GM Tops R&D Investment, Cybertruck Parts, Buffet Drops Gems

Paul Daly: 0:01Yo It is Monday, May 8, I got Michael Cirillo in the studio. Kyle is on assignment. Actually he's in Chicago. He's gonna be a David Kane a bunch of people but we have to talk about Warren Buffett cybertruck GM investing and all kinds of stuff. isn't enough for Monday Michael.

‍Michael Cirillo: 0:19

No energy for a Monday morning.

Paul Daly: 0:22

I just woke up. I

Michael Cirillo: 0:22

have tried to make some trouble here fan.

Paul Daly: 0:25

So I did a little yard work yesterday too, and I know you did. Oh, I just I am literally like completely tankful. When I get to spend a day with my family outside doing a little manual labor a little barbecue grilling, it was a gorgeous it was as gorgeous as it gets in upstate New York yesterday. Just there's nothing

Michael Cirillo: 0:45

quite like learning your your your 14 year old son can't use a lawn mower yet.

Paul Daly: 0:54

I start them early man.

Michael Cirillo: 0:55

I started Yeah. Because I'm like, dang, I made all sorts of mistakes. What am I doing here

Paul Daly: 1:00

that's like that, that line from Gladiator, right? Like when the when the father and the son he's like you failure, he tells him he wants the other guy to be king and not as son. And he's like your failure as a son is my failure as a father. That's what you're thinking of yesterday. That's what you're thinking, Oh, my, my son miles, who's one of our editors went to his junior prom. So like, we pulled up and he got invited by a friend of his and we pull up and we're just like, is a prom? We pull up and like all of her family and like grandparents are there to take pictures and my wife looks like, holy crap. This is a real thing are sons going to the prom? It was like this moment of realization. I know. I know. But we're also coming off the high of last week releasing the first episode pilot episode of more than cars. And just the outpouring of people sending DMS and text messages and writing reviews. And saying they want to be involved somehow has been frankly, like pretty inspiring and overwhelming.

Michael Cirillo: 1:58

Yeah, I mean, well, first of all, the I can't wait for everybody to watch this for the first time those that weren't at the premiere. I mean, the energy was happening at this premiere, full red carpet event. Nobody's ever done anything like that in automotive that I that I've ever participated in. And, and just like, dude, the storytelling of it, the production quality of it. I mean, it's, it's every bit as Pro filmed and story told, as you would expect on Netflix, Apple TV, or the likes. And it just the people that were there, blue and white. So I'm excited for for the public premiere.

Paul Daly: 2:37

In just a couple of weeks, May 24, you can go to more than cars.tv or just go to our LinkedIn page and register or just like check that you're attending for the event. We're going to livestream it on LinkedIn, and YouTube. And this is going to be the start of something really magical because a lot of people said how can we get involved. And we know that this needs to be made the people that saw it know that this needs to be made for the betterment of the whole industry. So we're going to start this like kind of like community funded thing, because we want to make the rest of the series we made the pilot, we have a second episode slated. But it's expensive to make these and we think we can make a whole series and maybe you will see on Apple TV or Netflix because we think the rest of the world needs to know the rest of the country needs to know the side of automotive that we get to see every day.

Michael Cirillo: 3:22

Florida man, it was the best.

Paul Daly: 3:23

Alright, we're running and gun and so we're gonna be please say hi, if you see us or come out to a spot. Kyle is in Chicago today and tomorrow. David Cain 20 group event next week, Kyle and I are going to be moderating mainstage panels and side panels at the Reuters automotive event in Las Vegas. You know, so that's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I'll be heading to V con in Indianapolis after that the following week. We do some of the following. No, no. In June, we have Atlanta. I don't want to confuse you with too much. But we're gonna be around if you're with us. Please say hi. I think that's enough for Monday morning. I think we need to get into some news. All right. Although Volkswagen spends the most money on r&d dollar amount individually General Motors leads the industry in the percentage of their revenue spent on r&d reflects significant investments in battery power software and connectivity. So at the top of the list, basically GM investing 6.25% of their of their profits, revenue or profits gonna be revenue in r&d investment. Mercedes Benz is number two of 5.67 and Volkswagen is 5.13%. So GM full percentage point higher than VW. You know, GM is investing 9.8 billion with a B. And granted Volkswagen Group is a lot larger, they invest 15 billion. The bottom of the list was surprising to me is Hyundai Nissan, Tesla. How about that? Tesla is at the bottom toward the bottom of the list for r&d spending, investing only 3 billion

