Ford ‘teach in” Explains $3b EV Loss, Trading Jag Franchises for Land Rover Inventory, 2025 Electric Air Taxis

‍SPEAKERS

Kyle Mountsier, Paul Daly

Paul Daly  00:36

Yo, it's Friday, we made it through another five date while we still got Saturday to go. But today we're talking about yesterday's Ford teaching where they taught us about losing 3 billion in EVs trading jag franchises for Land Rovers and electric air taxis.

Kyle Mountsier  00:49

So the people want to know what's impressive? Do you want to know what's impressive for all the people out there? Sometimes you boy comes in hot in the time that it took to count down to go and Paul to read the lead. Boy, got his b cam up for the Edit, and read quick read all the stuff. So

Paul Daly  01:12

he's excited. He's excited. We're super excited today. Because not too long from now we'll be on the ground with a dealer in a dealership. So that always gets us happy and excited. But Alright, who wants to see, oh, we don't have the motor madness results yet for today or yesterday. So hey, we're rounding the corner, though. So look out on the LinkedIn page. For the motor madness. We're voting classic cars versus modern cars, we have a whole bracket that goes down. And next week, we're going to find out the best car of all time as voted by the audience. I still think the Chevy Astro van might be the dark horse that wins this race telling you what is given

Kyle Mountsier  01:48

given the trophy. Given a we've

Paul Daly  01:50

been planning so much. Let's just drip this out here for a second. Let's go I would I have gotten absolutely giddy this week. About the say, as we started leaning into a soda calm planning, and a soda con 2023 in Baltimore in September is going to be out of control, straight out of control. And we were just ridiculous. We can't wait to release just the design for this year. But also the venue is insane. The level of capacity we have for amazing speakers and panels and keynotes and activations. And, you know, just I can't even everything. We're just super excited. And we're like, can it be December already.

Kyle Mountsier  02:33

We got layout plots already happening. It's unbelievable.

Paul Daly  02:36

So circle the last week in September, in Baltimore. Last week in September in Baltimore, we're going to be dropping a little sneak peeks and details soon. If you're an industry partner and you want to participate. There's already a line forming outside and Murray's office, about people saying when are you going to release a soda con in first literally people

Kyle Mountsier  02:53

in Texas in a line, it's nuts. We never thought

Paul Daly  02:57

it's gonna happen. But we have a couple things to execute first, we're going to be in Arlington, Texas on April 5. Go to uh, so two x.com. And check out the details there. That show is shaping up to be amazing, amazing, amazing. And we're filming a little TV show. We'll tell you about that later, too. But first, we have to talk about some news. Because that's really why the people are here today. All right. So yesterday this is this is an interesting one Ford held a literal teach in is what they call it teach in like I don't know a lock in. I don't know you screw we had lock ins for it as a teaching to explain their new reporting structure to an audience of mostly reporters, which was perfect because they started by explaining why they're set to lose $3 billion this year on EV manufacturing. It's a good thing to explain. People want to know last year's loss was 2.2 point 1 billion. They also reported earnings on their other divisions Ford blue, which is their combustion engine, and Ford Pro, which is the proline so they reported 7 billion in earnings and four blue and 6 billion in for pro so they're still bringing in some a couple of bucks

Kyle Mountsier  04:00

bringing in some cash, you know, and I mean, EVS losing money it's like a startup I get it. I understand but it's it's similar to like, what yesterday we talked about, you know Carvana losing a few million dollars and then we got billion dollar I just if you ever want to just like throw out of out of reporting thing, Paul like, ah, you know, they're gonna lose 3 billion this year. No, I

Paul Daly  04:23

would love to have well, we're just like everybody that's on the outside and just kind of like, appear in it. We're like, must be nice. Must be nice to have 3 billion to lose. I wish I had 3 billion to lose, right? So but either way a CFO John Lawler did reiterate Ford bottle and quote, Ford bottle II is an Eevee startup within Ford. And as everyone knows, startups lose money. And so but also he was like pivoting a little bit and he was talking about some recent hires in in Ford E department. And I mentioned to people who just came from Tesla Doug field and Alan Clark. He said it's about the talent We have we all know there is one profitable evey manufacturer the folks that the folks that design those vehicles are at Ford

Kyle Mountsier  05:10

teaching at

Paul Daly  05:13

this little mic drop in is what he had but it was a pretty good way to end it. Um, you know, a lot of the the last year Ford announced a difference in the way they're going to report their financials in 2020. They said this, basically they used to report numbers by region and parts of the world now they've switched to just report numbers by division. So we have ie, the Evie division, blue and pro This is the first time they reported results that way. So yeah, a little extra explanation to calibrate everybody. But the company does predict that EVs will be approaching break even margins by the end of this year. So

Kyle Mountsier  05:49

hey, look, that's I'm still impressed because Ford's really eerie like, even though they're talking about it the most right now in the news, they're really one of the latest to the game and just being active with EVs. Overall. I mean, they Oh, yeah. Right. So, so I'm making up for lost time making up for lost time. Here we go. Yep.

