Automotive News - February 4, 2008 - (Page 66) 66 • FEBRUARY 4, 2008 INSIGHT Last year, Barbara Mungenast and sons joined AIADA President Cody Lusk, left, at the AIADA luncheon to pay tribute to her late husband, Dave Mungenast Sr. Mungenast was an actor, stuntman and champion off-road motorcycle racer, as well as a St. Louis car dealer and 1998 AIADA chairman. The AIADA has renamed its lifetime achieve award in honor of Mungenast. gmdealergroupadvertising.com 800-992 2723 JOE WILSSENS AIADA meeting schedule The 38th annual meeting of the American International Automobile Dealers Association begins with a reception at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 11, at the San Francisco Marriott, Yerba Buena Ballroom. Lunch follows at noon. On the agenda: Year-end report by outgoing AIADA Chairman John Hawkins Installation of 2008 Chairman Jim Hudson Keynote address by Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. Presentation of the David F. Mungenast Lifetime Achievement Award Jim Hudson: 2008 chairman Jim Lentz: Keynote speaker FOCUSED ON INCREASED PROFITABILITY? COLORS ON PARADE CAN HELP YOU HIT THE MARK. 1. F&I SERVICES PACKAGE 2. PRE-OWNED/ RECONDITIONING PROGRAM 3. SERVICE DRIVE RECONDITIONING PROGRAM Economy and hiring top Hudson’s concerns More from Jim Hudson, this year’s chairman of the American International Automobile Dealers Association. As a businessman, what keeps you up at night? The economy as a whole. When you look at the cost of gasoline, when you look at the housing industry and the effect it could have on our financing of our automobiles, that worries me. I think we’re looking at a flat year in business. But interest-rate lowering, hopefully, will offset the loss in sales revenue by our floorplans being a lot less. What else worries you? Getting young people who want to dedicate themselves keeps me awake as much as that. Hiring people in this business today is the hardest I’ve seen it in 35 years. You and others in the industry say you support the new fuel economy standards. Weren’t you bothered by the way lawmakers beat up on the industry during the debate? Not really. I think it woke up a lot of manufacturers. A lot of the brands had to really get busy and make their plan to meet these standards. I don’t think you’ll see any problem questionanswer at all with the international brands, when you look at hybrids as an example. But I’m a domestic car dealer as well. My biggest concern is with Suburbans and Yukons and these kinds of vehicles. But they’re coming with hybrids for those vehicles, and their fuel efficiency has gone up tremendously. So I think it was probably time, with the price of gasoline — and, looking ahead, I don’t see how they could do anything differently. We’ve got to get those standards up. I think it’s a good plan. Do you believe the whole industry needs to get more political? Absolutely. Whom do you like for president? I like John McCain. He’s a great guy. He’s got a lot of history behind him. He’s got a lot of experience. But I’m not sure John can win. Would you sell a Chinese brand? Probably, yes — I’m a car dealer. But I’d be very careful. I want to wait and see the shakeout. Right now they don’t have the quality to bring those cars here. c CAN’T WAIT TO SEE US IN SAN FRANCISCO? CALL OR LOG-ON NOW! 1-866-349-6786 colorsonparade.com http://gmdealergroupadvertising.com http://autonewschina.com http://colorsonparade.com http://colorsonparade.com
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