Selling Cars, Trucks and Optimism No Matter What Maybe we just need to get our heads around the idea that all times these days are “unprecedented.” I’m tired of tariff talk if I’m being honest. The news shifts so often that the details and the question of impact are hard to follow. We’re well aware that tariffs will drive up prices and make a bad problem worse. But what’s the on-the-ground reality? Talking with dealers statewide, it’s clear they are adapting and planning as best they can for volatility. But in other ways, this is business as usual. Sometimes, they have to reassure consumers amid a murky policy landscape. Tariffs aren’t killing sales yet. Virginia registrations were up in April over a year earlier, and hybrids continue to grow in popularity as BEV sales remain flat. Parts teams are the ones bracing for the initial impact. The challenge is the uncertainty. “It’s been a wild ride through the ideological car wash,” says Tim Pohanka, VADA PAC chairman with the Pohanka Automotive Group. “You’ve got two camps: the political and the apolitical. The political folks come in hot. Depending on the day and their mood, our tariff ads have made me everything from a mouthpiece for the administration to a secret agent for the opposition. Apparently, I’m a one-man bipartisan crisis. I do my best to talk with them — dialogue helps — but often, the issue isn’t politics. It’s confusion.” The apolitical crowd, Tim says, tends to be more curious. “But they’re still trying to figure out what these tariffs actually mean for them,” he says. “The on-again, off-again nature of the tariff news has everyone second-guessing what’s real. It’s like trying to follow the plot of a soap opera when you’ve missed a few A MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT AND CEO DON HALL 4 Virginia Auto Dealer
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