2025 Predictions by Paul, Kyle and Steve Greenfield, Generation Beta Is Here

Paul J Daly  0:01  
There you go. I took me to get the record button. But here we are, Thursday, first show with the new year, January. 2. We're talking about 2025, predictions from you, me, Steve Greenfield, Nathan Southwick, and there's also the people. A new generation was born today, yesterday. Oh,

Kyle Mountsier  0:19  
I saw that new generation, they just decided that they're gonna start this year. I don't know how they decided

Paul J Daly  0:26  
that's 14 years. It's not, it's not 20 years. I think it's like 14 years. I mean, I guess I mean 14 year generation. It's like babies have babies. Like, what are we talking about here? It's like, almost the youngest. I know, I know. But look, without a doubt, this is today. Is the full on kickoff the next three weeks. The next four weeks is going to be all about the NADA show and what dealers are doing, not just at the show, but to prepare themselves for 2025 so we're right back into it. Maybe get a little bit of a of a pass the next two days, because if you're not selling cars are still trying to close out your month like, We're driving to work today. I said to Miles was like, I think we might be the only ones working. Literally,

Kyle Mountsier  1:07  
I Yeah, everybody's kind of taking that, like, end of the week trail. What, what I think is exciting about that is that, like, if you're in a dealership right now, there's a good chance that the majority of your community is still, like, shopping. Large amount is still shopping is still out there. It's kind of like an extended last week of the year. It is. So don't let off the gas.

Paul J Daly  1:28  
No, the Wednesday, the Wednesday holiday, really throws everything for a loop for two weeks in a row, you know, so, but yeah, I mean, like, that's a great point. Like the mall, yes. I mean, it was New Year's though, like the mall and the movies are crowded. I bet it's gonna be the same story today. Yeah, same story today. Oh, but look, coming into the show, the NADA show, nada parties.com is up and filling up with more parties every day. So you can go to nada parties.com and check out all the evening activity that's going on. Two things, if you have a party, go to the site. You can register for free, so everyone can find it, right? Yes, I mean Exactly. If you don't like the site, we'll give you all your money back after you register, 100% of the your money. But also, ASOTU is having our first ever after party at nada. It's actually more like a happy hour. So with for the site. We partner with Claire boy for the party. We're partnering with some other folks so you can see all everyone we're doing stuff with. I don't want to miss anybody, so that's what I that's when I start to dodge my brain. Still, you got you guys,

Kyle Mountsier  2:32  
Claire boy, upstart, I pack it. Auto genius, all coming in throwing I would

Paul J Daly  2:36  
have missed one close. I would have missed one before I knew it. Thank you. Thank you. And so look, even if tickets are sold out, because some of the ticket types are already sold out, we're going to be out of space in like, well, sold out, they're free, but we're going to be out of space. But we did open up a waiting list because we are confirming attendance moving into it. So our first stop party, make sure you get on the waiting list, because we're going to confirm attendance the week before or the week of, and if you don't confirm attendance, we're going to give away your spot. And we're also going to do some lotteries. So please get on the wait list. If it is sold out, we want to make sure we can see and meet as many people as possible and give you the custom swag and all the other cool things that are going to happen. Then I we you, and I haven't been to the venue, but we've heard from people who know, they're like, Oh, you got that

Kyle Mountsier  3:18  
thing. We know. We know some insiders down there. One of our newer employees, John, is down there. She was like, Oh, this place is unbelievable. So you're not going to want to miss it. If you are on the list, make sure you answer your phone

Paul J Daly  3:29  
Yes, yes, yes, yes. All right, I think that's, I think that's what we're talking about. We have predictions, right? Everyone's coming out with their predictions. Get into the predictions. We got to do our own, you know, like, we need, like, little prediction transition music. We didn't have that. I mean, give us a break. It's the first day of the year. So alright, so we're gonna drop some predictions here. We have some bonus

Kyle Mountsier  3:47  
predictions real quick before, before we get into these predictions, we did these completely separately. We did neither of us knew what was going on. No alignment was created alongside the number of predictions or the the theme of these predictions, you can ask Nathan Southwick, this is the truth about these predictions.

