Page 32 - 2021 Atlanta Auto Show Guide

For years, one of the

great myths that has

persisted about the auto

industry has been that

franchised dealers don’t

want to sell electric

vehicles. It’s long past

time to put this myth out
By Mike Stanton,
NADA President and CEO to pasture.

s someone who has dedicated his career to Before we get into why this myth persists, and
Aadvocating on behalf of America’s franchised why it’s morphed into such a blatant lie, let’s
auto dealers, I’ve embraced the reality that one acknowledge something right at the outset.
of my chief roles is to serve as Myth Buster In More than a decade ago, there was indeed
Chief. some dealer uneasiness about battery-electric
vehicles. The EVs of the early and mid-2000s
For years, one of the were – let’s face it – by and large compliance
great myths that has cars. They had inadequate range, took forever
persisted about the and were a pain to recharge, did not perform well,
auto industry has had terrible resale value, and were extremely
been that franchised expensive.
dealers don’t want to
sell electric vehicles. It’s But it wasn’t that dealers didn’t want to sell them
long past time to put this myth out to pasture. to willing customers. It was that dealers didn’t
And it’s time to call it out for what it is: A lie want to be force fed vehicles that OEMs were
about franchised dealers, propagated by the manufacturing largely in response to regulatory
handful of companies that want to destroy the pressures as opposed to actual market demand.
franchise system. Given the imbalance in the OEM-dealer
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