Over the Thanksgiving Holiday, my whole family got together at my sister’s house in coastal North Carolina for a multi-generational tradition: making Brunswick stew from scratch in a mammoth cast-iron pot (think witch’s cauldron). 

The stew takes on a bold flavor, after more than half-dozen ingredients take on a full day of hot-coal smoke from a backyard fire.

Further south, they cook a flavorful melting pot of a different sort: gumbo. 

It’s one of the many fine dishes that Louisiana blessed us with, although it’s up against a lot of competition.

But like Brunswick stew, its incredible taste is not derived from one or two ingredients standing alone, but rather a blend of flavors working together. 

Gumbo is emblematic of cohesion and arguably a culinary symbol of the great state and culture of Louisiana. 

So perhaps it’s appropriate that’s where we return for National Automobile Dealers Association’s Convention & Expo, dubbed NADA100 to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the association.

While it’s a convention for the 16,500-plus franchised new-car dealers, the event in all practicality is a celebration and convergence of the entire retail auto industry.

And that industry, as you might imagine, has lots of “ingredients,” so to speak. Dealers, manufacturers, lenders, auctions, third-party service providers, online research sites, technology providers, tech startups, analysts, government institutions, economists and, yes, media members. 

Much like all of the individual ingredients of gumbo come together for a blend of zesty flavor, the individual pieces of the retail car business are brought into one
convention space at NADA. 

It takes each ingredient of gumbo to create that powerful taste, just like it takes every moving piece of the retail auto industry to make it an interesting, evolving and ultimately successful one. 

And even when you throw in a new ingredient to gumbo for a twist (in my case, hot sauce), it just makes it that much better. Same goes for the retail car business. More competition, more players, different ways of doing business — it all can help make the end result a better experience for the consumer. 

All those ingredients, and even the new ones, gives the retail auto business its vibrancy and helps make it one of the most interesting, fastest-moving industries in the U.S. And that’s what makes the convergence of these “ingredients” over a handful of days each year one of the highlights of my job. 

Now, as a side note, if you’re looking for a good place to get gumbo while you’re in New Orleans for the convention, I highly recommend Coop’s Place on Decatur Street. My editorial partner-in-crime Nick Zulovich had the gumbo there the last time NADA was in NOLA, and he described it as “pretty tasty.” 

As it should be.

 

Editor's Note: This commentary is part of Auto Remarketing's special coverage on the upcoming NADA Convention & Expo, which is featured in the January edition of the magazine.