CONYERS TELLS MINORITY DEALERS TO PUSH FOR CHANGE

Conyers to automakers: Ignore minority dealers at your own economic peril.

February 13, 2006—Pointing out that ethnic minorities in the United States will become the majority within the lifetimes of some in the audience, African-American dealer Nathan Conyers told attendees at the first NADA Minority Dealers Breakfast that automakers and NADA need to do more to reach out to them.

“Manufacturers cannot have the mind-set that they must cut out unnecessary expenditures and [that] minority dealer activity can be put in that category,” Conyers said. “The minority community is an underserved element where growth can occur. If they don’t see us as part of the solution rather than part of the problem, they are going to fail.”

Mentioning NADA’s Century Award, Conyers said that for the first 75 years of the auto industry, there were almost no minority or women dealers. He became a dealer in 1970, and “NADA was silent.” But now, “they recognize us as being an integral part of the organization.”

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