Paul J Daly  4:10  
They really proceed?

Nathan Southwick  4:12  
Can confirm they wrote them completely separate, did not see them, and they are basically the same? No,

Paul J Daly  4:18  
I think the funny part about is they're very similar, but I think they're very nuanced. I think this is actually, you could probably drop this in the GPT, and you could be like, explain, like, extrapolate from these what Paul and Kyle's personalities are likely gravitate toward that. All right, here's my first one. I said there's going to be more concerted effort to differentiate based differentiate businesses. This is both dealers and industry partners based on the people, individual people, and the personalities of the business overall. So not just features advantage benefits that's always going to be important, but more differentiation for people and personalities within the businesses.

Kyle Mountsier  4:57  
And my nuance to that is that dealers will spend more. On in house creative and social media than they ever have as a percentage of their overall marketing budget. So and I think where you're right there is like, those are the stories that dealers are going to realize they have to tell more and more their organic media through the creative that they're putting out. Because if they don't, then they're just spinning their wheels on things that can be replicated in the market. Yeah, it's

Paul J Daly  5:24  
mind share, it's brand equity. I also think like live shopping is going to become a thing in retail. Auto it's becoming a major thing in retail in general. And I think the people that jump out, I should have put this in here. I'll put it in my officials. If I make them all right, you start with the next one. Go

Kyle Mountsier  5:38  
ahead. So for me, I said that all American made OEMs will actually strike net new R D deals for EV technology to try and attempt to compete in the global EV race. I think looking at what like Toyota and Mazda did a few years ago, now, Honda and Nissan and we're seeing manufacturers globally start to partner to complete specifically with Chinese brands is going to happen on American soil at some level, to try and leverage, like buying power, r, d, resources, all that. I like

Paul J Daly  6:13  
it. I like it. I had one about EVs. Secondly, second as well. I think EV sales strategy and efforts in both new and used cars is no longer going to be just for early adopters. This is the year everyone has a new and used EV strategy that doesn't include just off wholesale everyone we get. That is the strategy right now. For some that still It absolutely is changed by the end, it's going to

Kyle Mountsier  6:40  
become more central, especially on the used car, I think especially on the used car side, absolutely

Paul J Daly  6:44  
All right, here's the next one. Ai use in everything from strategy to marketing to analysis, is going to skyrocket inside a dealerships, regular practice.

Kyle Mountsier  6:55  
Yeah, I think you're right on that. And I think it's going to be more about, like, the native use of the technologies, and not like buying an industry, they're going to be natively using like GPT or Gemini or perplexity, or whatever it is to do those things internally, as opposed to like only relying on external resources for that.

Paul J Daly  7:16  
That's good. Kyle has a bonus Kyle.

Kyle Mountsier  7:19  
So my my AI prediction was actually that it will enable true digital finance application approval and recommendations for a more seamless deal flow. I think that that's the bottleneck still in so many retail situations, we're going to be able to leverage AI to basically make that a seamless transition, like 111, such

Paul J Daly  7:37  
an obvious one. If you actually see some of the tech out there that can just be like, Oh yes, no, maybe this one, maybe that one, some practical use for it. All right, we have a bonus. Here's the bonus action, which Kyle might have his thumb on the scales.

Kyle Mountsier  7:51  
Unless someone get the bunch out, because it's coming, automotive conferences will finally get better. Coffee. I don't think it's gonna happen, but fair. We're trying, but we're really trying. I'm praying for

Paul J Daly  8:08  
lack of trying. Um, Nathan Southwick, you need to come in, because you had a couple of predictions, so I think we need to get one from you too, because you you get to hang out with as many amazing people in this industry as we do as you're doing interviews and listening through things. So what do you think is happening? So

Nathan Southwick  8:23  
I as I was thinking about this year, and I particularly as I think you saw this a little bit in 2024 but you're really going to see it in 2025 and I think that's going to be at the gap between the forward thinking dealers and just the rest of the pack is going to grow significantly. And and I think here are some markers that you can look for in those groups or stores to see to identify those people, those forward thinking ones. And it's going to be a heart for people, right? Something that we preach here at more than cars, it's going to be practical. AI use not just like the new fad thing that is in your latest tech product, it's going to be like something that you've actually thought about and you're applying. It's going to be data driven strategies and metrics, and then there's going to be a big social media leaning. So I think that's my

Paul J Daly  9:15  
prediction for 20 we're thinking a lot of the same ways around here. I probably because of the people we hang with too. I feel like we

Kyle Mountsier  9:21  
hang around some people that are doing these things. You know what I'm saying?

