NADAUpdate: Spring 2022 DAVID HAMMER NH’S NADA DIRECTOR As I was just elected in February, this year’s NADA Show was my first opportunity to get a glimpse under the NADA tent. Suffice to say, I was very impressed with the organization and its leadership. NADA’s singular purpose is to represent franchised auto and truck dealers at the federal level. Their political action committee, NADA PAC, is ranked among the top five industry PACs in Washington, D.C., alongside the National Association of Realtors (NAR) or Credit Union National Association (CUNA). Also to note are the structural parallels between the NHADA and NADA: both are board-driven associations with the best interests of dealers in mind. As we look back on the first quarter, here are a few key trends to note: Dealers are All-In on Electric Vehicles You’ve seen the ads on TV — manufacturer commitments pledging to become all-electric, and recently, gas prices fuel this discussion. While, yes, dealers are all-in on this movement, the buy-in on a state-to-state level varies. For New Hampshire in particular, our narrative remains the same — if you build them, we’ll sell them. However, it isn’t that easy. In order to successfully roll out electric vehicles in NH, we need the supply, infrastructure, and customer incentives, and so far, we have zero out of the three. LIFO Relief Still Being Fought by NADA The pandemic slowed or stopped production at vehicle assembly plants and suppliers across the globe, creating a major foreign trade interruption in the U.S. vehicle industry. As a result, dealers using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) accounting method cannot acquire sufficient inventory to avoid an unexpected tax liability triggered by LIFO recapture. On a bipartisan basis, 92 House Members and 52 Senators wrote a letter to urge the Treasury Department to use its authority to grant LIFO relief for Continued on page 12 N E W H A M P S H I R E 11
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