Detroit Glitz, Used Car Shifts, and Starbucks Gets a Makeover

Paul J Daly  0:00  
Come on. We can get the music going. Let's go. It's Friday. Everybody Friday end of the normal Monday through Friday week, Nashville, Scott snow. No, we don't know what's going on around here, but it's Friday, and we're here, and we have internet access, so we can get up to you today.

Kyle Mountsier  0:17  
I'm telling you we're coming. We're coming to you from the frozen tundra, obviously, like Texas shut down, and then everybody from Texas till now, Atlanta is going to get even more snow than us, which means they're basically done for a solid week,

Paul J Daly  0:33  
right? No, Atlanta, Atlanta is done for Yeah, they have to have the planes are fine, like, they know how to handle that. But I was gonna say, like, if they drive plows at the Atlanta airport, yeah, exactly, wow. Okay, it's bananas. It's what it is. I'm glad it's happening now and not in two weeks when we're all going to the NADA show, yeah, because the travel disruptions would be a real thing. Oh, it would be bad. Speaking of the NADA show, we're going to be in full effect. We've been, I mean, like around the halls of ASOTU, we got like, two things on our mind, nada logistics and nada logistics.

Kyle Mountsier  1:17  
For a third one, we sometimes think about nada logistics. Once in a while, we'll talk about, I'm starting to see the post. I got, you got, you got Vin Q there. They're all in the office doing their pre game huddle. They're talking about what they're gonna do. I'm seeing other people asking, who's going, what's happening, where everybody's going. It's, it's starting to get, like, really, on top of

Paul J Daly  1:38  
people. Yeah, two weeks from today is the first full day of the show. Unbelievable, this. So, yeah, like two weeks from, like, almost, well, well, central time. What time's your show floor open? Like, nine,

Kyle Mountsier  1:47  
nine. Yeah, we're like, We'll be live streaming right now from the opening of the show floor,

Paul J Daly  1:54  
working on the logistics. Come with a big crew. Listen. If you or your company want some additional coverage or content at the show. We're bringing our Nashville production crew. It's going to look amazing. We do it every year, but we're going all out this year, we will be there. Reach out to us, because we still have a few slots left to fill, but we're really packed. Crew, C, R, E, W, at any, at nada@odo.com, or you can just ping us on LinkedIn or something, and we'll make sure you get squared away. We're having a big we're having our own party on Friday night. We have a big party's site, nada parties.com throw the graphic up, go to nada parties.com or if you want, you can just search nada parties on Google, and we happen to dominate the first page. We happen to dominate the first because this is the authority on all the parties going on at nada. So go to that. Find a party like get on the wait list for our party, their slots are going to open up. So make sure you're on the wait list. And if you have a party that you want listed on the site, it is your free 99 just today, only, free 99 free 99 just send us, upload this stuff, we'll put it on it's categorized Wednesday through Sunday or Saturday, and we'll make sure that your party's there. You can send people to it that can get all the details. It's really nice. Kyle, you did, Kyle spearheaded building the site. We had a lot of fun. You did a great job. It's pretty awesome. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Also, we're gonna skip, let's talk about whatnot. Do you know nada about that? We don't. We haven't talked about it, but that is in three

Kyle Mountsier  3:23  
weeks, because I think it's actually important that people know that this exists. There's a thing called public policy day, and it happens on the the preview to the Washington DC Auto Show. And one nada helps put that on. That's the Washington area national auto Dealers Association, and they helped put it on. But it's a time where, like, you get politicians, dealers, OEM, reps, like everybody, gets in the room for a few hours to discuss, like, what's going on from a regulatory standpoint, from like, a consumer perspective, and it all kind of piles on for a few hours. We got the opportunity to cover it lightly last year. We're coming in heavy. This year we got a whole like ESPN stage booth thing happening. So if you're in the DC area january 30, you're going to want to check that out and come join

