Dealer Running For President Hopes To Beat Out Hillary For Nomination

There has been a lot of news coverage lately about presidential candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but did you hear about “Rocky” De La Fuente? He’s a dealer principal running for president?

Roque Rocky De La Fuente officially filed his intent with the federal election commission to run for President of the United States. Rocky, as he’s called on his campaign website, is running as a Democrat and would bring a wealth of retail automotive experience into the Oval Office.

Rocky detailed his background in retail auto to Automotive News. Rocky began his career working at a Volkswagen dealership on the service side. Rocky then found success working for a Toyota dealership and eventually became a dealer, at one point owning 24 franchise dealerships. The retail automotive entrepreneur noted his continued need to sue General Motors over their failure to honor Cadillac engine warranties. He told AN he doesn’t have a lot of confidence in automakers. Speaking of automakers, De La Fuente told AN, “They’re not your friend. They never have been. They try to give you the dogs, and if a car is hot, they think they’re prima donnas. And they play games, with allocation, with everything. You have to outsmart them.” Today, Rocky owns one franchise, De La Fuente Cadillac.

De La Fuente also has a strong opinion of what employees learn in the dealership business. Speaking to Automotive News, Rocky said, “I don’t care about Harvard. I don’t care about Stanford. The best university in the world is an automobile dealership.”

We reached out to the “Rocky De La Fuente for president” campaign and found out Rocky on the campaign trail in Iowa. Rocky said the best university in the world was a dealership. What do you think of the learning opportunity available to the employees who choose to work in retail automotive? Rocky also referenced his trouble with General Motors. What has your relationship with automaker been? Has it been smooth sailing or has it been a little bit rocky?