Ford's EV Policy Shift, Politics of EV Adoption, and Bass Pro's Affordability Focus

Paul J Daly: 0:13

That's it. We did it. Memorial Day weekend is over. It is Tuesday, May 28. Everyone's in the saddle ready to go carry on some momentum. Talking about Ford's big Evie, policy ship politics of EVs and Bass Pro. Yes, Bass Pro is talking about a word we've been talking about for a while. Little word called Ford built not EVs, affordability, they all go together at some place is

‍Kyle Mountsier: 0:37

basically the same thing when you get down to it, right?

Paul J Daly: 0:40

I mean, doesn't it always come down to affordability? So what can I afford? It? is really the question what oh, man payment. Had a great day yesterday, we saw so many people, like posting their Memorial Day post, and a lot of people are out there on the lots moving cars. Some people were taking some time with family. But either way, like I was just getting good Memorial Day vibes, like across the board. How about you?

Kyle Mountsier: 1:03

Yeah. I mean, I think like going into the weekend, there was a lot of good energy around it. I haven't gotten a bunch of the, you know, you know, typically I've kind of got some sales report texts from friends. And so I haven't gotten that yet today. So I'm hoping that it's not just having bad beers. Right. You know, like, I hope it's happy hangover. If you're in the comments, let us know, like how the weekend went for you. But, you know, I'm sure it went well, based on like the amount of inventory the types of incentives. Oh, yeah. One thing that everybody was talking about last week that's not in the show today is and we talked about it a little bit last week, just the overwhelming amount of incentives across the board, specifically on the Lantus units because they're struggling with some days supply. Yeah, but there's incentives everywhere. I saw actually a comment on a post last week that basically a Lexus dealers like we still sell everything before it gets here. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Toyota Lexus.

Paul J Daly: 2:00

I mean, they're doing good. Good on them. Okay. Hey, we want to let you know, we did release some of the main state sessions from a soda console. Now everybody can watch and kind of hear from these industry experts talking about some great stuff. We got into a lot of great panels, you can go to our YouTube channel, the easiest way to get there is to go to a soy tube. That's a s o t u dot b e it'll take you right to our YouTube page and you can see the sessions right there. There's also a ton I don't know a good jillion pieces of content on our YouTube page that every time we go into it we're like Dude, no wonder we're so tired all the time.

Kyle Mountsier: 2:39

It is its content for days. Yeah, the the like if you go there you'll see the two playlists right up at the top which is the more than cars playlist if you haven't checked that out you got to do that. And then the ASOTU CON playlist we're gonna keep adding stuff so you can bookmark that Joker subscribe like subscribe comment you know all Yeah, all

Paul J Daly: 2:56

the social media thing you know? Let's talk about all the things today. So Ford, this is a big one is said to undo a key element of his efforts Evie certification program. Remember that kind of causes few ways when it happened. Opening up evey sales to its entire US retail network following a lot of backlash, a couple two, three lawsuits. So basically, they plan to open the full network up to evey sales based on feedback from 11 in person dealer meetings, and extensive pushback initially limited only to dealers making significant investments in chargers. Remember they had the tears and the levels which led to criticism and lawsuits from get this over 400 dealers and state associations. Wow. That is a busy legal department that legal department needed its own when mailroom basically dealers were arguing the restrictions were unfair, potentially illegal, saying Ford cannot prevent its franchise dealers from selling Ford products. Lisa Drake, VP of evey program stated the goal of the the new shift is to involve more dealers and reduce certification requirements to initiate a new more inclusive approach saying, quote, we'll be more ubiquitous with our training and make sure essentially, all of our dealers are equipped to sell EVs attorney Richard Sachs representing dealers in New York emphasize this is all about making sure all dealers have access to EVs, and not just being pigeon pigeon holed into one of the three categories. The program originally created

Kyle Mountsier: 4:25

this way. So you're telling me boy, what happens that the franchise dealer network wants to serve their communities and sell the product that their OEM makes, so that they can turn a profit and ensure that their OEM can wholesale more vehicles. And they also continually train their people so that they can do so at a margin that makes sense for them as a business

Paul J Daly: 4:49

sounds like business. It sounds like business.