Paul J Daly  4:18  
please join us. We want to thank our friends at ascent, dealer services and Mosaic for being sponsors of that event, helping us bring in the stage and have a central purpose. Look, there's a cool thing about like, a lot of times when you talk policy, you see lawmakers struggling to just get feedback from what consumers are saying. Actually, the more than cars, community is so focused on what's happening in the front line of the dealership, the connection point with the consumer, it's so exciting that they're with open arms, saying, like, we want more of that in the conversation. So who knows? Maybe you'll see Kyle and I on the stage with some public policy makers. They're gonna be like, Who are these jokers with hats on? Who are these jokers? I know we'll do administration. Be, like, seated right when's the inauguration on the 20th? Oh, they would. They would have a whole 10 days to get settled before they come out the public policy day, which is, like, literally right down the street. There you go. All right, let's speaking of car shows. Stop. Hey, the Detroit Auto Show has long been a stage for iconic moments from let's get this. They don't do this anymore, smashing Jeeps through glass, launching entire luxury brands. You know, once the epicenter of the auto innovation that the event has struggled in recent years to maintain relevance amidst the rising cost during the 90s and 2000s it was like a must attend, right? Dude, 4000 journalists would go to the Detroit Auto Show. You know, a lot of theatrical reviews and reveals. Auto makers were investing millions of dollars in this, but like the rise of CES specialty expos, coupled with auto makers going to more digital first marketing strategies, right? People can learn the stuff online, there's been a big pullback in budget, and the Detroit Auto Show has been on decline, but they're saying they're returning to their roots, having the Show in January, focusing on engaging consumers, rather than having spectacle type events. David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research, said, the world has changed, and that is reflected in the auto show. So this show, they're going to be putting on a full effort January 10 through January 20. So we really are lining up. We got nada. I

Kyle Mountsier  6:27  
mean, it's CES, then that, then nada, then one nada. Like, it's a lot happening in auto. That's just January. Goodness,

Paul J Daly  6:36  
wow. So, yeah, I mean, I like seeing, you

Kyle Mountsier  6:39  
know, I'm hopeful for it. Like, I think, like, some good auto shows, the difficulty is but also the difficulty is ces but also Steve Greenfield was like, there were as many auto makers as he was expecting. So I wonder if there is a move back to Detroit Auto Show. I haven't really been tracking it, but we should, kind of, like, keep our eye out, because we got 10 days right now of of what's going on out there,

Paul J Daly  7:03  
we should hit up our friends at Northwood and see if they can give us that would be really great fun there. I think any auto show, you know, Detroit is one of the big ones. New York one of the big ones. I think any auto show where a city, because I see it in Syracuse here, definitely a smaller city. Major charity event the night before, contributing a lot of money to local charities, and then I have just a lot of people, right? It's winter time up here. It's winter time in a lot of places. It's winter time in Nashville, right? But there's like, the auto show is such a great time, and this is a great time of year to have indoor events where consumers can go in, learn about new stuff. Dealers can actually send their people to the show and meet customers face to face. I just think it's a great community oriented event that you know I think we should do more of There you go. Personally

Kyle Mountsier  7:51  
opinions with Paul on Friday morning. Let's go

Paul J Daly  7:54  
what I think the new podcast. I apologize Daly speaking, we used cars.

Kyle Mountsier  8:01  
I got him out of it. Got him out

Paul J Daly  8:03  
of it. I love that button. Thank you so much. Brian Ortega for making this used vehicle. Prices are expected to stabilize further in 2025 bringing relief to buyers. After years of pandemic induced volatility, while still higher than pre pandemic levels, prices are trending down toward normalization. Good news for everyone. Cox automotive predicts wholesale prices will end up up only 1.4% compared to what they were in december 2024 prices went up 46.6% in 2021 and 14.2% in 2020 but started dropping in 2022 and in 2023 so the December's average listing was $25,000 at one point. If you remember, like we were, we were approaching like 2930

Kyle Mountsier  8:53  
Yeah, yeah. I think we were actually approaching 30 for average used car prices. So seeing that get back down to 25 like we still, we still have a ways to go in that, in my opinion, like getting to that $20,000 mark and an average $400 used car price is when you start to see but I don't, I don't know if it's ever going to happen again. Yeah, I don't

Paul J Daly  9:12  
think so. If you come to that for inflation, just in general, right? Like it's not happening, yeah,

Kyle Mountsier  9:18  
yeah. I mean, not a lot of used vehicle sales. Forecast rise only 1% in 2025 but there's, there's a little bit more, like stability and pricing, but volatility in the in the forecast, because, you know, the the unsure nature of, like, what's going to happen on the new car side, our interest rates going to going to affect purchasing power. You know, obviously monthly payments are a big, big question mark still for a lot of consumers, but you can expect, I think, over the next year, used car prices to be to remain fairly stable and not see these massive jumps or declines just because of how much is in the. Market right now,

