CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE BY RON E. BAUS, JR., CHAIRMAN, NJ CAR Together, We Can SUCCEED It is such an honor to serve as your NJ CAR Chairman this year. It has been eye-opening to see how strong we are as an organization when we work together to get things done. AVOIDING EV MANDATES This spring, we faced potentially catastrophic regulations that could have put many of us out of business. The Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) and Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulations set impossible targets for electric vehicle sales, which would have caused major reductions in gas and diesel vehicle availability in New Jersey, resulting in job losses and businesses fleeing to surrounding non-CARB states. The issues facing these regulations were massive, including overall cost disparities between gas/diesel and electric vehicles, a lack of infrastructure, and lagging customer demand. NJ CAR has been telling our story regarding these challenges to legislators and has opposed these regulations from the beginning. It was only through coordination with the NADA, state, and metro dealer associations across the country, and your grassroots involvement, that we were able to engage with Congress to put an end to these regulations. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN NJ CAR’S GRASSROOTS EFFORTS Congress passed three Congressional Review Act joint resolutions: H.J.Res.88, H.J.Res.87, and H.J.Res.89, which ended the EV mandates facing consumers in New Jersey based on overreaching California regulations that went too far too fast. We should celebrate this success! I want to thank all of you who called your House and Senate members to voice your concerns on these regulations. Taking action is so important, even if the members didn’t vote to support this critical action. They needed to hear where the franchised new car and truck dealers stand on these issues and why. They needed to know how bad it was going to get for the New Jersey consumers to hopefully deter future regulations. HOW DEALERS CAN CONTINUE ADVOCATING THROUGH GRASSROOTS I want to ask each of you to continue engaging with NJ CAR. There are a lot of ways you can get involved. Here are some suggestions: • Join and participate in NJ CARPOOL (our grassroots network) and get your employees to engage. We make this process so easy for you with pre-drafted communications that you can personalize. • Host a legislator at your dealership. We can help set up a visit for you to start building a lasting relationship with your elected officials. • Learn more about CAR-PAC. This is a powerful tool to move the needs and keep legislators in Trenton who support our policy issues. • Engage in NJ CAR in every way you can. Attend meetings, sign your future leaders up for NJ CAR NextGen, and utilize NJ CAR Services to support your association’s advocacy efforts. • Please read your NJ CAR emails — they provide the latest updates on important issues, priorities, and sensitive information about our industry. WE NEED YOU — MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! While NJ CAR does a lot of the heavy lifting for the dealer body, your voice and engagement with this great organization are needed and appreciated as we address any current and future challenges related to our industry. These are just a few ideas for how you can engage. We need your voice and support to ensure the policy success of franchised new car and truck dealers in Washington, D.C., and Trenton long into the future. Scan the QR code to sign up for NJ CARPOOL today! https://www.njcar.org/advocacy/ join-the-nj-car-grassroots-network-today/ 8 NEW JERSEY auto retailer
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