DOWNEY — Tim Hutcherson, owner and dealer principal at Downey Nissan has been nominated for the 2023 TIME Dealer of the Year award, TIME has announced.

Hutcherson, 65, is one of a select group of 48 dealer nominees from across the country who will be honored at the 106th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show held in Dallas, Texas, on Jan. 27, 2023.

A prestigious and highly coveted honor in the automobile industry, the TIME Dealer of the Year award recognizes the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service.

Hutcherson was chosen to represent the California New Car Dealers Association in the national competition – one of only 48 auto dealers nominated for the 54th annual award from more than 16,000 nationwide.

“I am overwhelmingly honored to have been chosen,” said Hutcherson. “I’ve watched other people win the award, or receive the award, and always wondered what it would be like. To be nominated was wonderful, but then to win at the moment for the state, I guess I’m proud and overjoyed.”

Hutcherson opened Downey Nissan in 2008, and even through a recession and a pandemic, has been able to survive, thrive, and become integrated into the city of Downey.

He said Downey Nissan “has a relationship in the city.”

“In the city of Downey, we’ve tried to do outreach… We’ve worked with the YMCA, we’ve worked with the school district, Rancho Los Amigos rehab, the Women’s Center that’s over here, police department, fire department,” said Hutcherson. “I think if you do that in a community, you’re not afraid to put yourself out there. They know who I am, they know who the store is. So, it kind of bodes well with the customer that no one’s hiding around here; It’s all right, there it is.

“I want to give back, and I think that pays off in customer satisfaction, which ends up leading to these awards that come.”

Hutcherson also owns a dealership in Tustin.