Mike Jackson, the CEO of AutoNation would be stepping down from his position next year and on Wednesday, he told that he will be delivering the largest chain of car dealerships in US, in really good shape.
According to Jackson, as far as the industry is concerned, the auto sales seems to have a good outlook, which he said right after the company announced his transition to be the executive chairman in 2019, a position that he is expected to hold through the period of 2021.
The rise in popularity, which the pickup trucks have had, has helped in increasing the profit margin for the automakers. This can act as a cover for fluctuations in volume. The industry, which is quite notoriously cyclical in nature has noticed record number of sales in recent few years, close to 17 million vehicles on an annual basis.
However, the effect of inflation showing tendencies of life could mean even increasing rates of interest, which would make auto loans a lot more expensive.
Mike Jackson said that as and when the break out of inflation takes place, the Federal Reserve would hike up the rates to control the effects of inflation in an aggressive manner but right now, there is no sign of inflation.
As of now, the economy is in a very good position, which could go on for some time.
In Jackson’s 20 years of service as the CEO of AutoNation, he is, to his credit has been a transformative leader, who had formed a single entity as well as the strategy around a whole of dealerships across the United States. He had got hired by the founder of AutoNation, Wayne Huizenga, when he was heading the Mercedes-Benz division in USA. During that time, the notion of getting auto dealerships rolled up in one large network was an unconventional proposition and some doubts had got raised, regarding the fact that whether the company would be able to accomplish what they have set out to do.
Since taking over the reigns in the month of October in 1999, AutoNation has gone on to generate a return of 340 percent for the shareholders.
