By Frederick Kiel, Staff Reporter This story appears in the April 4 print edition of Transport Topics.
American Truck Dealers said it will focus on how to mitigate the possible negative effects of regulatory and legislative actions during its annual convention April 15-18 in Phoenix.
“We have been rocked by a decade of federal legislative action, first and foremost the emissions changes that came into play in 2002, ’07 and ’10, which have disrupted our business cycle and actually magnified the effects of the recession,” ATD chairman Kyle Treadway told Transport Topics.
“We’re looking at more of the same with the fuel economy changes scheduled for 2014 and 2017,” he added. “We’re looking for dealers to stand up and assert themselves.”
The keynote speakers include Treadway; Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Associations; and Donald Broughton, senior research analyst and managing director for transportation at investment firm Avondale Partners.
Treadway said ATD also will hold its first “legislative general session,” in which association representatives will join with Charlie Cook, editor-publisher of the Cook Political Report, to address attendees.
He said that ATD understands that an economic recovery was under way. “But it’s a weak recovery, and we don’t want to jeopardize it with any false moves [in Washington],” Treadway said.
ATD said it will devote some of its workshops, scheduled for each of the four days, to “support the convention’s ‘Call to Action’ theme with a special focus on how dealers can make their voices heard on legislative and regulatory issues.”
Treadway, president of Kenworth Sales Co., a 10-location dealership based in West Valley City, Utah, said the convention also will hold a “next-generation” meeting.
“This will be for all of the folks who will be running the show in the next wave, among dealers, manufacturers and suppliers,” he said.
Treadway said that taking advantage of social media will be a key theme for the younger people.
“We’re asking them to get into a virtual room together, and we’ll leave there, and we expect them to talk in a very different way when we’re not there,” Treadway said. “We already saw that with an informational phase of this, and they’ll look at the future in a very exciting way.”
During the conference, ATD also will announce the winners of its “Truck Dealer of the Year” award, and “Commercial Truck of the Year” awards, one in heavy-duty and one in medium-duty.
