GM EVs Outsell ICE in China, AI In-Car Experience, Starbucks Back To Basics

Paul J Daly  0:03  
Kyle. I don't know if it's just me, but it feels like we're halfway through October already, because we are. It's October 15. We're talking about GM cell more EVs and hybrids than ice vehicles in China. That's just a surprising one, talking about AI in your in car experience, and Starbucks getting back to basics, which is an interesting

Kyle Mountsier  0:23  
one. Yeah, that's, you know, I got conversations about now in the past

Paul J Daly  0:29  
night when I saw that story pop in, yeah, we are getting ready to embark on our

Kyle Mountsier  0:35  
tour date journey through the country.

Paul J Daly  0:40  
We're gonna call it. We are going to be in and around just about everywhere, it feels like, just everywhere. We're even making our way to the middle of the country, getting the last part of this year. Yeah, that's right, Virginia and Texas, Florida. Where

Kyle Mountsier  0:53  
else? Atlanta. We're not coming to the West Coast.

Paul J Daly  0:56  
We really apologize. We tried so hard this year. One of these days, to our west coast friends. Thank you to those of you who tried to help us get it, pull it together for q4 this year, but we just couldn't, just couldn't do it. We will next year. Next year is the year. Next year we're getting in the West Coast. I'm

Kyle Mountsier  1:12  
calling it. Listen,

Paul J Daly  1:13  
if you're in this community and you're on the West Coast, make sure you tell your friends about us. That way we can get the critical mass to, like, put a little event together, or when we come out there, or maybe we just need to shoot a more than cars episode on the West Coast, and we got our eye on a few places. We just need help to get the ball across the line. But we're making our way, though, right? Like we have Indiana coming up, like we're moving our way. We're moving our way, that way.

Kyle Mountsier  1:39  
I mean, for you, you know, I'm in Central Time Zone already, pal,

Paul J Daly  1:44  
I know. I'm just saying we win proverbial week

Kyle Mountsier  1:49  
number of times. But the collective we Paul, you don't have to hit the segue. You can relate it just now we're here podcast, uh, hosted by the man the myth, the legend Damon Lester. It is a podcast all by name. Ad has released a couple episodes out. It's on all podcast platforms. You can search now we're here. You can find it on our our YouTube channel@asotu.be asotube. And these podcasts are awesome, and Damon is. He's a gentleman, but he's got, he's got a little flavor, he's got a little vibe, a little flair. So you're going to want to check him out.

Paul J Daly  2:29  
He calls it Philly Damon, like he and I have an understanding both being from Philly. He's like, don't let Philly Damon come out. I know he's all got a suit on and he's trying to like be but that Philly Damon comes out every once in a while. Yeah, fantastic. It's the only reason I watched the show. I'm just kidding, but, but I'm not. Oh, um Yeah, I think that's, that's a lot. Hey, we want to give a shout out this morning before we start out. So, uh, Cherokee Media Group, our friends over there, auto remarketing, etc. They have an inaugural independent auto auction of the year. And I love that they're going downstream and they're saying, like, Yo, there's lots of these independent auto auctions that are still playing the game hard, like playing a win in this world of all like bigger tag and like bigger conglomerations, and they their first winner, Big Valley auto auction right now. Now I don't know if this means anything to you, because maybe you've never heard of them before. That means a ton to us. Big Valley auto auction actually came to ASOTU con because they saw a post talking about will gadera and unreasonable hospitality. And you don't usually put like Texas independent auto auction and unreasonable hospitality right together. And want to thank our friends there. But they did, they see they came. They brought a whole crew. They actually went and ate at 11 Madison Park. So this is an independent auto auction, and our friend Blanca there, for sure, has been like spearheading the charge, prioritizing hospitality, customer experience as the primary means to which they are trying to grow their business, thinking

Kyle Mountsier  3:59  
ahead of the game. I'm telling you, what? If they can't, if they can do it, anybody? That's right,

Paul J Daly  4:05  
because we're all on our lanes, blah, blah, blah, nope, they're deploying it there. You have no reason why you can't deploy it in your base, right? $20 million chauffeur. I mean, that's right, maybe 20, maybe 20. So we just want to shout out thank you for being part. We hope to see you at ASOTU con next year. And if you're going to be at nada, make sure you look say hi, but you deserve it. Congrats. Let's talk about some news. General Motors has achieved a significant milestone in China, selling more electric and hybrid vehicles than ice vehicles for the first time in q3 2024 basically, total deliveries in China grew by 14.3% to more than 426,000 vehicles, so more than a couple across their Buick, Cadillac, Chevy brands, SAIC, SAIC, GM, wooling. It's like a collaboration brand with over 224,000 of those being new energy vehicles.

