Chrysler Capital gets valuable ‘face time’ at NADA

Huge. Vast. Massive.

These are all words that could be used to describe one of the biggest auto industry events of the year – the National Automobile Dealers Association convention (NADA) – held this year in San Francisco, California, Jan. 24-27.

NADA 2019 was held in scenic San Francisco, California.

Chrysler Capital was among the 22,000 attendees – including thousands of dealers – and more than 500 exhibitors. The four-day convention and expo included keynote sessions with industry experts and key business leaders, more than 120 workshops and education sessions, speakers on dealer solutions, a social connection zone, dealer franchise meetings and more, according to NADA.org.

“The NADA show is always one of the highlights of our year, and 2019 was, in my opinion, our best yet,” said Matt Eskolin, Chrysler Capital senior vice president of sales.

“We were able have great interaction, not only with our Distinguished Dealer award winners, but all the dealers who came by our booth to let us know the difference we’d made in their businesses,” he said. “The automotive industry is alive and growing, and we’re happy to be a part of that growth.”

Together with Santander Consumer USA (SC), Chrysler Capital hosted a co-branded event, a cruise around San Francisco Bay for 80 of our distinguished dealers, key dealer groups and digital partners.

In particular, NADA gave the Chrysler Capital team a chance to recognize distinguished dealers such as Jerry Bill of Stew Hansen Dodge Ram Chrysler Jeep_® in Urbandale, IA; James Davis of Gulfgate in Houston, TX; Jon Gray of Orange Coast Auto Group in Costa Mesa, CA; Adam Huff of Fred Martin Superstore in Akron, OH; Jim Marsh of Jim Marsh Chrysler Jeep in Las Vegas, NV; Ashley Rankin of the Woodhouse dealership in Blair, NE; Rob Sickel of Pine Belt Chrysler Jeep Inc. in Lakewood, NJ; Gabe Vigorito of the Security dealership in Amityville, NY, and John Yark of Yark Auto Group in Toledo, OH.

Mixing business with pleasure.

“This special event, hosted by both Chrysler Capital and SC, was a perfect way to kick off NADA 2019!” said Jena Rounding, director of sales for Chrysler Capital. “Our distinguished dealers enjoyed a great night on the San Francisco Bay and it afforded them the opportunity to meet and mingle with our company’s management teams. With dealers from around the country, the opportunity to bring them all together for an event like this doesn’t happen often and we were very excited to be able to show our appreciation for some of our best-supporting dealers.”

Spirits were high on the co-branded Bay cruise.

Convention speakers included Wes Lutz, president of Extreme Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram in Jackson, MI, and outgoing NADA chairman, who encouraged dealers to embrace the change that is happening industrywide, continue to listen to their customers and “writing the script” about the industry’s future.

“Our customers tell us what they want from the market every day when they spend their money,” Lutz said. “And no one listens to the customer better than we do.”

Lutz is being succeeded as NADA chairman by Charlie Gilchrist, whose Gilchrist Automotive comprises eight dealerships in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including Ford, Buick, GMC, Chevrolet, Nissan and Volkswagen as well as Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep.

NADA, which has hosted an annual convention for more than 40 years, represents nearly 16,500 franchised new car and truck dealerships.

Enjoying the sights of beautiful downtown San Francisco.