Top 100 Used Dealers, Tesla and China Deal on FSD, New EV Insight Report

Paul J Daly: 0:02

Good morning is ending like in a few days from now it's April 29. Talking about the top 100 Use car dealers, Tesla and China doing a deal and some new Evie insights from a company you may have heard of.

‍Kyle Mountsier: 0:20

You may think that that Paul and I kind of like get a wee chat for a little while. You know, we hadn't checked in on our weekends, but normally No, that's not how it is when Paul says good morning on a Monday morning, it's like Oh, good morning,

Paul J Daly: 0:36

sometimes that's the first words that we have one another. Hey, can you see my hat? Can

Kyle Mountsier: 0:42

you see the hat? Oh, stop.

Paul J Daly: 0:44

So what I did was the limited edition hats that we made when we did the the crowdfund for episode of more than cars. And I dyed the leather black over the weekend. And it just looked at it's just dope that Nathan our producers I must have on this is a one of one I made. This is a Paul Daley. TJ D Custom. I need I make you one work. I make you one. I have some brutal. I use that to paint the speaker's sneakers for soda Con last year. Hey, did we mentioned a soda? We have to do two weeks from today. I'll be in a car driving gone down to Baltimore. Are you driving? Are you flying?

Kyle Mountsier: 1:24

wait two weeks from today? It'd be over right? No, no. Sorry. That was three weeks. I'm still sideways. We're back. We're flying. I decided to fly we were going to take the drive thing but it was like we're gonna stay an extra night somewhere. I

Paul J Daly: 1:37

feel like you've chosen wisely. My Drive isn't bad. I'm like five and a half. Yeah, and it's just not worth it to your kids. Two solid days of road tripping. You know, we like each other but you want to keep it that way. We saw Brian benstock posted his a soda con billboard we laid it in on the Ed Sullivan Theater. We thought it was really appropriate. If you haven't seen it on LinkedIn and Facebook. You're gonna see these you know, this person's going to a soda con billboards all over. Listen, it's May 14 through 17th. Just south of Baltimore. You can fly into BWI be at the venue in less than 10 minutes. It is packed and we you posted a pitch posted a thing about a fever pitch

Kyle Mountsier: 2:18

last Yes. Right. Yeah, I looked up the definition. I was like, that's exactly what it is. That's everybody's talking about it. The energy is nuts. Yep. I'm super excited to see what's in store around the event this week. Like I feel like every single week, there's a new thing that pops up. Yep. It's like, oh, we should definitely do that. Yeah, absolutely.

Paul J Daly: 2:39

Now let's fill it out. We ordered a we're gonna have a really killer swag store this year. We have one last year we're going to up it just a little bit. We got some new premium T shirts coming in with the love people more than you love cars. It's the nicest cotton. I mean, I've been I've been working hard in the offseason to find just the right cotton because I'm picky like that.

Kyle Mountsier: 2:58

I am. That's Paul's offseason work.

Paul J Daly: 3:01

There's a whole YouTube series about it. I traveled the world looking for cotton. It's amazing, though. People more than love cotton. It's a whole thing. And he's got to be

Kyle Mountsier: 3:12

prepared just to rub it on its butts and make sure it doesn't.

Paul J Daly: 3:17

That's true. But but if you haven't joined us, we have so many industry leaders and innovators across dealers, tons of dealers that are on this top 100 used car dealers list. We'll read those in a second. But we hope you can join us. Go to ASOTU con.com. Grab your tickets. Make sure you join us You still got two weeks. It's only Baltimore you can get there. All right, what else we're talking about? Probably some news. If

Kyle Mountsier: 3:39

you haven't if you haven't checked out the Auto Collabs podcast, you're doing yourself not a favor. You should do yourself the favor of checking out Auto Collabs anywhere where you can get your podcasts because the conversations recently have been so good.

Paul J Daly: 3:51

Nathan scroll through some of these up. I see you have them teed up for some of these graphics up. Nick SQ of space auto that was one of the most fun conversations keep flipping through. Let's talk about who we have recently. Diagonally of constellation boy, she just melted our face when she called throttle on that one. It was nuts. Absolutely. Also, I want to make sure shirts made with Kyle and Paul's beards coming soon. Oh, Brian Ortega. That is too funny. That's gross, too. It's also very gross, disgusting. Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our presenting co collaborating sponsors, Reynolds and Reynolds and Gugu, who have made a soda con, just be able to be at that next level by partnering with us. Thank you so much for doing that. Make sure you check them out. I hope you get to meet Greg Yulan while you're there, because he's their cmo Reynolds and he is just an amazing person. He's going to be one of the judges on pitch tanks. And he understands the heart of the industry. As good as anyone. I'll just put leave it there. Also, thank you so much to our other collaborators. We have so many. We're going to start mentioning them dropping them but they're all going to be part of the family. If you still want to be a part of it as a collaborator sponsor. We still have a few things left. So Just DMS or just email crew at a soda.com and we can find something that's still a good fit for you so you can be part of the fun. Alright, it's news time for real this time. All right following the top 150 dealer list released two weeks ago Automotive News has now released their list of The Top 100 used car dealer groups, the top 100 us collectively sold get this 3.2 million US vehicles that's a lot of appraisals to get those trades in 2023 marking slight growth but not a lot. 2.1% over the previous year. So a little bit more here the top 10 Some of these no real surprise Lithia I'm going to read them in order Lithia auto nation Penske group one Santa's coming in at number five Asbury Hendrick, so now not non Publix, Hendrick Automotive Group, Morgan Automotive Group. They've been on the hunt, Ken garff. And and our I don't know, and our Hudson Automotive Group. Do you know what that is?

