Why Auto Shows Are Still Relevant with John O'Donnell, President of WANADA and the DC Auto Show

Paul J Daly: 0:06

All right, so we are here today with John O'Donnell President CEO of what NADA Washington area, new car,

‍John O'Donnell: 0:11

new Automobile Dealers Association. We

Paul J Daly: 0:14

haven't gotten that right for two weeks. We'll

Kyle Mountsier: 0:15

get it right from now on, we promise Why

John O'Donnell: 0:17

hold the job? I got it. Right. That's

Paul J Daly: 0:19

right. I got my first week I spent memorizing that. Thank you so much for joining us today.

John O'Donnell: 0:23

Thank you for having me. Glad you're here. Yeah, we

Paul J Daly: 0:26

are to it's our first policy event. So it's like a little bit of a new crowd for us. But we're excited about that. Um, tell us just a little bit of history of the show. So you've been kind of in with Renata for over a decade now. No,

John O'Donnell: 0:38

I've been the CEO for a decade. I've been with them. As I was mentioning, since 911. V. 911. The association started in 1917. And auto show wasn't far behind that. But there was a large break for World War Two.

Paul J Daly: 0:58

They're like Charles operation. We're gonna make tanks for a while. Right?

John O'Donnell: 1:03

We have exactly right. And then the only other break we've had was one year during the pandemic during COVID. Yeah. We've been known as the public policy show on the worldwide auto show circuit for about 15 to 20 years now.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:21

Wow.

John O'Donnell: 1:21

We should have done this a long time ago. Yeah. Well, it

Paul J Daly: 1:24

makes sense. I mean, we're right in the middle of Washington, DC right now. The White House is what three blocks away? It feels like

John O'Donnell: 1:30

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, very close by. So we're very fortunate. We get regulators, members of the President's Cabinet members of Congress. And the most important group, believe it or not, are the worker bees, the staffers. So today, later today, you'll see proximately 130 150, staffers from various members of Congress or regulatory bodies, that will come around and speak with all of the product specialists from the various manufacturers. And we've been told that they get more done in terms of lobbying the federal government in one day than they do in a year.

Kyle Mountsier: 2:14

That's incredible. Yeah, it's that wonder one connection relationship, a person, not just a product or an email, it's a person and a person having a conversation. Very powerful. Yeah, it's a powerful day. So what what do you think the goal or the intention out of today, what do you think some of the like, how the big topics and what the desire is from the manufacturers or the dealers that are present today?

John O'Donnell: 2:37

So I think everybody knows it's all EVs these days, right? Last year, on public policy day, the White House sent over Jennifer Granholm and Elisa at the National White House climate advisor, and the Department of Energy, of course, for Ms. Granholm to talk about the inflation reduction X, Evie tax credit which cars were going to qualify and which weren't right. And we all know what what happened there, Evie adoption, it's just not where the government would like to see it. So one of the things that probably will be discussed today will be expanding that list of who qualifies. Yeah, they put a lot of restrictions on it. And I think they are now realizing adoption would be quicker. If there was more of an incentive to a larger group of manufacturers and people. Yeah. What do you think about that?

Paul J Daly: 3:34

Do you think that's going to work?

John O'Donnell: 3:36

No.

Paul J Daly: 3:40

There's something about the consumer driving what they buy.

John O'Donnell: 3:43

That's just it. At the end of the day, the consumer has to want it at some level, there has to be enough demand. I think what you're finding right now, at least from the people I'm speaking to, if you buy a pure electric vehicle as your primary vehicle, you don't re up you don't get another pure electric, you take a step backwards into a battery electric hybrid. I actually drive a Lincoln Corsair just to learn about the technology right now. Yeah. without even trying, I'm averaging 46 miles to the gallon. Right. Right. So that translates

Paul J Daly: 4:24

really quickly to a consumer. Yeah, right.

John O'Donnell: 4:26

They get that. And they also have the reliability of the combustion engine. They don't want to be stranded. It's 100 stores. They can't find a charger.

Kyle Mountsier: 4:35

Yeah. We were just talking today about what's happening in Chicago with Tesla's and people not being able to not not having the wherewithal and the process with which to charge. Do you feel that days like today can can have the consumer in the conversation? How does that map and how does one auto work to make sure that the consumer is actually in the conversation and not just the relationship between the manufacturers and the policy? makers.

