GM Pushes Ahead on EVs, BP’s EV Chargers, What is Luxury?

Unknown: 0:07

It is Monday and in the email this

‍Paul J Daly: 0:09

morning and said Monday is the day that separates the good twos with the half twos. It was really good. Today we're talking about GM pushing ahead with EVs, BP and EVs. And what is luxury? Answering that question? feels way too existential for Monday morning.

Kyle Mountsier: 0:27

You know, I take my call, I don't know if I'm proud of this or not, but I figured I'd talk about it because I think I think there's something here. You know, we've been traveling a good amount. And so this year, I prioritized for the first time an airline. And I prioritized Delta. Because, of course, the trips that we saw coming and what was happening, right. And this morning, I got an email notification. And I'm promised, I'm going somewhere with this, that I achieved. Platinum medallion status. Hey, now, there's some stuff that comes with that. There's the fact that I've been way certain nights and days from family all of that what the credit card had their credit card, the whole nine yards, right had to go there. But this is what I cannot get over. And I think, you know, just like I've been talking, I was talking to a couple of dealers actually last week about retention and loyalty and programs. And I'm telling you, if you haven't done like a little case study about the FOMO drip feed who Seville colors the color spectrum, the the way that delta like has this multifaceted orchestration to drive engagement with like, you almost get to this point where you're like I think I need to fly this week just so that I can get more points or MQ D

Paul J Daly: 1:55

what is platinum is that the second level up it's how does it go? A delta mature gold

Kyle Mountsier: 2:01

silver platinum,

Paul J Daly: 2:02

so Oh, you're

Unknown: 2:03

no i

Kyle Mountsier: 2:04

diamond seems like that would be that'd be bad. That would be its key issues with wife type stuff. But

Unknown: 2:10

yeah, you know,

Paul J Daly: 2:12

like I have diamond status. I have relationship with my children though.

Kyle Mountsier: 2:16

Yeah, so but but yeah, I think like as I've kind of been on this like delta kind of loyalty journey over the last couple of years after starting to fly you start to realize how much time and effort they put into caring for keeping

Paul J Daly: 2:31

you on Delta experience. It's Wow, that's very interesting. Well, congratulations. So now I want you to book my delta tickets do they upgrade like anyone you book on the on the same booking is everyone get upgraded together? Yeah, something like yeah, okay, that's it. I know my I know my ticket now. I want to fly to Nashville just so I can fly with you on Delta. Instead of meeting you there. We have a new Oh, we have a new Auto Collabs episode out today. So that's our other podcast, one of our other podcasts, Auto Collabs. We're talking about merchandising and fixing the house before inviting people to it with our friend Daniel able, really great episode. Really great topic. And, you know, merchandising is something that's close to Kyle's heart, and should be close to anyone's heart who wants to sell a thing, right merchandising first step in marketing. So that's, that's dropping today. Also, we have a webinar coming on August 7. So now we're probably about the two week warning, go to a soda.com Scroll down we're talking about what's up with the cars rule. Yeah, it's still lingering out there. I know like we all kind of forgot about it. Or like as soon as like we got the stay. It's still out there. Some version of it is still coming. So we're gonna be with mosaic compliance solutions, our friend Jim Ganter, as he's going to navigate us through that. And we're going to be a bunch of places so I don't know our travel schedule is going to be on the email from now but we're moving around so Carl can get his Delta miles let's

Kyle Mountsier: 3:50

get into the news. Let's

Paul J Daly: 3:51

go. General Motors is gearing up to launch a series of new electric vehicles across it Chevy GMC and Cadillac brands this year to capture a broader market despite current sales challenges now although Evie sales growth has slowed, GM still is aiming for zero emissions light duty vehicles by 2035 Again, that's so far that no one could ever be held accountable it just feels good to say I cracks me up when companies say this because I don't think I actually don't think they really mean it.

Kyle Mountsier: 4:20

Be around by them. Yeah, right.

Paul J Daly: 4:21

Oh no. Well, I'll be retire with our golden parachutes and you can figure it out. GM has already cut Evie production target this year by 50,000 units. The Chevy Equinox Evie is expected in all trims this year to launch and it's set to be GMs most affordable electric vehicle with an MSRP starting around $35,000 including shipping and that's before the $7,500 tax

Kyle Mountsier: 4:44

credit on that 30k deal, right

Paul J Daly: 4:46

so significantly, it's gonna be 27 Five looking ahead, GM is going to introduce the all new Chevy Bolt we've been waiting for that one the 2020 25 as well as a number of plug in hybrids. In 2027 GM Mary Barra um GM CEO Mary Barra said, I think we all know growth of the EVS has slowed. We never expected it to be linear. So, I mean, that's, you know, I like to call just laughing. I just chuckle at this one.

Unknown: 5:14

It's fine.

Paul J Daly: 5:17

I do you think a sub $30,000 crossover Evie is going to be is going to be like a very, it's like a model Y competitor. Right? And well, I also 35

Kyle Mountsier: 5:27

I'm excited about the new Chevy Bolt. Like, I would like to know what that's gonna look like, because it was always a market leader. It was weird when they kind of think it's gonna do great here. I think it's gonna do great. Yeah,

Paul J Daly: 5:35

I think there are a lot of people who love their bolt that will buy it as soon as it comes out. Like, I think they'll get a lot of buyers, they come out, it'll definitely have increased range. It'll be sweet. It's gonna be a zippy little cars. It's a lot of fun to drive. And they have a kind of a pent up audience for it already. And they catch fire, which is great. I definitely won't get well I can't say definitely, but it'll probably be cheaper than the equinox, Equinox. Right? I mean, so now are we talking about an Eevee? That sub $25,000 with the credit

Kyle Mountsier: 6:05

for at least a little time until they hit that credit max or that? That Max? Yeah. Which I think you're probably a year or two away from anyway, so

Paul J Daly: 6:12

yeah, I mean, I guess that's assuming that credit stay in place, but right now, anything can happen. It's an electric. Did you know it's an election year?