Paul J Daly  9:25  
Speaking of hanging around people, wow, come on time. Okay, I feel like, so we did our predictions, or I did, I put mine in wherever they were gonna end up in the show notes. And right after I look at Steve's predictions on LinkedIn. And I felt like the kid who was so proud of his like and your new shoes when he went to school, and then he realized, like the other guy, had a new outfit, new scooter, new computer, new phone. Steve Greenfield, he is like the futurists futurists. He's plugged in, he's dialed in, he's. Globally, thinking about things all the time. He's got 12 cats. 12 cats. He's got 12 cats. That's what he released his list for the 2025, predictions. And you just read, like the first two or three. And I was like, This guy is swinging for the fence. Yes, yeah. Um, he's predicting huge moves in the OEM space, suggesting that VW will acquire rivian And Ford will merge to fend off Chinese OEMs, and BYD will acquire stellantis. Let's just

Kyle Mountsier  10:30  
talk about that. Those Okay, a couple things. One, I did not read these before I made my my auto my, my OEM predictions in the US. So I'm proud to say that number four Ford and GM merging, that's, that's a that's a big one. I agree. I don't know if it's a merge, but I think it's, it's something cool. Look VW already built a rivian look alike in scout. I've been saying this for, for like, what

Paul J Daly  10:57  
did you call it? You called it a river. I can't remember what you called

Kyle Mountsier  11:03  
a land Vien or something like that, or rivi over. Can't remember what I called it, but yeah, it's basically a land or, yeah, or a Land Cruiser and a rivian basically combined. So yeah, and then the BYD acquiring stellantis. Look, stellantis is struggling. BYD has all the leverage in the global market. And why not acquire something that gives you quick access into

Paul J Daly  11:32  
footprint American Foot? And look, that'd be a great network to actually deploy a very low cost EV through the like, it's the right book of business. It's right All right, next, next group of predictions, M and A activity will be unprecedented. He's like, we're gonna see it like we've never seen before. And here's the shocker. He's like, I think CDK and Reynolds will merge. Whoa, I'll say, Oh, that was the first one I read. I was like, I'm not doing predictions anymore. That's

Kyle Mountsier  12:02  
on, yeah. I mean, I The problem is, is they, they could try all they want, and it they will, and they will get right into an antitrust

Paul J Daly  12:12  
laws. That's what, that's what Jim ganther chimed in in the comments. He's like, that's a pretty big hill to climb, but it does make sense, you know? I mean, but hey, I love Steve. Is like, why am I doing boring predictions? We're doing real ones. Go for the

Kyle Mountsier  12:25  
swing for the fences. One

Paul J Daly  12:27  
of the other things he talked he labels. He said Amazon expands to 10 OEMs, which you can see that happening, right? He talks about a bunch of IPO markets, a bunch of companies going public, Carfax going public. JD, power going public. Solera going public. And he also said Fox con could be the largest disruptor in the EV space. They, you know, they purchase former GM plant. They be the next one that's not even on the radar. Yeah,

Kyle Mountsier  12:54  
I wonder if that's the case, or whether there's like, something in the background around BYD and Fox con, right? Because they're so integrated into the iPhone making and maybe that there's kind of like a sync up there, because obviously, you know, BYD is making a lot of the software and the hardware encapsulating the foxcon chips. So I think that there's maybe something around that. And then

Speaker 1  13:22  
what was the other one? Throw it up again. Foxcon, oh no. The Amazon expands the 10 OEMs. I actually think that you're going to see Amazon try and attack the used car listings market quicker than they go to the OEMs. Because I think the OEMs, even though it's attractional, it's very, very hard to get all that data synced, and so they'll, they'll talk to Hyundai and understand how hard it was. And Amazon will want more leverage from just an overall overall straight to the listings. Act like a third party Lister. Why not? We'll see. We'll see about that. I'm dying in here trying not to laugh because of Brian Ortega's comment, Steve with the Steve, with the Trapper Keeper, and you guys with the peachy folders, like,

Paul J Daly  14:04  
if you're old enough to know, if you know, you know

Kyle Mountsier  14:08  
how much that hurts that Steve's Brian Ortega. That stays

Paul J Daly  14:11  
true, speaking of all the young kids, all the young ones coming into this world.

