Category: Industry News

Ray Kennedy, a former communications advisor to the AADA secretariat team, passed away on 9 March.

Early in his career Ray worked as a journalist at The Argus, The Age, The Herald, Australian United Press and the ABC. After compulsory National Service in the Australian Army and a period at Eric White and Associates, he joined Ford Motor Company as Publicity Officer at Ford’s Australian HO in Broadmeadows.

Ray rose rapidly through Ford Public Affairs with stints in Dearborn MI, UK and Europe. He was appointed the inaugural Public Relations Manager for the newly created Ford Asia Pacific region based in Melbourne. This was at a time when Ford was applying significant focus to the rapidly developing Asian markets. This meant that Ray worked closely with senior Ford executives including Henry Ford II, ‘Bunkie’ Knudsen, Lee Iacocca, Philip Caldwell and others.

Ray left Ford to establish his own PR consulting business, which he grew significantly over many years before selling out to his partners and retiring.

After AADA was formed as a separate organisation from the precedent entities, Ray was asked to provide media and communications advice and services to the small fledgling secretariat team. In those early days, Ray’s experience and knowledge provided critical support while the organisation was being built.

On behalf of AADA we extend our deep sympathies to Ray’s wife Jill, his daughters Jane and Carrie, and his entire family.

Prominent member of the Warrnambool community and former car Dealer, Ken Parker sadly passed away late last month. Mr Parker’s family ran GM and Holden Dealerships across regional Victoria from 1927 to 2008, as well as other brands throughout that time. Ken joined the family business straight out of school in 1955, and took over running the Dealerships from 1974. Ken was an active voice for Dealers and strong on the issue of Dealer Agreements, beginning his advocacy work after an issue with an OEM in the 1980’s.

Mr Parker served as a councillor in Warrnambool for almost 10 years and as mayor in 1986. Both Mr Parker and his wife, Glenda, were active, passionate, and much-loved members of their community. Mrs Parker sadly passed away just 10 days prior to her husband. Our thoughts go out to their family and friends.

Photo credit: The Standard

Celebrated race car driver and Holden Dealer, Reg Hunt passed away this month. Hunt became part of General Motors’ marketing strategy after winning a national championship in racing, and was offered a Holden franchise in Elsternwick. Over the years, Mr Hunt built up his new and used car operations and eventually developed what became known as the ‘Golden Mile of Cars’ along the Nepean Highway at Elsternwick.

Reg Hunt Holden is the only Dealership to be number one in Holden’s monthly Top 30 Dealer list for 10 years in a row. It also topped Victoria’s Holden Dealership list for approximately four decades, selling an average of 300 new Holdens a month during its boom days.

Photo credit: primotipo.com

Ken Morgan OAM sadly passed away in early August aged 87 years old. Mr Morgan was widely known for being a stalwart of the automotive industry, his extensive charity work, and his regular appearances on the television program Hey Hey it’s Saturday.

Mr Morgan established the charity ‘Kids Under Cover’ in 1989 and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2010 for of his substantial contributions to many charity organisations.

Photo credit: Herald Sun

Senator Deborah O’Neill has spoken in the Senate about her concerns that senior executives of Mercedes-Benz may have mislead a Senate Committee in November 2020 regarding the proposed changes to their business model, based on the contents of the ongoing court action with Mercedes-Benz Dealers.

Senator O’Neill said, “I will be watching developments and, given the seriousness of my concerns, I intend to take this matter to the Senate Education and Employment References Committee to request that that it be raised with the President of the Senate as a matter of privilege.

Congratulations to Robert ‘Snow’ Reynen on 50 years with the same Dealership, Clancy Ford, in Dubbo! Although the business has changed names, owners and locations over the years since he began there, Snow has been a constant feature of the servicing team. Snow started with Harold W Taylor and Son in 1971 as an apprentice technician, 1 week after finishing year 12 and the business has been Clancy Ford since 2010.

Robert’s dream Ford was a 1970 XW GT Phase 2 Falcon and the favourite Ford he owned was a XC Falcon S-Pack V8 Manual.

On Saturday 27th of November, past Dealer Principals and staff members joined current staff and Snow’s family for a surprise party to celebrate his special achievement at their annual Christmas party.

Sadly, last month Robert Allen, a highly respected Western Australian dealership owner passed away aged 81.Robert has had a 60-year career that spanned the glory days of the nation’s car retailing industry.
 
Robert started his career in the automotive industry in 1962, when a Dealer who sold him a car offered him a job as a salesman.
 
In 1968 he started to operate his own dealership and a year later, teamed up with Lee Elvish, to run Bermuda Motors. Later he formed a partnership with Gardner and Peters (Metro Motors). From 1984 he partnered up with  Harold Schoolland under the Allen Group and has had franchises including Honda, Mazda, Kia, Suzuki, Isuzu Ute, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Skoda, Nissan and Peugeot Citroen. Mr Schoolland, who had worked as a business partner with Robert for 37 years and described the business relationship as “a very rewarding and satisfying partnership”.

Mr Allen was known for supporting automotive employees, he established many apprenticeship programs in WA. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues.

Sadly Noel Huxley Gould, a highly respected Holden Dealer passed away aged 83 suddenly earlier this week.
 
When asked what made him choose a career in the automotive industry Noel once said:
“It actually chose me. I was fresh out of school and crossing Federal Street in Rainbow, and Jack Strauss, the owner of Strauss Brothers – who became a wonderful friend and mentor of mine – approached me and said, ‘What are you doing next year, Noel?’ and I said, ‘I’m going to work for the Austin Dealer.’  He said ‘Bullshit.  He’s not much of a Dealer, come and see me.”
 
And there began a 60+ year career as one of Australia’s iconic Holden Dealers, Noel Gould.
 
Beginning his career in 1954 in Rainbow, Victoria, Noel Gould was a Holden man. Throughout a successful career he owned and operated nine Holden Dealerships across Australia along with a number of other dealerships and brands.
 
His belief in the Dealer system saw him a leader in the Melbourne Holden Dealer Association and a strong advocate of the Holden brand.
 
Asked what he thought was the most challenging aspect of running a dealership? He answered, “Finding the right people, nurturing them and getting them to do the things that they should do”. Noel believed the car industry provided enormous opportunity to those who were prepared to work hard, be disciplined, and cared about customers. 
 
Noel Gould leaves a legacy of passionate and successful Dealers that he mentored through his long career.
 
Our thoughts are with his family, his wife Marlene and children at this sad time.

The 2021 National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) conference took place in February, albeit via virtual delivery because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, the conference saw automotive leaders from around the world come together to discuss the current state of the retail motor industry and what we can expect in the future.

BDO UK have released their annual NADA Review, outlining lessons learnt from the conference and the actions automotive industry organisations can take to improve their performance.

One key takeaway from the conference was the need to improve the employee experience to enhance the customer experience. With customers stating experience is more important than the price when making a purchase decision, and staff turnover in the industry at an all-time high, dealers must consider their employment strategies to entice and delight their customers.

A copy of BDO’s NADA review can be downloaded at BDO’s Website.