Message from the Chairman

Robert Valdes, El Centro Motors

I want to personally thank you all for supporting me as the Chairman of this noble and great organization. Under my leadership, we will continue serving current and future Ford MDA dealers throughout the United States. Further, I look forward to carrying out the mission of our organization and leading the board through these interesting and challenging times ahead of us in the retail automobile industry.

The Board members that we currently have assisting me are highly engage in making our organization the best it can be. Our board members continue to chair our committees with Ford Motor Company and Ford Motor Credit Company. I also want to thank those Ford MDA members that are sitting on our committees for 2022. We have the following committees up and running:
• Sustain and Strengthen
• Liquidity
• Membership and Communications
• Candidate/Location

For 2022, we have our own Eddie Hall III a Next Gen participant representing our association on Ford Motor Company Dealer Council. We will continue with quarterly conference calls to keep our members informed and get input from our members that we can share with Ford Motor Company and Ford Motor Credit Company.

By now you should have received our save the date information on our annual conference being held at the Park Hyatt Aviara in Carlsbad, California, May 12th thru May 14th. The theme of our Conference is “Evolution by Innovation.” We want you poised and ready for the EV revolution going on in our industry. As we have done for the last eight years at our membership meeting and conference, we will continue the tradition of the town hall meeting with Ford Motor Company and Ford Motor Credit Company executives. The town hall gives us a chance to bring up issues concerning Ford and Lincoln dealers with emphasis on minority dealers. We will send out a survey to you in advance so that we can prepare the panelist with your questions. Your candid opinion at the town hall meeting does not fall on deaf ears. There have been numerous suggestions that Ford Motor Company and Ford Motor Credit Company used for dealership improvements that came from the town hall participants.

Our vendors are putting together content workshops for you to gain a wealth of knowledge. We will also have the aisle of assistance for you to peruse for ideas, tips, and tools that will assist your dealership. Our conference is the main member benefit that we provide for our dealers. Your participation makes our line group second to none.

As the COVID variants effect on the economy winds down, we will continue monitoring the impact of COVID on our industry. We understand that the retail automobile industry may never be the same. However, there are going to be opportunities to purchase Ford and Lincoln franchises. As an association we will do everything in our power to assist our members to fulfil their objective of getting another dealership. Another objective is to sustain and strengthen the current dealers that we have. Again, I appreciate your support of me and our association. Please continue staying safe, as we look forward to a fantastic 2022.
Sincerely,

Robert Valdes, El Centro Motors