On Wednesday NFDA attended AutoTrader’s The Road Ahead for Automotive Retail event. It was an insightful event with many NFDA members in attendance and participating in the panel discussion. NFDA Associate Member, Pinewood Technologies also saw their CEO, Bill Berman, discuss where retail is heading. Please see a summary of the event below: Ian Plummer – Commercial Director at AutoTrader : Ian was the first to present and discussed the major themes in the automotive sector right now, namely electrification, distribution and digitalisation and how they have developed over the last year. Glenn Mercer – GM Automotive LLC President : Glenn was next to take the stage, delivering his presentation in two parts with a break in between: The first presentation, titled ‘ Is It Time to Get Back to Basics ?’, followed several months of research and 80 interviews with leading franchise retailers. Glenn shared the findings of a groundbreaking study on what franchise retailers must do to succeed in the new normal. The second presentation was titled ‘ the measures of success ’, focused on strategies for dealers to drive profitability through 2025 and beyond. Glenn outlined the key performance indicators (KPIs) that dealers should prioritise to ensure they are measuring what matters and identifying which KPIs deliver the greatest benefits to their business. During his presentation, Glenn highlighted the findings of NFDA’s Summer 2024 Dealer Attitude Survey . After lunch, Bill Berman, CEO of Pinewood Technologies , took the stage for a discussion with AutoTrader CEO, Nathan Coe , on the future of the retail sector. They explored how dealerships can adapt their operations to navigate a changing market, the role of digitalisation in improving efficiency, and how AI can become a valuable tool for dealers. Building on Glenn’s discussions on KPIs, the next session saw the following presentations: Earl Carroll, Product Director at ASE Global and Ben Holmes, Regional Director UK & US at ASE Global , identifying how you can approach measurement and improvement at your business. Marc Palmer, Head of Strategy & Insight at AutoTrader, and Matt Schofield, Sales Director at AutoTrader , then took to the stage with data heavy presentations which discussed how to calculate dealers’ performance against KPIs and industry benchmarks as well as solutions which can be utilised to drive performance against KPIs. The event then rounded off with a panel discussion, hosted by Vicki Butler-Henderson, former presenter of Top Gear and current presenter of Fifth Gear . Panellists included: NFDA Members – Chris Wiseman, Managing Director at Wessex Garages , and Sheraz Rashid, Group Operations Director at Steven Eagell . Vaughan Blackman, Managing Director at LSH Auto UK. Ashley Gibson, Dealer Operations Director at Johnsons Cars. The panel reviewed how they are addressing the shifts in automotive as well as what KPIs they are planning to implement, and which digital strategies are proving the most effective for retail.