Michael Cirillo: 4:58

well I feel like Mary Barra is taking their growth hyper seriously. You know what I mean? Like. So when I was at 10x growth con, that's grant cardones deal. He had a woman by the name of Cathy wood. Now, I had never heard of Kathy but she heads up on a lark. Yeah, she heads up one of the largest, I guess funds that only looks to future and emerging thing. So they're heavily invested in AI. They're heavily invested in Tesla for batteries and things of that nature. They're heavily invested in robotics, and something in the medical field. And she was, she specifically brought up a conversation that she had with Mary Barra, who was like, Okay, what is GM gotta do, and she's, and Kathy was like, it's going to take a lot to catch up to some of the incumbents, but it's not impossible. It's just kind of like eating a dinosaur. And I really feel like, I really feel like Mary and GM is taking that incredibly seriously. And so that that would make sense that they're topping the charts there.

Paul Daly: 6:03

Yeah. And so we'll see what the outflow is. I mean, obviously, there's a lot of stuff in the pipeline, they spent a good bit of that money on kicking CarPlay out of their new Eevee so you know, we'll see if that's worth it or not, but you know, they're definitely taking swings, try new things, taking swings, and I think this is just an indicator that obviously the industry is all in on innovation and building new battery plants developing new technology, obviously remarketing so many things. And so we'll see what happens as all these new vehicles start coming to market. Speaking of new vehicles coming to market segue this article's this. This story is like a little bit of a passing story, because really, we just really want to get to the last store today. But Tesla has secured a significant order of parts worth about $230 million for interior parts for the new cybertruck from a Korean supplier. I don't know Michael, you want to give that a pronunciation a try to yawn EOIs C om e ho. e Wha that's pretty good. E y. I think if we if two Canadian and an American agree on a pronunciation of a South Korean word, I think that makes it correct. Tesla plans to start cybertruck production this summer and have a release release event in q3. This massive order is just showing that you know the full commitment to the cybertruck launch. This is really the first order that has showed up from a part supplier. And this is really just for all the B and C pillars. So it's funny, like you have these companies and they make B and C pillars and you know, just a little $230 million order.

Michael Cirillo: 7:36

That is definitely the sound I make when I fall off a bike. Oh,

Paul Daly: 7:42

still on the Dave. Dave stare would be so great to have a view into your like eight year old life and just watch your parents just like this kid. This kid

Michael Cirillo: 7:54

I will I know what the view from their life was like it was like this

Paul Daly: 8:01

are we going back to my failure, your failure as a sudden? My failure as

Michael Cirillo: 8:07

I just had a full circle moment. I gotta I gotta not be so hard on my kids.

Paul Daly: 8:14

I gotta go. I gotta go catch up my son before he leaves. Sorry. No, but in all reality, the cybertruck is coming to market. We've been hearing about it for two and a half years now. Obviously, Jim, Jim is not going to beat the cybertruck to market I don't think but they're still the Silverado? I don't think so. But obviously, the pickup space is going to heat up very, very quickly. Ford with the big jump at the F 150. Lightning tests on the cybertruck comes out mean lots of lovers, lots of haters. And then kind of everyone we're gonna see if GMs all investment is going to pay off. Speaking of things paying off, this is really, this is really the story. So on Saturday, Warren Buffett hosted the annual Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting, which people taught as they call it the Woodstock of capitalists in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. So obviously, this is a time when 92 year old Buffett and Charlie Munger who is his vice chair, is actually 99. So you have a 92 year old Buffett a 99 year old Munger, I just I just picture like me and a couple of my boys, right like you and Kyle, like when we're in our 90s Like we're still swinging, right? We're still holding shareholder meetings or whatever it is. We're holding them and

Michael Cirillo: 9:32

making I want to get my hands on the agenda for that deal. Like, all right, everybody, welcome out drum by 11am. We must all have dinner and go to sleep

Paul Daly: 9:42

prune juice. No, I mean, it's kind of the opposite of that, actually. Because with bated breath, we have investors and you know, reporters of all ages, just waiting to see what Warren Buffett's opinion is and insight is in so many ways things going on. So we got a couple bullets. He said regarding the banking banking crisis, he criticized the regional banks failure and flawed regulations like regulating themselves the government's regulations on the regional banks, you know, and he says, Well, that's what happens. It was it was doomed to fail too many risky things going on unregulated. He did however, say it was good that the government bailed them out. He said, If they let them fail, fail and didn't insure the depositors deposit, he said that would have been catastrophic. He also, you know, a lot of conversation about, you know, the dollar being displaced as a reserve currency. He says, I don't see any other any other, you know, currency replacing the dollar. You know, people said, What about Bitcoin? He said, That's a total joke. You know, he's, he's had that position open for a long time. And this is great. Regarding their $151 billion stake in Apple, it is their, it represents like half of their portfolio. They were like, Well, why do you have so much in there? And I love this. I love the humility. I love the honesty. He says, it just happens to be a better business than any we own. Wow. Little humility there.