Kyle Mountsier: 4:53

Here's the other cool thing about this. So you and I actually last week, and we're going to be talking a little bit more about this because we think it's really cool for this new training. platform. afford university it's actually really good. We kind of like, you know, trepidatious kind of going into like, oh no or another OEM Certification Training Program for salespeople? No, there's a, there's a really, there's a really good thing happening there, they've

Paul J Daly: 5:17

been doing something over there on the back channels, you

Kyle Mountsier: 5:19

can scale that university into the EV training side of the business. And you can start getting people into training platforms that make a whole bunch of sense for the way that they learn and the way they education themselves, then the speed of adoption is gonna go a lot quicker and so it's kind of like those two things paired together with this recoil of let's go back to the beginning of the way that you know, the the original drawing board threw up the franchise network. Let's go. Speaking

Paul J Daly: 5:47

of the speed of adoption, segue dialed in on Tuesday as automakers are pushing their EVs. Some consumers are resisting, not for range anxiety, not for cost, but Oh, political reasons. A growing challenge in the Evie market. So basically, this new report shows that many consumers oppose EVs due to political and ideological reasons complicating the efforts of automakers trying to make and sell an affordable product. The morning consult poll found about 40% of Americans have an unfavorable view of EVs with 38%, citing political views, and 63% concerned about Chinese dominance in the Eevee space, so conservative consumers often criticize public subsidies for EVs and regulation, steering them toward electric cars, contrasting with liberal minded folks who support EVs for environmental reasons. So we definitely have two sides of this coin here. Key is Stephen Carter of sarchi. As Stephen center acknowledges Evie hot button issue by saying you know that old saying, don't talk about religion and politics. I think you can now add EVs to that. This guy. Mike Murphy, a Republican strategist said, quote, this is a hearts and minds resistance to EVs, mostly, mostly on the Republican side, if you can break down the tribalism, the industry if you can't break down the tribalism, the industry isn't going to sell enough EVs and finally, Bill Wallace, a South Florida car dealer noted that about 1/3 of his customers Express adamant opposition to EVs. Yeah, viewing them as governmental control. Basically, he says, this is from a meeting he had with GM and Mary Barra was actually there. They're all at the table. He says they're angry, they feel like it's the government trying to control their lives. Mary, you have to understand the red state mentality, these people want no part of it. Well, that's gonna make it easier to sell EVs is

Kyle Mountsier: 7:46

what's crazy to me because like, okay, doesn't matter where you're at from a political mindset. The fact that a retail purchase, now has political influence is such a dangerous journey, because there are good things to EVs one, they're super fun to draft. Yeah, I was just gonna say that. Right. Like, start with that. Right. And then also, there is a large swath of people that it makes a ton of sense, right? In places where it's easier to drive, it's, you know, their driving habits, you know, exhibit it. But then there's a lot that it doesn't make a ton of sense. And yes, there's a lot, probably a lot of a way too much political hand in a retail environment, because of the like, desire to be clean from different people. Like, that's the dangerous thing for me here is that retail purchasing is being influenced by political mindset.

Paul J Daly: 8:52

I mean, that's not new, though. It's not new, though. I think just at this scale. It's absolutely staggering, right. And I think it's not just the the clean energy thing, like I think of even like different mindsets on financial financial policy, right. And creating incentives and pumping money into the economy that we're printing is also like, more conservative minded people are thinking about those things as well, which basically, it's like, I'm not going to do what you told me to do. This is bad for this, this and this. So I think that that's also creating the turn. But like you said, like if this ties back to the first story, as an Eevee education increases, and as like Ford, in this instance, is opening up to be in front of more consumers and the value propositions of driving an Eevee which is a great fit for so many people, Republican or Democrat, it doesn't matter well,

Kyle Mountsier: 9:43

Oh, yeah. Go back to so we did the man on the street interview. The dealer on partnering with us for during more during a soda con and then we released it last Friday, if you haven't Oh, yeah, LinkedIn scroll down Nashville one. And it was it was really interesting because it was the gentleman that worked for The live hotel that we've gotten to know his name is the nickname is flash flash. And the question is we always pose is, would you consider it? Consider purchasing an Eevee? He said no. And I said, Well, why not? And he said, Well, if they were sporty and fun to drive, I would. Why? Oh, like, think about the implication of that.