Kyle Mountsier  4:58  
Wild, no. EVs and that thing though New Energy,

Paul J Daly  5:03  
devs and Nevs, okay that there might be a word to like group them all in together, but they're never okay that joint venture I talked about led GMs, EV success, contributing 328,000 vehicles to their you know, 426,000 bu XGL eight partial plug in hybrid hit a milestone as China's first premium Multi Purpose Vehicle to surpass 2 million unit sales in the US, though GM only delivered 32,000 EVs. Isn't that crazy? Wow. Steve Hill, the senior vice president GM, remarked quote, We are building momentum for both sales volume and market share in China. That won't surprise me.

Kyle Mountsier  5:40  
Well, here's, like, the slightly non surprising thing about this is that China is obviously all in on EVs, like, they have gone full tilt on it in every single marketing effort. Like, so it's not, I don't think option is surprising that you're seeing this type of thing take place. But I think it's surprising that it's GM, right, that that an American manufacturer is seeing a large amount of success in these Nevs, new energy vehicles overseas, right? And so it's it's clear that the the manufacturing, the product process behind these vehicles is present enough to have success in other markets. And so it's just about like balancing that success with the US market, and whether or not it's the right time, whether or not the market's ready for it, all that type of stuff, because the product is clearly there and ready for that type of market is what it looks like. I

Paul J Daly  6:39  
think this kind of volume gives them a huge advantage in the game they're playing here in the US, because it just gives them experience. Yep, right. Selling them, servicing them, seeing what people actually respond to. Because even though, like Mark, drivers in different markets are going to respond in different ways, that doesn't mean there's a lot of basic human responses to vehicles and issues that happen, that they're just all this learning happening. So congratulations, GM, you surprised us on a Tuesday morning. Got us speaking of getting sideways, yeah, just when you thought, GM, just when you thought you could kick Apple CarPlay out of your system. Just be with GM for we're going to praise him, and then we're going to, like, give them a little caulking too. Automakers are struggling to keep control their in car experience as Apple and Google are now pushing their AI powered voice assistants deeper into vehicles, shaping how drivers are interacting with them. Basically, their voice assistants are handling tasks like navigation, calendar access, smart home control and using vast amounts of customer data that they have now to deliver highly personalized experience. And automakers are losing ground because they don't have access

Unknown Speaker  7:48  
to

Paul J Daly  7:50  
the same level of consumer data. So the text giant tech giants are using that to make their AI bots feel smoother and better, and now the car companies are like crap. That's an official quote, by the way, while companies like Soundhound AI offer alternatives, most automakers are outsourcing voice tech, avoiding the challenge of building your own very complicated and expensive to do. Here's a quote from Akash aurora of Boston Consulting Group. He says quote, even within the vehicle you're competing with what's on your mirror link or your phone, not only competing with your OEMs, you may be competing with your own apps. So automakers are like, Oh, we can't go back to the fact that and you press the voice button, it's the worst experience ever.

Kyle Mountsier  8:36  
Here's, here's, here's my like, auto

Paul J Daly  8:39  
makers

Kyle Mountsier  8:40  
integrate, integrate, integrate, build an app experience that takes control of the car, because that way someone can actually control the car from their phone in the same way that they would natively within the car. Like, integrate, integrate, integrate is my that's like we've been saying it for, what, two or three years. Paul, yeah, all the time, all the time, every time it's just the best option. You can simplify and dive down to exactly what you need to be taking control of. And like 98% of the market has an Apple or Google phone. So why not focus on integrating those services and the people that are building the tech better and making a core app that allows that customer to within the Apple or Google ecosystem control the aspects of the car that they need to get the cross app tracking all the things that you need to like that's going to be the best way to go. I you know the fact that automated cars are struggling with this is, is, it's the same thing that we tell dealers all the time. Jordan and I talked about it like, like, don't throw a rock in a stream. Build a boat and ride down it. The stream is saying users want to use their phone in more places than one. It's

Paul J Daly  9:51  
is it? Could it ever be strong enough, like you have the best OS in car experience that people will be. Be loyal to your brand because of that. I think I wouldn't bet $1 on that any day of the week. I mean, that's gonna be the retention, but

Kyle Mountsier  10:07  
Tesla's done it, but, like, that's a tech company, right? Yeah, Tesla's

Paul J Daly  10:12  
done it, but it's, you're right. It's so different. It's so different. I don't know it'll be buying that car because

Kyle Mountsier  10:18  
of the tech.

