Lincoln’s Refocus, NADA and Urban League Collab, Electric Motorcycles

‍SPEAKERS

Kyle Mountsier, Paul Daly

Paul Daly  00:28

Yo Friday feeling. Friday, Friday feeling today we're talking about Lincoln getting a new president getting refocused Urban League collabing with the Nada, and it's the perfect season to talk about electric motorcycle. People really want to try it. I actually I was like, really like one of those skeptics in the beginning, but now I kind of really want to try.

Kyle Mountsier  00:51

I've been tracking this story for a hot minute. So it's like, I feel like I feel like you're like, you know, when you like add things to your cart, like seven times over a nine month period. And you're like, Yeah, Holly, just do it already. Ya know, it's kind of how I feel with running these this story. So yeah,

Paul Daly  01:09

I know. It'll be good. Well, there's, we're gonna be in all things use cars. If you don't know it's perfecting the appraisal process. Again. It's part two of that conversation. It was really great. I probably like record attendance last week. So if you have clubhouse, just get the clubhouse app, search on all things, use cars. Tap on it. It'll show you what's going on. And please join us there last week, how many people went through the room

Kyle Mountsier  01:30

like 400 or 400 people through the room in an hour, which isn't? Yeah, we're doing that.

Paul Daly  01:34

Also in like less than two weeks. We're going to be in Tampa, at Digital dealer after digital dealer on May 2, we're hosting a big premiere party for the launch of our TV Docu series more than cars. We're, we're elbows deep in the editing. We're

Kyle Mountsier  01:52

getting edits back from the editing team. And like I was eight minutes into the you know the edit this morning. Smiling grinning ear to ear Paul jumps in the in the meat that we are in every single morning. I was like, Why are you smiling? I'm like, enjoying myself watching the show. So I think people are gonna really get a good kick out.

Paul Daly  02:15

You look like the movie poster for that. Move that show smile, if you see that. Like way to be way too big. So yeah, please. So if you're going to be in Tampa or around Tampa, on May 2, please join us, you can go to a CIO to x.com and get tickets, they're super cheap. It's going to be a heck of a party, red carpet step and repeats, big screen, we're gonna have some conversations beforehand, there's going to be swag, and food and popcorn and a whole bunch of stuff. So please, please, please, you're going to end if you're going to digital dealer. We're collabing with them. And if you're a dealer going to digital dealer, you get a free ticket. Hey, there you go. If you're already going to say we didn't love you don't say we didn't say Don't say a couple other things coming up that we'll talk about another point we're going to be in Vegas for writers event and all this and this and this. So to con tickets just launched so to conduct we have things things but really, first and foremost, we hope to see in Tampa at the May 2 Alright, let's talk about some new as good. So Lincoln's new president Diane Craig is ready to revitalize luxury brand by refocusing on its Evie strategy, updating products to attract customers and reducing its dealer network. Yes, we put that one last reducing its dealer network. Craig emphasizes the need for exclusive Lincoln dealerships, right. No more. She said, You know, the current 637 stores that we have is too large. And we're actually looking for less dual branded stores. So the Ford Lincoln combo that so many of you have seen or worked for or have, they're looking to reduce those. She didn't say exactly how many stores the brand needs or wants, but suggested I don't know how you cannot say it, but you suggest a specific number than the very

Kyle Mountsier  03:59

specific number.

Paul Daly  04:01

I don't know, it could be around 356, which is the number that was put out, which is actually the number of dealers who signed up for Lincoln's electric vehicle certification plan. So there's a little

Kyle Mountsier  04:13

lag is a nod to like, Hey, if you're in on that, you might still be in type, the little one

Paul Daly  04:19

hand washing the other kind of thing. And although the company has previously stated like really ambitious Evie goals, you know, for 2025 and 2026, they're actually pulling back on that a little bit. So they got a little excited. They're like, you know, 75% of customers are still definitely going to choose gas. Right. And that's only gonna go down to like 65% of customers in the next several years. So, you know, I guess the bottom line is, she's like, I'm not telling you that timing. I'm not telling you what but I'm telling you, the focus is on how many stores we're going to have and delivering a like super, like essential Lincoln experience focusing on customer service and shisha. I think that she said like Uber convenient. We need to be uber convenient for customers. And they're all about experience like the cabin and all the features and things they