Kyle Mountsier: 5:55

It's just Hudson. Yeah, I mean, everybody knows that. That's just the

Paul J Daly: 5:59

official name right? So the top 10 of this list accounted for 51.3% of total sales. So obviously, they're getting it done. Acquisitions and expansions a big part of why the group's moves on list. Not surprisingly, Lithia is still number one with 325,764 us vehicles. Some groups like the Mercado water group saw a dramatic rise in their rankings. They they just came on the scene actually a while others like Baxter group faced some declines, right, so maybe they're not on the hunt. here's the here's my favorite part of this whole stuff. This is what's great. Yes, here's a list of the dealer groups represented on this top 100 who are going to be at ASOTU CON. Let us auto nation group one Walzer Ziggler oarsmen rohrman McGovern, Fox motors, number one Cochran Pohanka, Germaine de GDG, Carter Myers, and Sam Pak all gonna be there. Now let if you're like, I don't know if there gonna be any dealers there? Well, some big ones 15 of the top 100 used car dealers in the country are gonna be there. The

Kyle Mountsier: 7:06

notes here what blows my mind. One is that these top 100 dealers are super interested in continuing to learn and continue to give back to the industry. So there's like, a desire to speak into the industry and also learn about what how to get better. And so they send their people to events like this. The other thing, what's crazy is that 10 groups account for 51% of the overall 100 Group's total sales. The other crazy thing is that, and I don't know what the stat is this year, but a couple years back, did some calculations and of the top 100 groups. They account for like something like 30 something percent of the overall retail industries used car sales, so like

Paul J Daly: 7:52

they 100 out of 16,000. Yeah,

Kyle Mountsier: 7:56

exactly. So yeah, there's a lot a lot a lot of used cars and knowledge in these groups. Kudos to those that are.

Paul J Daly: 8:04

I think you nailed it, though, as far as like the reason they're in that group is because they keep coming to events. Keep sharing insights with one another. And one of our favorites. Liza Borches. Meyers Borches You know her because her quotes on all of our shirts love people more? Do you love cars, so good to see her in the top 100 And the fact she is going to be at a soda con with probably six of her staff. Yeah, or someone who understands how to invest in training. You know, that's how you know, I wish I had a segue so bad because we need this. We need to stop energy right now. Either way, Tesla and China's largest search engine and map provider, Baidu have sealed a deal enabling Tesla's full self driving system to now operate in China, leveraging Baidu is crucial mapping licenses for navigation on Chinese roads. So there's a little bit of data to be gained here. Baidu will provide Tesla with mapping licensed essential for operation of FSD on all public roads in China enhancing their capabilities, and obviously, they're speeding up their learning curve. It allows Tesla now to collect road data in China. No, yes. And not only allows them to collect road data, but also clears a lot of regulatory hurdles that have been in place stopping Tesla from be able to develop the tech on Chinese roads, it remains still unclear whether or not the data collected will be owned by Tesla, or Baidu, I think I have an idea of what that's gonna do. It does coincide with CEO Elon Musk recent trip to China where he met with Premier Li Chang to discuss further approvals needed for rollout data transfer protocols, etc. Elon Musk says the partnership is a cornerstone for deploying our advanced FSD technology in China and stressed how important this is to the overall development of the technology in general. Well,

Kyle Mountsier: 9:47

just pairing this with the fact that I saw a couple of articles this weekend. Highlighting BYD is opportunity to take over Tesla as a world leader in in the market of EVs. This is extremely important for Tesla because They're leading technology that's driving a lot of their stock value right now is this opportunity at FSD. And so if that wasn't possible in China, one of the largest Evie markets, that would be a real struggle for them as far as market competitiveness and with be BYD kind of breathing down their neck, so there's a massive move for them. I also think just when you think about Evie adoption, and if FF FSD can now be develop, implemented, tested in environments where you have a lot more Evie adoption, that's going to be good for this technology in other countries like the US that maybe are a little bit behind and Evie adoption,

Paul J Daly: 10:44

you know, over the weekend, Brian benstock sent me I think it was a YouTube knows and Instagram real. And it was about some Wall Street analysts talking about how Tesla could potentially go under, you know, just talking about the trade. He's just saying like, it's not out of the ordinary to see how this is happening. However, they never I don't know why this is. They only talk about the car sales. Like I don't Yeah, no, I don't. Yeah. And

Kyle Mountsier: 11:11

and they're like, Tesla is like positioning to be the energy provider of the US basically.