Kyle Mountsier: 6:19

God um, yeah.

Paul J Daly: 6:24

I think that's the first time we ever used the Segway button as an object button. We should we should actually make a dedicated like eject button up, somebody go and pull up, pull up. Probably several movie clips.

Kyle Mountsier: 6:36

You're gonna have to deploy that one a lot over the next four months. Please help us help us all BP.

Paul J Daly: 6:42

The petroleum company British Petroleum is partnering with mall owners Simon Property Group you've been there if you've ever been to an outlet or another big mall to install 900 Evie chargers at various locations as part of their broader strategy to expand the charging network and support the increasing demand for EVs. Last year, BP pulse made plans to invest $1 billion in America's Evie and infrastructure by the end of the decade. They have more than 33,900 points globally. And they have plans to have 100,000 points by the year 2030. It supports their commitment to sustainable energy right the oil companies now putting in Evie chargers makes sense. Mercedes and Starbucks are also teaming up to put their fast chargers at 100 Coffee slinging locations on Interstate five, which basically runs along the west coast from Canada to Mexico. So that's a really reasonable place to put a bunch of chargers, the new stations will be part of the German automakers $1 billion plan to build 2000 New Evie charging hubs across the globe. So a lot of charging infrastructure, someone needs to do

Kyle Mountsier: 7:45

a study that like adds up all these private and public you know companies kind of like building Evie infrastructure and there's gotta be some really cool graphic, maybe we can get Atlanta chick Italie to do this. She would probably crush it go find all the people that have said we're going to do this, map it all out figure out where they all are. I I've I've still argued that I think these oil companies are absolutely the best ones to figure out how to do this. They know how to do energy at scale, right. And whether it's oil or electric, they can figure out the scale the process to get it in, you know, real estate regulations, all of all of that, like that infrastructure is already in place. So BP and then start to you know, start to go down the line to all of the other petroleum companies out there. It's it's a it's a genius move and I think we should probably leaning on them as as the private sector a lot more. Yeah,

Paul J Daly: 8:45

I think we will speak into the private sector. A segue. All right,

Kyle Mountsier: 8:52

let us know. So what is luxury? What is luxury so a recent morning console intelligence brand tracker study highlighted the shifting priorities among luxury shoppers, with over 75% saying quality is more important than cost in luxury retail 65% of consumer about consumers value exclusive access to products as part of their luxury shopping experience. And 64% believe that high price is an important aspect of luxury. It's like that's, that's important. It's too cheap. Yeah, it's gotta be a little bit more expensive must be done as a strategy. That's it. superior customer service is also crucial, while 70 with 72%, citing it as a key expectation and 63% Expecting personalized shopping services as part of their experience. In travel luxury is defined by comfort and food and beverages. It's fresh, rare ingredients. So here's here's the really interesting, most luxury purchases still made in brick and mortar stores including secondhand items so even like the consignment and secondhand things that are luxury, are made in brick and mortar luxury purchased exactly Wow,

Paul J Daly: 10:00

the experience I know do you get a special like now that your delta triple platinum, you get? Do you get? Do you get like a like dedicated concierge service? Yeah,

Kyle Mountsier: 10:11

you get like, you get elevated to a dedicated phone line. Like if you ever wish I bought here's here's here's what's tricky I've never had because the app you don't have to use it because the text service is so onpoint right. So chat and messenger. So you got that you get that like it is I have noticed even like being sober every once in a while though, you know, like the really good.

Paul J Daly: 10:37

Agent agents, agents like

Kyle Mountsier: 10:39

the gate agents, or especially the flight attendants will like drop a message on your seat. It's not just for Diamond medallion people that they just like every once in a while and they got that little extra time they'll drop that thank you so much for being so there's this little like you everybody knows that's the seat with the person that has a little bit more on here. So

Paul J Daly: 11:00

I think this luxury thinking and hospitality thinking really go hand in hand. We're talking about making these amazing moments. They don't have to be expensive. I mean luxury goods, right? Like yes, it has to be expensive, right? We just saw that in the data people say like price. However, the feeling of luxury experience just has to be intentional. Right and like so I think in the industry. Yes, we have our luxury buyers and they can all take a very clear one to one away from the story right? What do people want, especially when they're inside a dealership at a luxury store? Right? That's where people expect the experience the most in person in a luxury brand. However, for all the others that are not highlighting brands, this is like those little surprising luxury moments or luxury elements that don't have to be expensive. They just have to be intentional. Here at at the agency we have these nice bottles of water. They love the aluminum cans. And yes, it costs another 40 cents per bottle. But if I couldn't tell you the number of people in clients that comment like wow, this is fancy water.

Kyle Mountsier: 12:02

I'm telling you I look forward to getting one of those waters every time I come there. It's like one of the first things I do because it just feels like

Unknown: 12:09

feels luxury. So I don't know Monday hope Monday feels luxury for you. We

Paul J Daly: 12:14

hope we gave you something to think about heading into the week. The biggest luxury ever is the ability to be present and serve somebody else. Take care of somebody else so go out there give everyone luxury.

Unknown: 12:43

Morning know

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