Kyle Mountsier  05:07

have to do this their ad strategy, their desire to continually be a luxury brand. If they're not, and they I agree with them, like if they want to be a luxury brand, they have to move away from being just associated with Ford rooftop, I think yeah, oh, without a doubt that either unnecessary move to like, it's why Genesis separated from the Hyundai brand, because it needs its own platform and way to communicate and, you know, customer service expectations. It's a whole nother game playing in the luxury world and makes a lot of sense. I also cannot imagine being in the OEM PR roundtable right now. You're like Yum, it's like, oh, we're doing all EVs are kind of not we are not things but we are but not yet push, but it is related to the Eevee push. And, you know, we realize still want that thing in the government. I mean, I feel for them legitimately I'm starting to feel feel bad for them. Because it is it's this like chess game that is really intense when you've got like, all these via combustion engine vehicles sitting on the ground that need to move that you need to be talking about that your dealers need to be talking about what the what the PR the public perception in the public eye is all looking at how you're talking about EVs, it is just this like, really kind of dual strategy that they're having to deal with. And this is just one of those, you know, you look at the story and you just read the data points, and you're recognizing that it's a difficult place to be in and so, here's here's the note, here's the tie down for me, is if you're a Lincoln dealer, if you're a Ford Lincoln dealer, is how do you just break the barrier of setting yourself apart as a full on luxury customer experience entity, right? To where they they recognize that you're the leader and follow you in?

Paul Daly  07:03

Do you mean like if you're a dual Ford Lincoln dealer,

Kyle Mountsier  07:06

or just a Lincoln dealership doesn't matter, right press push the boundaries of the luxury customer experience and be the front runner for how to engage in the combustion engine and Evie conversation at the exact same time and your ad strategy showing strategy your customer experience your post sale your service experience, push the boundaries,

Paul Daly  07:29

kind of reminds me of that dealership, the Toyota Lexus dealer that just went up that we covered in New York City in New York says Toyota Lexus and we're like hey, well, if we're going to do this then the Lexus standard is the full standard Right? Like we're gonna full customer experience. Full luxury. You know, we I do remember a couple of guys and beers and flat brims talking about the fact that let's see how the Evie rhetoric changes when people realize that we have to sell gas vehicles more because we have inventory now. That's what people want to buy. I just I just heard a couple of guys. They said that

Kyle Mountsier  08:02

a couple guys we've heard of, they may or may not look like us.

Paul Daly  08:06

Yeah, they'd like to like talk about how to fix things. So let's make the fixing. Segue. According to na da data, 39,000 service techs, new service techs graduate from us tech schools every single year, which sounds like a lot until you realize the industry needs 76,000 texts a year to replace text that you'll move out of the industry or

Kyle Mountsier  08:30

retire the most amazing at the mass but that's like a $40,000 40,000 person

Paul Daly  08:37

deaf person. So a couple of people and GPT isn't fixing cars yet last time I checked. So that's why a new collaboration between na da and the Urban League is so timely as a new pilot initiative to attract retain train new technicians. At local dealerships, it's really picking up steam. So basically it goes like this. We heard a little bit about this back and ADA in Texas, but the program is now rolling in the pilot in Louisiana. And so basically hand selected candidates go through a four week professional life skills training, right? So like we're training, like just general things about like maintaining productive life and like looking toward your future. Right, so good. And then and then meanwhile, they shadow a service tech at a participating dealer and then they start studying automotive tech at a local community college and all in all, it's an 18 month program that includes both ASE and OEM certification. So 18 months is done. I'm OEM certified ASE certified and then train mechanics work as technicians as dealership as dealership employees. Brilliant.

Kyle Mountsier  09:40

It's brilliant it is. It is the way you just read this

Paul Daly  09:44

quote and then quote from the NADA foundations Chairwoman and that sigh Cora, owner of Smith auto family in level in Texas. She says the pilot program is the first step in what we hope will be a national program to recruit trainees train and place So, technicians and dealerships across the country. And basically she says we can scale this just about anywhere. I love it.