John O'Donnell: 5:01

Great point. And remind me to come back to the Society of Automotive Engineers, they have their government industry meeting here. We serve as their hosts. I'll come back to them in a moment. But the show is owned and operated by the Association, the Association is the dealers. The dealers are the consumers advocate, right, because the dealers buying those cars from the manufacturer. And unless they can unload those cars onto the general public, right, they're stuck when stuff's paid for them. So they usually want to buy product that they know the consumers going to was

Paul J Daly: 5:39

amazing how that works.

Kyle Mountsier: 5:40

Like, if you own a restaurant, you probably start the wine shelf and the beer shelf with what people buy more right?

Paul J Daly: 5:48

Guide basic math, basic math, you said to remind you to come

John O'Donnell: 5:50

back. So we serve as the host for the engineers, annual government industry meeting, about three or four years ago, I was talking to one of their key people. And we identified something that is readily apparent to the three of us. But the engineers are always worried about design and efficiency and very technical aspects of cars. They have no idea how cars actually get retailed. And yet they're the ones designing them. Yeah. Then we started talking about the timeframe. From the time a car is intellectually conceived to time it's put in production is about three years, right? Well, consumer sentiment changes during three years, usually. Yeah.

Paul J Daly: 6:40

Especially when you're talking about a platform change. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So

John O'Donnell: 6:46

I think that the government needs to recognize, yes, we're going to embrace EVs. But I think the California law where there's a timetable, and then the elimination of combustion engine cars and 2035. It's just a gigantic mistake. Yeah.

Kyle Mountsier: 7:08

Right. It seems like the adoption is moving out of California. Right. And we're seeing it in larger places like New York, like DC, like, you know, those places.

John O'Donnell: 7:16

Yeah, a lot of the blue states just signed on thematically, because they said, Oh, California

Paul J Daly: 7:23

must have it right, fit the narrative. Last question. How does Auto Show attendance? How's it ranking up these days? And what would you say to the OEMs? Who are opting out of participating?

John O'Donnell: 7:37

Well, first of all, I think they're making a big mistake. And I can explain why. The year after the pandemic, our went went Omicron. Remember, omicron? Ariel? It didn't want to remember it. But we had to our attendance was off by about 50%. Off free COVID levels off of pre code levels. The following year, no. Omicron year. Yep. We bounced right back exactly to where our pre COVID attendance was. We're the largest event in Washington, DC indoor event. The cherry blossom festivals and outdoor. Yeah, yeah. So we're always battling for number one, number two. But attendance I'm anticipating is going to be very strong this year. And you were mentioning, what about the manufacturers that aren't here? Tesla's in lucid is in there's a cyber truck, right behind holsters exact role stores. And these guys know where the customers are. Right? Yeah. So I think what you have with certain manufacturers, is budgetary constraints. A belief that my buyer isn't at your auto ship. It's not even

Paul J Daly: 8:54

I don't even think like and that's nonsense. budgetary constraints is a is an easy scapegoat. Yeah, really, it's budgetary priority. Right is not being put here. They love the machines here. Right? They love digital, but like you just said with the amount that gets done in person face to face. I'm a lobbying standpoint, to not think that that human human contact doesn't transfer to like I'm here. And there's I was just looking at the new Hyundai Santa Fe. Yeah, right. It's not a car that I would migrate to. But I opened it. I was like, I think I would consider this car.

John O'Donnell: 9:25

Absolutely. There's the opportunity for manufacturers to make conquests when your competitor isn't present. Yes. Hello. Yeah, yep. The DC market ranks number three in the country. In terms of overall population, when you give them a little leeway. You throw in Baltimore, per capita income, super strong. We have seven of the 10 richest counties in the nation here. Wow. And yet you've got people like BMW and Audi and Mercedes saying, Oh, our buyers and they're really well excuse me. I a Rolls Royce and Aston Martin are making looking

Paul J Daly: 10:04

over there right now it

John O'Donnell: 10:06

last year, we sold three exotics off the floor of the show. They like wasting money price points, triple, Mercedes, BMW and Audi are selling. So I think eventually that they'll, they'll say, oh, maybe we should return.

Paul J Daly: 10:24

Well, John, thank you so much for just serving the industry in this way, but making the show happening and giving us some of your time today.

John O'Donnell: 10:29

I appreciate it. I appreciate the time. And most of all, I appreciate the pin you gave there. Yeah.