Paul Daly  06:08

I'm trying to think of like, how do we make up make up for it? Does it doesn't work to the next? How do you make up for inventory shortages? Segue. Alright, so what will a luxury auto dealer give up? To get their hands on more of that high margin luxury inventory? Well, if you're a Jaguar dealer, you may be tempted to just give up your jaguar franchises. According to reports, Jaguar Land Rover JLR, will call them has begun reducing store count by as many as 40. So far, according to an automotive news source that remains identified in order. So basically, jag is saying like, hey, Tiger Land Rover is saying, If you give us back your jaguar franchise, we will give you more land rover inventory. So you know, obviously, the company has a lot of combined spaces, Jaguar Land Rover dealers, and you know, this is a push to reduce their their store count overall in Europe, actually, their plan is to go from 80 stores to 20 stores. Yeah, that's, that's it is. And there's about 300-320-5325 or so in the US. So we don't know what they're trying to reduce to. But Jaguar is shifting to go ultra luxury is what they're saying.

Kyle Mountsier  07:26

Which is interesting, because like, I mean, I get that that move is probably smart. But they got to do some work on some vehicles. Because I mean, I just remember when it's not too long ago to that thing was a souped up Ford Taurus. You know what I mean? That's true. That's true. You've done a lot of work since then. But

Paul Daly  07:45

are jaguars in Europe? Are they like, are they better? I don't know. They've got to be like, the stuff. I mean, you got like James Bond and the whole like ultra luxury vibe going on and like absorbing that. But yeah, I don't know. I just don't know the answer to that but in their ultra luxury

Kyle Mountsier  08:01

with all of these with with all of these luxury manufacturers, they definitely reduce the amount of dealerships streamline, you know, production, streamline distribution, and create great experiences. And so them matching, you know, other like Aston Martin and Bentley, which have fewer than 50 dealerships in the US, you know, like, you gotta go to the place to the really nice store with the people that know their stuff that are really like client, client type people. They're not just customer type people in the air. I mean, full pinky in there. I mean, some of the some of these brands that have all of their vehicles over six figures, like you're taking clients to golf, right? Oh, yeah. Because the margins are stupid. It's a whole different thing. So you know, this is probably a good move. And if I was a landlord, Land Rover dealer, I would be like, send me more of those jokers because I'm sure they sell a little bit hotter.

Paul Daly  08:54

Well, one one. Former jag dealer Jonathan Sobel is closest jag franchise in Manhattan, but he retains the ability to service the Jags. So it's not bad, right? And now he uses the extra storage space for more Landrovers which makes sense because New York City showroom space is probably at a premium anyway. So we'll see what happens but that's kind of a big announcement and an interesting trade and you know, Jaguar seems like a brand where it's kind of like dipping your toe in the water trying to be a little bit more like Europe and Jaguar is, is I mean, like when you have Land Rover inventory to to kind of like trade on. Kinda makes a little bit of sense.

Kyle Mountsier  09:32

Well, speaking of finding a little extra space Oh, segue

Paul Daly  09:39

This is a fun one because I feel like we're gonna get to ride on one of these soon. One day, man that like till I get Atlanta where we're going like to get in an air taxi and go from like the one side to the other side, like four hours of our life.

Kyle Mountsier  09:54

So United Airlines is working to launch the first commercial electric air taxi. Look at that. If you're on the Video thing you look at that thing you're like this is this has been in a movie at some both said that at the same time. They're doing it in Chicago by the year 2025. They're partnering with a company called Archer aviation as part of its intention to go 100% Green by 2050, which I don't really know what 100% Green means, but I don't think anybody does. Who knows 2050

Paul Daly  10:26

never will know what that means.

Kyle Mountsier  10:28

The first proposed route will use this midnight electric V tall air taxi between the O'Hare International Airport and the verta Port Chicago and verta Port Chicago the largest vertical takeoff and landing facility in North America. So you know that existed. There you go. You didn't know it existed. It's a thing in Chicago, and, you know, people are gonna be flying to Chicago, just a little bit of height and, and look if there's any place to do it. It's like, LA is the

Paul Daly  10:55

worst tried. That is the worst ride from O'Hare to downtown Chicago. I don't know how our friends at like V auto and cars.com and higher ology do that. Yeah, it's terrible. It is terrible. But yeah, 10 minutes from that, from that trip from the airport to downtown is amazing. Because it's usually an hour, 20 minutes in traffic, and it just sucks your soul right out of your chest. Mike Michael, let's game VP of Corporate Development at United said Once operational, we're excited to offer customers a more sustainable, convenient and cost effective mode of transportation during their commutes to the airport. Kyle, how much would you pay to take one of these V tolls from the Chicago airport to downtown Chicago? Tell me, is it worth 200? bucks?

Kyle Mountsier  11:39

I mean, probably Yeah. Because the Ubers 50 Yeah, $150 Uber, so take that thing and be there and half the time and don't have to worry about the you know, being something really cool.

Paul Daly  11:51

When you think about the value proposition of that. Just think about it from a value proposition. Like it might be like I spent $200 on the flight from Syracuse to Chicago and then spend another 200 for that last, like 20 miles. Not wild. It is. But hey, I mean, people spend down at some point we'll see. We'll see might do it. It might not be 200. It might be 400. I don't know. I was just guessing. I was just guessing. But then again, people spend $13 To get your $4 Slurpee dropped off at the front door. So

Kyle Mountsier  12:20

yep. But in what's 50 minutes worth to you? Potentially a lot. Specifically some people. Well, we

Paul Daly  12:27

know your time is worth changing. Because now we're so excited to be in a dealership we can't even can't even talk. It's Friday. Go out there have some time. Have some fun, value your own time.

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