opportunities to adapt and respond to the needs of the ultimate industry stakeholder: the consumer.

“The only difference between change today and change over the past 99 years is the speed at which it happens. And it affects all of us - dealers, manufacturers, and of course the driving public,” Fox said. “When we pull in the same direction, we accomplish more together than when we try to do it alone.”

More than 25,000 new-car and -truck dealers and their managers, as well as dealers from over 30 countries, auto industry executives and exhibitor staff attended the 2016 NADA Convention & Expo in Las Vegas.

Founded in 1917, NADA will celebrate its 100-year anniversary during the 2017 NADA Convention & Expo in New Orleans, which will run from Jan. 26-29.

View the complete convention coverage