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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 28, 1997)
SH African Americans, is frequently singled-out for its abysmal m in o rity dealership record, of the 174 Lexus dealerships are owned norities. “ We completely agree w ith ing said,” says M ike Michels, a man. He adds that Lexus who eventually sold his Benz had one African American and a Hispanic dealer who also sold their franchises. N A M A D has done yeoman w ork in the past to increase the numbers o f m in o rity-o w n e d dealerships. Vaden-W illiams vows 199~ won’t be any different. Carl Dukes, the owner o f Joliet Dodge in Joliet, III. has no doubt of that. I th in k they need to have tim e to react and develop a long-term plan to combat changes in the marketplace," Dukes says, a rare, black sec ond-generation dealer whose father, R.L. Dukes, had a Chicago O ldsm obile dealership. “ I f they do what they’ve done in the past, they’ll pro vide the leadership that we need. ’ O rganization: National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers. Headquarters: Washington, D C. Founded: 1990 Members: 425 African-American. Hispanic. Asian and Native American dealers in the U.S. Dealer p ro file o f largest o Said s a M an’s W orld’ By Tedra Butler-D udley Pamela Rodgers s n t a household a name. But anyone browsing the pages o f most African-American magazines w ould know her face. She is General M otors cover girl , pitching the w orlds largest automaker as a company supportive o f women and m in o rity auto dealers. Rodgers is one o f a handful o f African-Am erican women ow ning auto mobile dealerships in the industry. The Michigan-based Rodger’s Chevrolet is a $19.8 m illio n success that is growing. A n d Rodgers reaffirms that a woman's place is where she chooses. Indeed, Rodgers asks in G M ’s ad: “ W ho said it ’s a man’s world?” Rodgers attributes her own success to w orking harder to prove your self. W hen Rodgers decided to leave Ford as a financial analyst in 1986 to pursue a dream of becoming an autom obile dealer, “ there were few women in the autom otive business, she says. It took persistence to convince the m in o rity dealers training programs that I was serious. I had to reapply for the program and was finally accepted in January 1988.” Rodgers is a product of Ford s dealer training program, but speaks highly o f G M and Chrysler. “A ll the programs are good but they don’t teach you one th in g — about how to deal w ith people.” In fact, Rodgers says she learned how to deal w ith people “ by selling cars at m y mentors G M dealership before I entered the training program.” In addition, Rodgers draws no distinction between African-American auto dealers and other auto dealers. “ M any African-Am erican dealerships are not in African-American neighborhoods so you must know how to earn your business, and that’s by concentrating on quality, not numbers.” The best w ay to introduce new auto com panies: Company African-American Dealers General Motors Ford 97 'Total Dealers 8.346 240 5,120 Chrysler 75 4,615 Toyota 12 1.364 Honda 4 1.285 Nissan 12 1,233 Mazda 11 898 •As of 1996 'GM. Ford and Chrysler all have established pro grams to recruit and train minority candidates BMW Honda. Toyota. Nissan and Mitsubishi have recently established such programs. Jag uar. which plans to add new dealer franchises, M said it will seek minorities Mazda has no such program in place, which is the case with other Plymouth Neon import manufacturers. Pamela Rodgers I-t AFRICAN AMFRR ANS O N WHEE1S C ob Forw ard Des.gn • Dual A - B ags' • Dynamrc Side Impact Protect,on • O ptronal ABS Brakes • O p tio n a l Eight Speaker Premium Sound System ’ Always use seat belts Remember the bock seot ,s the safest place lor your children hftp / / www plymouthccrs com 1 0 00 PLYMOUTH