Paul J Daly: 10:23

Do someone the right ad would blow his face off? When he gets into it, it's gonna be amazing. So that's dedication issue. Okay, so um, I'm taking my wife away for anniversary for a couple of days this week, and I rented a pollster, I have never driven one, Mark. So like, we're gonna have the pole star experience, I have to admit, like, right out of the gate, the range is only like, 270. So I'm like, are we gonna, I'm gonna have to charge this thing, because I can't charge it at the Tesla chargers, because I know right? Where they are. They're at the Wawa near where we're staying. So I don't know, I'll document the story. But yeah, the more people get in it, drive it, it's going to help sell it. But um, you know, a lot of times like getting through ignorance, not ignorance in a way, like that person so ignorant, but not knowing is what I mean, like when you get past the ignorance of what an Eevee actually is, I think we can get back to selling, you know, retail products on the merits of the product. And I guarantee all the OEMs want to get to that. Right? Absolutely. They're just kind of stuck in the middle. It's not an easy place to be. And speaking of not easy place to be in right segue.

Kyle Mountsier: 11:25

Clean that up on the last word. Hey, the auto industry isn't the only one talking about affordability. Recently, in response to persistent inflation, the CEO of Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris, has emphasized the brand commitment to affordability by offering payment plans as low as five and $10 per day for boats to make them accessible to a broader audience. Despite ending its inflation Buster savings program, the brand continues to see new ways to help customers cope with high inflation such as maintaining competitive pricing by building most boats in the Ozarks and selling directly to consumers. He also reflected on the brand's origins and his father's influence on maintaining value showcasing the original bass tracker boat was priced to get this 2995 Remember that? Pretty wild? Yeah, you saw those things outside of the front of the Bass Pro Shops with the big with the big I never wanted

Paul J Daly: 12:23

a fishing boat PA

Kyle Mountsier: 12:26

for three G's. Why not? They are also looking to increase connection and understanding of their consumer base. They've opened the Thunder Ridge nature arena featuring performances listen to like stars like more than more

Paul J Daly: 12:41

people to live near UK. Carlos neighborhood,

Kyle Mountsier: 12:45

right right across the street from from me bringing together consumer experience and brand engagement. And they're thinking about pricing and oh and

Paul J Daly: 12:54

affordable. I have a few comments on story. Number one word. If Johnny Boris isn't the right name for a CEO of Bass Pro Shops, I don't know what is the right day, man, he's got the right day for that job.

Kyle Mountsier: 13:09

Maybe they are Oh, Johnny,

Paul J Daly: 13:11

Johnny Boy, I can I have Johnny Morris about he's wearing waders and a cowboy hat. And he's sitting in a board meeting like how we're going to do this. Look, the affordability issue them understanding that affordability is a real issue and you know, boats similar it's still like an expensive purchase that that people make granted a recreational purchase. But still the increase the tension with like, how do we make it so that the people who want these can afford them, and focusing payment terms, pricing terms and all these things in a way that aligns with what a consumer can get. And then partnering with that, with like doubling down on letting the consumer know that we understand who you are, and what your life is closing the gap between the two of those? I think that is that is why like Bass Pro is definitely closer to the consumer from a retail mindset, then deal with most dealers are and which is why I think it's great that we see the auto industry moving more toward a retail mindset. And less of like, how many times we've heard dealers talking about themselves as retailers more in the last five years than in the previous 100.

Kyle Mountsier: 14:19

Absolutely. Yeah. And and not just that, but you think about a Bass Pro Shop and it's an experience. Yes. It's not just like a regular old, grab the thing off the shelf, you no place of shopping. It's a full experience, like you can go there and experience the essence of being in the outdoors. And that type of experience. I think like that's where I think Jeep dealers, especially in jazz dealerships have really thought through what's the experience of being in the retail Jeep environment. And I think that that's something that everybody can key in on. And just the fact that Bass Pro is thinking about like eight of the 10 topics that ot motive is awesome. That's right. Also right you should look up a photo of Johnny Morris get nailed him. He's also the founder. He's not just the CEO of this thing. So

Paul J Daly: 15:09

that's why he started the company started. Oh, there

Kyle Mountsier: 15:12

is like a fishing tackle out of the back of his father's story. This guy's this guy's the real deal.

Paul J Daly: 15:17

That is amazing. Do you play football too? I don't know. But I don't know. But either way,

Kyle Mountsier: 15:21

Brian played football.

Paul J Daly: 15:23

Who's Phil Phil from Duck Dynasty. He also was a football pro football player and like, you know, oh, man, what a fun show. fun way to kick off a Tuesday. We hope you're all ready to get out there. Get your hands dirty. Get closer to the consumers. And guess what? They'll actually tell you exactly what they want. We'll see you tomorrow.

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