Kyle Mountsier  10:07

And this is this is where nada just has the relationships, the national scale to do something like this, this is where they should be living in. And this is, this is exciting to me because this is a solve for for the industry for dealerships. It's all for consumers, right? Like telling that narrative, you know, that that, that the industry is working on making it easier to get your car serviced. As an industry, we're not just doing that at the local level, we're working as an industry to make it easier to make sure your car gets serviced in a timely manner. That's a big story to tell. And dude, you know, I

Paul Daly  10:42

think this has to be an episode of more than cars, like, we're

Kyle Mountsier  10:45

just going there, where we're going, we're going to Louisiana, yeah, we're going to go yeah,

Paul Daly  10:53

when you think about it from like, there's nothing more quintessentially automotive, then, like the Urban League just does such a great job taking folks that have had like a, you know, like a problem, right or a challenge to get to the next level. And they're saying, like, hey, we say it all the time automotive industry, it has no ceiling, but it also has no floor, right and showing an on ramp to the fact that if you compare that to a college trajectory in 18 months, a college trajectory taught his and the person that goes through this program, their income, their opportunity is going to be substantially different. I mean, some

Kyle Mountsier  11:30

way less debt with way less,

Paul Daly  11:33

how about when Amuro debt was zero? Zeros program, right? And why not? dimensioned these cats gonna come out of the program. And within like, three years, they're gonna be you know, bringing home 8090 100 grand for really good, easily.

Kyle Mountsier  11:45

Absolutely easily.

Paul Daly  11:46

You don't mean another industry, I literally can't think of one other industry that where this opportunity is there.

Kyle Mountsier  11:52

Clear, the path is so clear, you can do it in other industries. But the path is just so clear. If you get your OEM and your ASE certifications, and you get your hours right, and you're flagging your appropriate hours and you know, your times that you don't have comebacks and all that type of stuff. You like a technician is worth its weight in gold right now. Right. So a few years,

Paul Daly  12:11

and that kind of makes you heard. But there are 40,000 opportunities right now. 40 year

Kyle Mountsier  12:17

40,000. Go tell your friends, go tell your friends, tell your friends, telling your friends.

Paul Daly  12:24

I'll tell my friends.

Kyle Mountsier  12:27

All right, I'm gonna tell y'all about this because Paul's got his color commentary ready to fire from the hip. We talked about EVs a lot. But now that spring is here. You know, all those motorcycles are starting to come out across the country. So we wanted to show some love and talk about the new electric motorcycles by Harley Davidson spin off Livewire, we talked about Livewire a couple of times. But the first bike fully developed by the split now does zero to 60 in 3.1 seconds, has a range of about 100 miles. And the lead charges in 30 minutes at a level three and 75 minutes at a level two. So it's kind of similar to the early kind of, you know, Evie vehicles. The interesting thing about it, and the great thing about it is that it comes in just under $16,000. And they're going to be delivering them in time for summer in July. The anecdotal note here is the journalists slash enthusiast, they got to write this little article and you'll check it out. They definitely loved it.

Paul Daly  13:25

So all right, so all those out my motorcycle chomping at the bit if you live in upstate New York, this is like the beginning of motorcycle season. And we have like three weeks of it. So we're all excited for the next few weeks before it gets snows again. So we have a few months ahead of us. And most riders, like the 100 mile range is fine. Right? Because my I have both of my bikes the range is about that anyway with gas and listen after you ride 100 miles, like you're ready, like that's part of the biking trip, right? You stop, you get something to eat, right? Like so you plug it in. At first I was like Nah, no motorcycles gotta have, you will need to hear it you need to feel but more and more. I'm like, You know what? I mean? This guy's like, look, you can talk to your friends while you're riding with. Yes, there's no noise. The acceleration is smooth. You know, frankly, like this is the first bike that Livewire has made broken off from the Harley Davidson nameplate. And I'm gonna offend some people with this, but it's cool, but if you're under 45, like the big Harley Davidson logo on the bike doesn't really mean anything, actually. Actually, it does mean something. And most of that meaning it means you're older than 45. Yeah. Exactly. You nailed it. So I'm excited for this transition. I mean, look, it's a recreational vehicle. You're not right across country on this bike, but I think it's gonna I mean, it's 16,000. So it's, I mean, as Motorcycles go, it's pretty expensive. Yeah, it's an expensive toy. I would definitely rent one and try it out. But not just the right now like people were. I'm gonna get my bike out this weekend. It's now your Netflix app. Oh all day long all day long. Dave the wave just comments on the live stream Shouldn't you guys be in the All Things used cars clubhouse and eight minutes actually correct? Yes, we should. It's four minutes from now because of the time delay. So we're heading over there. We hope you have an amazing Friday, caring about people loving people go ride a motorcycle if you haven't, and we'll see you in all things used cars.

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