Michael Cirillo: 11:08

You got a little Owen Wilson anatomy there. Oh, wow. Wow. Wow.

Paul Daly: 11:15

So two more points, and then we'll jam on this a little bit. But we'll do this one first. So people always ask him about life advice. And like, what is it like? Like, how do you live a great life? You know, how do you live your best life? And he says, You should write your obituary, then try to figure out how to live up to it. Quote, it's not that complicated.

Michael Cirillo: 11:35

Wow. Wow. There's the second one. Wow. That's amazing. I mean, because like, here's the thing, when you're that old, there is just so much wisdom from like, failure learning. Just there's so much that that like, he's probably like, well, da, that's a no brainer. And I'm sitting here going, wow, you know, wow. Well, awesome. And

Paul Daly: 12:03

you also, he's also at that that age, I mean, he's always been known for like some very simple, simple wisdom, right? Like, he just keeps it keeps it simple. And that's kind of been his guiding light. But you know, when you're 92, like, you're he kind of has been at this place where you're just done caring what people think, like, I don't even I don't know what's going to happen when we're that age. And we can just say, whatever we think. Right, right out loud. This is what I see. It's getting all complicated out there. I wish somebody asked him about AI. Somebody probably did, but I didn't see in the article, see what his thoughts are on that. He did say, you know, applicable to our industry, he wouldn't we will not be investing in any automakers, anytime soon to bring us back to the beginning of this episode. He said, You know, he and the Vice Chair Charlie Munger, they believe the auto industry is challenging and unattractive due to intense competition, and costly, uncertain transition to electric vehicles. He said, it's just too tough.

Unknown: 12:59

It's just wow.

Paul Daly: 13:02

That three, it's gonna make the best social media clip ever. I can already see it shaping up.

Michael Cirillo: 13:08

Well, it's interesting, because when you when you contrast that against Apple, and all of the things that they want to do, and all of the, you know, rumor mill about the Apple car, and you know, you know, they're going to be getting into that game at some point. And the fierce competition against other companies like Samsung, or Huawei, or, you know, any of these other Yeah, that's kind of an interesting comment, because I would, in my mind, I think of them as almost the same. But of course, he's 92 is infinitely more monetarily successful than I am. And so that's, that's something to kind of, you know, pay attention to.

Paul Daly: 13:47

I mean, I think it is worth saying that he's not dead on the auto business. If you don't write that his group owns 78 dealerships across the US generate $8 billion in annual revenue, it's a much different business than making a car. Right, right. Selling is much different business than making the car which is one of the reasons why I think there's just there tends to be this dissonance between OEMs and dealerships, right. Because there's assumption like, it's the car business, but they're very, they're two very different businesses. Right, the automakers have to figure out how to innovate, make new products, you know, change manufacturing, dealers have to think about how are we going to deliver a customer experience dealing with a customer face to face every day, and the distance between those two things, like we have to develop and make the next type of vehicle that people will drive and there's someone in my service lane right this minute with a problem in their life that needs to be solved, right? There's a lot of space between those. And so, you know, anything that can be done to bring those together is starting with empathy, that oh, you know, that it's really difficult what the other person's doing.

Michael Cirillo: 14:55

You know, you know what it's like, Dude, it's like, it's like, mattress manufacturers trying to tell hotel chains how to book rooms Wow right or publishers trying to tell authors how to sell the books like if the book publisher knew how to sell the book then they'd sell the book but but they don't they don't

Paul Daly: 15:18

they don't know they don't know wow that's a really keep saying well every time I say well now everybody today as you're listening to this whenever you say wow you're just gonna hear I could Isaac is excited in the back it's gonna be all these

Michael Cirillo: 15:32

drunk people at dealerships it turned it into a drinking game. We're like just want you to book a service appointment. Yeah. Oh, wow.

Paul Daly: 15:42

Oh, man. Well, tying all this back together. It is Monday. You have people to serve and Williams have people to serve mattress companies have people to serve. You can take care of the person that's in front of you better than anybody else. Little empathy, little extra care. love people more. You love cars.

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