This year deal­ers are look­ing at the huge chal­lenge of a Japan­ese earth­quake that dis­rupt­ed pro­duc­tion and left already-thirsty stores with a gap in sup­ply. They’re also deal­ing with high gas prices that have affect­ed demand at their stores. Despite head­winds, deal­ers were 40 per­cent more prof­itable than they were in 2009 and have begun this year with sim­i­lar progress, accord­ing to the Nation­al Auto­mo­bile Deal­ers Association’s recent reports regard­ing the health of fran­chised deal­ers.