Absolutely!!
You are the junior in this case. Putting the President of your company in the back seat was a sign of disrespect. You should always defer to your seniors. You would not walk through the door of a restaurant before your boss, or the President, would you? Leaving one of them to open the door for you? Or would you :-)
Always remember your place in the organization. One day someone will be opening the door for you, if you incorporate great Etiquette and Protocol skills in the workplace today.
Good luck!
I knew of a guy that he did this with and got fired! But that was his second offense. The first offense, as the new kid on the block in his first meeting, he sat at the head of table where the GM was to sit…The GM said thanks for saving my seat…after he did the car thing that was the straw that broke the camels back…So you are very right about this. There is a protocol but our new work generation is not aware. Sad!