McKenzie County Farmer - Latest News

Steve Hallstrom
Special to The Farmer

The Nelson Auto footprint continues to grow, and the family’s business growth shows no signs of letting off the gas pedal.
The Nelson family recently completed the purchase of Williston Auto, and the dealership is now operating under the name of Red Rock Chevy GMC. The dealership remains at its current location in the heart of Williston.

“We’ve been thrilled with the opportunities in North Dakota,” said owner Adam Nelson in a recent radio interview with The Flag (AM 1090 / FM 92.7.) “The business climate here is exceptional, and it’s allowed us to expand strategically. Our foothold in western North Dakota began in 2016 with the Ford store in Williston, followed by Dickinson and a Dodge store in Watford City. The recent acquisition of Williston Auto lets us serve more customers with a great team and a diverse lineup.”

The Nelson family’s roots in the automotive industry trace back to the early 1990s, when Nelson’s parents established their flagship dealership in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. They instilled a community-focused mindset to their business operations, a value that Adam Nelson says he’s proud to carry forward.

“We see ourselves in every community where we’re operating. We want to live in that community, and we want to know the people in that community. You see your customers at the grocery store. I just feel like the mentality of doing business that way versus more of a corporate national approach is just better. I think a car dealership should be a main street business. I think it’s good for communities when you have strong local car dealers and we’re doing our best to make that happen.”

In addition to its western North Dakota dealerships, the Nelson family operates stores in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and the original store in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. The Grand Forks location, approaching its two-year anniversary in September 2025, has thrived in a dynamic market driven by agriculture and local commerce.

“My wife and I lived out there (in Western North Dakota) for seven great years. And then we had an opportunity to come back to Grand Forks when a national brand…decided to pull out. And we were just so excited to come to a community like this. My wife and I moved here. We have three young boys and it’s a great place for them. It’s a very, very vibrant economy up here and it’s the kind of business we know. It’s the agriculture, it’s taking care of local people, it’s providing solid service and giving everybody good selection and pricing.”

North Dakota’s vehicle market remains robust, reflecting the state’s agricultural and industrial backbone. According to the North Dakota Department of Transportation, over 48,000 new vehicles were registered in the state in 2024, with pickup trucks accounting for nearly 60 percent of sales. The Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram 1500 consistently rank as top sellers, driven by demand from farmers, oilfield workers, and small business owners. In western North Dakota, where oil production fuels economic activity, heavy-duty trucks like the Ford F-250 and GMC Sierra HD are particularly popular.

But even in North Dakota, recent industry data suggests a growing interest in hybrid vehicles, aligning with national trends. A 2025 report from the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) noted a 25 percent year-over-year increase in hybrid vehicle sales in North Dakota, with models like the Ford Maverick and Toyota RAV4 Hybrid gaining popularity among both urban and rural buyers.

Electric vehicles (EVs), however, face challenges in the state due to limited charging infrastructure and high upfront costs. Nelson says the hurdles are very tangible.

“EVs are right for some customers, but the push over the last few years has been costly. Our Dickinson store, for example, invested nearly half a million dollars in EV infrastructure…and the return on investment is not there yet.”

Nationally, EV sales reached 294,250 units in the first quarter of 2025, up 11.4 percent year-over-year, with a 7.5 percent market share, according to industry data from Cox Auto, Inc. This follows a record 1.3 million EVs sold in 2024. Growth is driven by new models from General Motors, Ford, and Hyundai, though Tesla’s market share dropped to 43.4 percent from 49 percent in 2024.
North Dakota has one of the lowest EV adoption rates in the U.S., according to LendingTree.Com. In Mississippi, 1.2 percent of light-duty vehicle registrations are for EVs, while North Dakota (1.3 percent) and Louisiana (1.4 percent) follow. The national average is 4.3 percent.

Nelson says one of the ways that automakers are meeting today’s financial challenges is by moving resources away from the so-called green vehicles.

“I think the offset for this in terms of costs for a company like Ford Motor Company is potentially some pullback on some of these green initiatives that have been very aggressive. I’ll choose my words carefully on that, but that has been extremely expensive for manufacturers, and dealers and taxpayers, in making this EV push happen. And I can tell you we have made absolutely no money on EVs to date. And I don’t see that happening in the near future.”

The automotive industry, as a whole, is undergoing significant changes, with trade policies and manufacturing shifts leading the way. In early 2025, the announcement of new tariffs on imported vehicles from Canada and Mexico sent shockwaves through the industry, given the integrated supply chains between the three countries. Domestic manufacturers like Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram) are responding by ramping up U.S. production.

Ford COO Kumar Galhotra tells the Detroit Free Press that the team “is in the trenches” working on ways to continue to limit tariff impacts. He said 80 percent of Ford’s parts are compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement, therefore exempt from tariffs. Still, Ford is looking for opportunities to source more parts that are made in the United States.

Ford recently announced that its “From America, For America” employee pricing campaign, launched in early 2025, has driven a 16 percent sales increase in April, with the F-150, Maverick, and Bronco setting new records.

“We’re seeing a proactive response from domestic manufacturers,” Nelson explained. “Ford Motor Company itself employs the most hourly workers in auto manufacturing in the country. And I think their response to that was, ‘we’re going to increase production in U.S. plants everywhere we can,’ and we’re actively seeing that in the Kansas City F-150 Plant, for instance, on the Ford side. We believe as domestics, we have some advantage, relative to some of the foreign imports and they want to take share right now. And that’s why you’re seeing Ford Motor Company come out with the employee pricing for all. And then Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram followed up very shortly after with employee pricing plus.”

The employee pricing model is more than a marketing tactic, says Nelson.
“It’s the real deal. Every vehicle invoice includes a factory employee price, and that’s what customers get with this offer. It’s the same price a Ford worker in Detroit would pay, so it’s a great time to buy.”

General Motors, led by CEO Mary Barra, has also pledged to avoid price hikes in 2025, even if it means accepting lower profit margins. Barra, appearing on CNN, said she believes the company will keep the prices the same, but there’s no guarantee. “We believe…pricing is going to stay at about the same level as it is,” she told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

Red Rock Auto’s acquisition of Williston Auto was finalized in April and marks a significant development in the Nelson family’s western North Dakota strategy as it complements Red Rock Ford’s offerings in Williston.

“Our team in Williston is outstanding, and we’re excited to bring Chevrolet and GMC to northwest North Dakota. Whether it’s a Silverado for work or a Yukon for family, we’ve got something for everyone.”

The expansion follows Red Rock Ford’s completion of a 90,000 square-foot facility in Dickinson in February 2024, featuring a 30,000 square-foot showroom and a 60,000 square-foot service center. The dealership is one of the few Ford locations certified for commercial vehicle services.

Looking ahead, Nelson remains optimistic about the industry’s direction, particularly the push for U.S. manufacturing.
“What I’ve observed is these free trade agreements were put in place, and countries competed with us, obviously, with lower-cost labor all over the world. And then on top of it, certain countries such as China would come in and have government programs designed to essentially pull a piece or pieces of that industry into their countries. And I don’t think we, in the U.S., have traditionally done much of a job defending ourselves against that. And it’s a shame. It was really hard across most of the mid upper-Midwest in that Great Lakes area, losing all those jobs. So, it’s, great to see a push to bring those back, and I’m excited to see what comes out of it.”

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