Paul J Daly  10:21  
Yeah, yeah. They're like, buying a phone, yeah? Well, imagine if they have a phone that integrates with it. Yeah, that's that's going to make be a whole different story. But if I'm, if I'm an OEM, like you said, the stream is telling you this, don't put a rock in the stream. Just build a boat on the stream. It would be so great. You know, if you're at your car company and you have the best iPhone integration app. Now, that's the thing, right, rated number one car market integration in the market. Put that on a billboard, it's over

Kyle Mountsier  10:51  
it's over. Market the heck out of that thing. And they would. And I

Paul J Daly  10:55  
can picture the commercial now, and if you do a good job with it, Apple might even collab on a commercial. Oh

Kyle Mountsier  11:00  
my goodness, kind of like they do with Verizon and T Mobile and all those others. It's not like they're afraid of

Paul J Daly  11:06  
it. All right. Hope you're listening out there, because, you know, these two armchair quarterbacks got all the answers. Yeah, speaking of having all the answers, segway, maybe the Starbucks the CEO does see Brian

Kyle Mountsier  11:18  
nickel, who just took over in September is as the new CEO of Starbucks is helping them cut back on their recent discount heavy strategy and marketing and aiming to return to its roots with a focus on premium coffee and customer service. Recently, they've introduced promotions like, buy one, get one free, 50% off discounts, but the results were underwhelming the company, company plans to reduce promotions during the holiday season instead focusing on seasonal drinks, you know, like the pumpkin spice latte. Through advertising, Nicole said, we have an opportunity to make the store experience better for our partners and, in turn, for our customers.

Paul J Daly  11:59  
Okay, so first of all, I don't know where those discounts went, because I never get them, no, and I've never seen them. I don't know if they're in apps or if they're like, the only discounts I remember seeing are the ones where, like, if you come in during the time when no one wants coffee, like three to 5pm right, we'll give you a discount. I've seen those, but be sure they're in the app or something, probably. But, um, so this CEO is saying, we're going to get back to what made Starbucks great, personalized service. I have noticed a little bit of an uptick in in service at Starbucks. I know you don't go there. I go there a lot because it's the best option for me. I'm not Nashville. I have craft coffee on every corner and and what I will say is this, it is like the things the strategy is like making it clear where you sit if you have a to go, order where you can sit and hang out. They're talking about rearranging furniture, new furniture configuration to make it bring it back to the third place mentality. That could be a winning strategy. I do see more and more people hanging out again, and I think if they leaned into that made it a nicer place to sit and hang out. That might work. I think this is all you know. Just considering, what do people want, and a discount wasn't it for their product anyway,

Kyle Mountsier  13:06  
I'm gonna challenge what I think people want out of Starbucks, and they want out of any retail, right? And you see, especially with dealerships, you see the reviews, right and the best reviews, and even, like we do the man on the streets. The best experiences always start with, how was your experience? Oh, I love my salesperson. Oh, back to the day when Starbucks was young, or when any of these third wave coffee shops were young. I remember it's like, oh, I enjoyed the experience when, like barista, they made me feel something made me feel special, right? Starbucks started with like, writing your name on your cup, right? That was very early. And then some of the baristas would actually, like write something. They would remember you or whatever it was. And I think that the barista machine has become so much of a machine in any coffee, and we there's a fear of that in retail auto too, like, don't make the consumer experience a machine so much that the personality of the interaction with that retails, you know, provider is limited. I think that's where Starbucks and where dealerships can and anyone in retail can lean in. Is like, especially with AI so prevalent in everything that we do is, how do you lean into that interpersonal connection in those little micro moments, whether it's like five seconds or five minutes or or an hour, that makes someone feel something that they couldn't feel by just like tapping on a screen and getting out of there?

Paul J Daly  14:35  
I don't think there's a better way to end the show on that. So it sounds like he's saying, Pay attention to the people. It's kind of our thing. Look, you have an opportunity to go pay attention to the people. So we hope that we do so we got your back. You.

Unknown Speaker  15:00  
Me tonight. I.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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