Paul J Daly: 11:17

Yeah. And why is the Uber and build humanoid robots and deploy them in factories? Right. It's just it's only the

Kyle Mountsier: 11:26

charging network. They're licensing their charger. I was talking to someone this weekend that they are they basically a massive point of their revenue stream is carbon offset credits from other auto manufacturers, right. Like, they don't have a problem. That's my,

Paul J Daly: 11:42

they can sell other things. Yeah, but you know, they kind of do need FSD to work, especially if they have a robo taxi. That's true. It's kind of a kind of a point. It's making the things that are true. Great data insights here from our friends at Experian.

Kyle Mountsier: 11:56

Hey, so they have released Experian has released their q4 2023 electric vehicles year in review, that they put out a couple surprising insights, maybe that may make a little bit more sense of the Eevee landscape. So here we go. electric vehicle registrations have continued to climb representing 8% of all new retail individual transactions in 2023, up from 6% in the previous year, so like a 33% improvement. Yeah. Is there any industry that would be like nah, 33% We're good. On the way. The Tesla Model y and model three lead the pack still in evey sales dominating the market with substantial shares of 36.8% and 19.6%, respectively. The top three makes in 2022. Were Tesla Ford and Chevy in 2023. It was Tesla Chevy and here's the sleeper Hyundai.

Paul J Daly: 12:51

I hate to admit this, this crushed me I was like, Wait, Ford's not in the top three because I feel like we hear the most from them. Right? Right when it comes. Charlie wants to be Elon Musk's. So you know what I mean? Chevy beating Ford. That's got that's got to be a stinger that that hurts.

Kyle Mountsier: 13:05

Yeah. Here's here's the super surprising one. Paul. I don't know. This is the really really surprising ones overall. Leading the Eevee registrations for cities South

Paul J Daly: 13:15

Dakota, Oklahoma,

Kyle Mountsier: 13:17

Oklahoma, and Boise, Idaho. No, actually, it's Los Angeles in New York and San Francisco. reflecting a strong urban adoption of electric vehicles. smaller markets like El Paso let's go represent Boise show impressive year over year growth in evey registrations significantly expanding interest even across the country. The the other super surprising one, primary buyers of the EVs have been millennials and Gen X, because they are increasingly aware obviously of the tech the total number of renewed retail individual registrations did drop from 12 point 3 million in 2022 To 11 point 8,000,020 23 So just means that there is a more competitive or saturated market additionally, just you know, the overall SAR of the industry 2020 to 2023 changed, which is why you see an increase in market share but a decrease in overall retail units.

Paul J Daly: 14:19

It's it's fun to watch this adoption curve. Without a doubt like I'm considering an Eevee for my next car when I get out of the Land Cruiser like I just didn't evaluated my driving happens. And I'm like, I mean, I think it's, I think it's good for me, especially because we talked so much about it to maybe get one. I've thought about it too, saying you know and it's like I so we'll save that for another point drive like

Kyle Mountsier: 14:41

6000 miles every 18 months, so I'd probably be good in one but in

Paul J Daly: 14:45

a survey of one person who when we renovated this building and put us to put an EV charger it's literally 15 feet from where I'm standing at my desk so I can watch it all day. I watch people come up to it and the beginning it was just people circling it looking at it. Like it was like a scene out have like a like, What's that movie with the monkeys takeover Planet of the Apes. We'll just kind of circle it and like bang on a little bit snippet like what is this thing? But now I'll tell you what, like there's a Chevy Bolt parked and it was here when I got here this morning. And now all day I'm watching people use this more and more and it's not just Tesla's it's Tesla's it's Fords and Chevy's it's Hyundai's, I see a couple of

Kyle Mountsier: 15:21

timeline Jeeps you've been in there a year and a half, I think, right? We've been

Paul J Daly: 15:25

in the building two years, two years but really no one even touched it for this first six months. It's why but yeah, but now now there's you know, I wish it I wish it made money but it doesn't show good last year I like the bill to be a part of like the the charge point network or whatever when we are it was actually more than the revenue generator.

Kyle Mountsier: 15:43

Oh, no.

Paul J Daly: 15:45

You're welcome. Do my little part to tell consumers what they should buy. I guess. There you go. Good job.

Unknown: 15:51

I'm proud of you. Thanks.

Paul J Daly: 15:52

I know we know you all have a lot of work to do. Hopefully we gave you something to think about. Talk about. We gave you a website to go to ASOTU con.com. But tell your friends check out LinkedIn. Give it a little love. We're giving you love back. We'll see you tomorrow.

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