Kyle Mountsier  14:20  
Hey, as we ring in 2025, meet generation beta. It is the lowest cohort born into the world of rapid innovation and automation. These kids will grow up being the first AI native generation. They will be obviously immersed in technologies similar to Gen Z and Gen Alpha generation beta will cover children born from 2025 to 23rd and 39 and marks the second generation born entirely in the 21st century. Their parents will be predominantly Gen Z and young millennials. These parents will obviously raise their kids amongst the most advanced technology out there. Yet by 20. 35 generation beta is projected to represent 16% of the global population, according to demographer Mark McCrindle, who said, these generations will grow up in a world of technological integration. Okay, so

Paul J Daly  15:11  
if you're having trouble with your years, which I always do in these generations, learned that it's every 14 years mark. So if you were born from 1980 to 1994 you're a millennial, yep, and you are largely going to be the parents of generation beta, right? So that's how that all pans out, actually, largely

Kyle Mountsier  15:31  
Gen Z, Gen alpha, generation beta will be young millennials. So like 19 Yeah, like 90 to 94 not 80 to 94 young. Oh, right.

Paul J Daly  15:44  
80 years old, this millennial Gen Zers will

Kyle Mountsier  15:47  
be like you think about Gen Z is getting into baby making age at this point? Yeah.

Paul J Daly  15:50  
Well, let's not talk about that too much. I have a lot of I have multiple Gen Z young years. Young years. Let me tell you anecdotal story that happened at around the table last night as I was, I'm building this. You'll be proud of me when I show you. Maybe you'll be proud. I want you to be proud of me when I show you this. I'm gonna be proud. I'm building my first web flow site, yeah, for a rental property we have so, like, and the whole, the whole thing has been like, who made this software, right? It's like, I've only ever done Squarespace, so I'm learning a lot, but I have had advanced chat, G, P, T, advanced voice open while I'm developing and if I run into an issue, I'll just tell it what I'm running into, and it like, really, within a step, it will guide me to the right spot. So but last night, I just sat down. I was like, let me work on this for a little bit. Jaden, my five year old, was across the table. He was like, just building with, like, some kinetic sand, like building these little sculpture things. And I just asked a question. He didn't know I had he didn't know what I was doing, not that he would have cared. I had my phone open. He I wasn't, hadn't said anything. And I just said, basically, this, I'm building in web flow or the Paradiso template, and I'm having a trouble having photos show up in the light box the same way they do on display. And then he looks up and he goes, Are you talking to the robot? That's he said he knows. And then he says, Can I ask it a question? And I was like, No, not right now, buddy, but that's, and he's not even beta. He's alpha,

Kyle Mountsier  17:13  
yeah. Oh, and they'll get it. They'll just, it'll be like, when we started, like, you know, I remember when my 10 year old, and it was like, Wait, how did she know how to handle an iPhone and just swipe and resize and all that type of stuff. They will just naturally speak to anything. Ai, they're gonna get

Paul J Daly  17:30  
frustrated when they talk to this water bottle and it doesn't know. And it was a 32nd president, well,

Unknown Speaker  17:35  
listen, everybody. Get him out of here. Could you hear the

Paul J Daly  17:39  
music? I can't hear

Unknown Speaker  17:42  
the music. Post, hear the music. It

Paul J Daly  17:43  
says it's playing. You know what I can do for you? Hit me. Hit me. There you go. Thank you so much. Listen, we are heading into 2025 give us your predictions. Actually, if you have some predictions you want us to share, send the crew@asotu.com and we'll share some on the show tomorrow. We'll see you tomorrow.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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