Paul J Daly  10:00  
there's just from a from a human element, mentality element, there's a lot of benefit to stability, just because the shock that happens when people would come in off a trade cycle, into the dealership and realize it was going to cost them a lot more to get in a similar car, to flip out like that, just puts everybody on their heels. Consumers are stressed about it. Dealers end up spending time, having to comfort them back pedal, right? If there's, like, it's true, oh, I've been there, yeah. So, so I really do think that, like, even the stability, even if we don't see prices go down, the stability is such a good thing, because people will walk into the store mentally prepared, yep, for about what it's going to cost. And I think that just helps ease the tension, the the natural tension, in such a large transaction between dealers and consumers, and give us the opportunity like, then everyone's thinking with their whole brain, right, and not their emotions. And I think it's, it's a good opportunity to connect with people. Speaking of connecting with people, yes, that was a real

Kyle Mountsier  10:56  
segment. I was real. That was a real one for the record. So Starbucks is hosting a mandatory three hour training session later this month as part of CEO Brian Nichols effort to revitalize the brand. He's been doing a ton over the last six months. He has, Nichols said in a session description, we will refocus on what has always set Starbucks apart a welcoming coffee house. The training is titled, welcome back to Starbucks. It'll run from January 21 to 26 with employees attending training at staggered times. Stores may even be closing dining rooms, but keep drive throughs open to accommodate the sessions. Obviously, Nichols was the man behind the turnaround at Chipotle has already introduced things like fast drink prep and self service condiment bars. Interesting there. Employees are obviously hoping for additional workflow adjustments to streamline their operations and a better balance to quick serve while still creating inviting spaces. So he's done a lot of like the practical, functional, outward facing. This is the the most inward training that we've seen on, like, a broad scale at this point.

Paul J Daly  12:00  
I think the most shocking part of this entire article is that he called Starbucks a coffee house. When was the last time you even heard that

Kyle Mountsier  12:10  
word said no. I mean, they were the initiator. Wasn't in a youth group setting, right? Yeah, they were the initiator of, like, the third wave coffee house that you go find a spot to sit in. Like, I remember back No,

Paul J Daly  12:24  
no, no, that wasn't third wave.

Speaker 1  12:26  
Well, second wave, second, yeah, yeah.

Kyle Mountsier  12:30  
But, I mean, I remember back in the day Starbucks, the third place is what they called it, yeah, yeah, the third place you could find, like, comfortable seating in a Starbucks. You remember that? I do it was four nice seats around, like a low T, like a exists.

Paul J Daly  12:50  
Some of that exists, and it's coming back. Literally outside my window, I'm watching them construct a Starbucks that will have zero seating, by the way. Oh, so this article, and like, the training giving people, like, a warm and well, you can still be warm and welcoming because you can still walk in and pick up. That's true. So I love the fact, though, that this is a part of Starbucks culture. I've read the books by Howard Schultz you know about the upswing of Starbucks and the turnarounds and things like that. It's in Starbucks culture to close to make everyone focus on one thing. There was a time when they closed every store in the country at the same time to re educate people on how to pull a good shot. That's impressive. You know what I mean. Now the machine does it. They don't need to pull a shot anymore, right? Like, press a button, and the machine pulls up. But I think this is back to the roots in DNA of prioritizing the fundamentals and the basics. And I think in the auto industry, any retail but in auto industry fund, you know, the fundamental basics are worth taking time to stop, slow down, get everybody in on what I'm telling you. Point in focus. In my 12 years in the business, there were only two times that we ever shut down the entire store in order for training to happen. And I can tell you the three months following that, those trainings were some of the most productive, some of the best employee contribution to like, net growth

Kyle Mountsier  14:17  
and and so, like, it's still it dies on the you have to do it regularly. You have to do some of these dramatic things regularly, especially in a business where we've historically had high turnover, right? And I think, you know, you think about, like Starbucks, coffee retail, another high turnover situation, like, you have to constantly remind your people why you're doing it, how you're doing it, and what you're doing. Otherwise you just run into, you know, people just doing whatever they feel is is necessary in the next turn.

Paul J Daly  14:45  
Hey, you know what I like this show. It went from car shows to connecting with people to training like I think we have everything in today. Look, we'll be here tomorrow morning with another podcast. But for today, go crush that Friday. We.

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