Pub. 14 2015-2016 Issue 1

N E W J E R S E Y C O A L I T I O N O F A U T O M O T I V E R E T A I L E R S I S S U E N O . 2 , 2 0 1 5 6 new jersey auto retailer T his is a milestone issue of New Jersey Auto Retailer magazine. The Coalition’s award- winning publication is celebrating its 50th issue. The world, and the franchise automotive retailing industry, have changed tremendously since the first issue came off the presses in January 2002. When themagazinewas launched, the attacks of September 11thwere still fresh ineveryone’smind. TheDowJones IndustrialAverage began the year just above 10,000 before falling as low as 7,300 later in the year, while the NASDAQ started at 2,059 before falling to 1,114. At the time, there were nearly 625 franchised dealerships in New Jersey and the industry had total retail sales of just over $26 Billion. In the ensuing years, we had a recession, bailouts for some of the biggest automanufacturers on the planet, political turmoil and a slow-moving economic recovery. Now, more than 13 years later, the Dow is above 18,000 and the NASDAQ is above 5,000. There are fewer franchised dealerships (somewhere just above 500 inNewJersey), but those that have survived are generating total sales of more than $32 Billion. New Jersey Auto Retailer has covered the ups and downs of the industry for the past 13 years. Its longevity is a testament to the invaluable in- formation it provides dealer members in every single issue, as well as the hundreds of people who have contributed to the publication over its first 50 issues. The magazine has varied in size over the years (due to the economy’s impact on advertising), but every issue has contained valuable tips that dealers and their employees have been able to use to improve the day-to-day operations in their dealerships. The publication has also taught dealers about issues that impact the retail automotive industry. New Jersey Auto Retailer is a standout among similar magazines pub- lished around the country, earning 17 APEX, MarCom and Hermes awards over the years for design, layout and content. The publication has provideddealers and their employeeswith informationonTechnol- ogy, Healthcare, Energy, Political Developments, Legal and Regula- tory Challenges, Grassroots, Economic Growth (and Recession), the inner workings of NJ CAR itself and much, much more. This latest issue is focused on how important various forms of insurance are to protecting the assets dealers have built over the years. The NewJerseyAutoRetailer magazinewouldnever have developed into such a valuable communication tool were it not for themany advertis- ers that have supported the publication, and NJ CAR, for the last 13 years. Many have beenwithus since the first issue andwe thank every single one of themfor helping tomake NewJerseyAutoRetailer possible. NJ CAR has developedmany tools to communicate with and engage itsmembers (and their employees). TheCoalition’sNewsLetter, Email Communication, Social Media, Mobile App and other tools are all wonderful, and offer dealership employees options about how they wish to receive information. But New Jersey Auto Retailer is unique. It offers the Coalition a forum to provide members with more in-depth analysis on an ever-growing variety of issues. I encourage all dealers to check out New Jersey Auto Retailer . All 50 issues are posted electronically on the member side of the NJ CAR Website (www.njcar.org) , under the News and Information drop- down menu. If there is a subject you want to know more about, contact NJ CAR Director of CommunicationBrianHughes via email (bhughes@njcar. org) and let him know about the topic. You may just read an article about it from a subject-matter expert in a future issue. Thank you, again, to everyone who has contributed to and supported New Jersey Auto Retailer since its launch in 2002. With your continued support, we will surely celebrate our 75th issue in 2021 and our 100th issue in 2027. Chairman’s MESSAGE | BY JOHN MANGANELLI