Business View Magazine | April/May 2022

65 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 in providing both the sale and the servicing of vehicles that are sold to them.” Whitehurst has been with TADA for two years and has the utmost respect for his predecessor, Bill Wolters, who worked for TADA for 40 years and “put together a fantastic team.” The association focuses on three areas: The legislative side (franchise laws that are established by the legislature), the enforcement side (regulatory), and the legal side. When Bill Wolters retired, Whitehurst inherited a seasoned team with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the franchised dealer system. TEXAS AUTOMOB I LE DEALERS ASSOC I AT ION ( TADA) “And we have some of the most fantastic dealers in the country, here in Texas,” Whitehurst boasts. “The association had built a lot of good will, particularly at the local level regarding community involvement. That’s one of the reasons they are successful at the Capitol, because all politics ultimately are local and so that really benefits dealers because they are so generous and involved with their communities.” When it comes to policy concerns of chief importance, dealers are most likely to start off with the direct sale issue, and what’s going on in the EV marketplace. Dealers appreciate the technology, but any desire to sell their vehicles