Rivian, VW and Scout… Oh My, Fain Struggles To Unionize Plants, ICE Dodge Charger

Paul J Daly  0:00  
All right, is Wednesday, November 13. Feels like Christmas morning because today is the day more than cars. Episode Ford premieres at one o'clock. We'll tell you how to get to it in a second, but first we got to bounce for a second. Remember this? Remember you still let this play the people,

Kyle Mountsier  0:15  
I think we should let it go today, just because it feels like Christmas,

Paul J Daly  0:19  
you don't need to repeat. Yeah, we play music like this at

Kyle Mountsier  0:22  
Christmas in my house. Ain't no beats when you really real. This is, this is the normal like, Christmas morning song, Matt, just

Paul J Daly  0:28  
gotta add that little walk down. There. You go nowhere, Christmas. Oh, it is little piano in the background, and you got a little sleigh bells. We can make this happen. Hey everybody, today is the day we're releasing, premiering episode four of the more than cars Docu series at Mohawk, Chevrolet. It's going to be so much fun. We are live streaming it in several places, but the easiest way to get to it is to go to more than cars.tv there's a banner right there. You can join the LinkedIn event, 1pm Eastern. We're going to be there. We're going to be in the chat, and it'll be a nice boost to the middle of your day. I think it's like 20 ish minutes. And it's amazing

Kyle Mountsier  1:06  
if you don't leave with your cheeks a little bit for sore from smiling and your eyes a little bit sore from crying, all at the same time, then you're doing it

Paul J Daly  1:17  
wrong a little more proud to work in the auto industry and be like, Oh, we got to tell more people about this place.

Kyle Mountsier  1:22  
I want, like, my question is like, do you see yourself in these dealerships, right? Because I think that, like, as you highlight and learn and understand the other people that are doing things, either Similarly, a little bit different, start to see yourself in others. And it's like, okay, there's other people out there that are doing things like I do, and I think that's a super valuable place to be.

Paul J Daly  1:45  
There's so many times in life you look at someone doing things with a passion or in a certain way, and it inspires you to bring some of that into your life, to expand who you are into who you know you can be. And that's one of the, I think that's one of the benefits of these episodes, is that it just shows you what's possible. And when you see someone run a four minute mile, you're like, oh, it's humanly possible. We don't run a four minute mile in this episode. I never have done that. Yeah, no. I mean maybe, maybe between like 10 of us, we could do it great, like a four mile form.

Kyle Mountsier  2:20  
I don't think so. I don't think I don't think you can, I don't think I can work

Paul J Daly  2:23  
fast enough. Well. I mean, what would that be? It's too far. Still. There need to be more than 10 of us.

Kyle Mountsier  2:28  
Yeah, absolutely. I think, Wow, that's a, that's a whole conundrum, is it? I

Paul J Daly  2:35  
never thought of that before, but it's when you tie it back to, like, what actually happens in some of these amazing stores we're going in. It's exactly that you have a couple 100 people working to make this place feel like a four minute mile. It's unreal in all the different areas. Collaboration that counts. This is and there's so many athletes in this one, we had to start with an athletic reference. So come on, you're going to see some competition. You're going to find out. If you've seen that trailer where I take the basketball shot off the roof. You're gonna see what actually happens. What happens? All right, join us at one o'clock Eastern go to more than cars.tv. Join us up and do that. We also have a webinar in two days on this Friday at one o'clock, auditing your 2024 audit advertising performance with our friends at stream companies. We're gonna, like, give some tips and tricks and how to audit what you've actually done this year. And then part two of this webinar series next week, or in two weeks, is gonna be now. How do we plan and execute that moving forward? So hope you can join us there. You can just go to our website, asotu.com, you can sign up for the webinar right there, join us live or get the recording. But you have to sign up in order to do these things. Let's get into it all right, rivian. How about this one? Rivian and Volkswagen Group have now finalized a significant joint venture worth up to $5.8 billion to advance electrical architecture and software for future EVs utilizing rivians Tech, right? Yeah, I don't think they want to use VW stack. Right since the venture was announced in June, Volkswagen's investment in rivian has now grown from an initial 5 billion to 5.8 billion. Rivian bringing its advanced EV technology, while VW is contributing what they contribute best, vast manufacturing scale, on a global scale, the initial phase includes deploying rivian system in VW vehicles launching rivians are two vehicle which looks really cool by 2026 and get this, we talked about this VW Scout brand vehicles by 2027 so CEO Scott Kyle of Scout hinted that the rivians will probably be some of the first vehicles to leverage, or the scout vehicles will Be the first to leverage brivions, all right,

Kyle Mountsier  4:42  
I'm throwing a challenge out there to Nathan, our producer, real fast. I'm throwing a challenge. You ready? Nathan, you got to do this in like the 38 seconds that I'm about to say this thing. I need a side by side of the r2 and the scout, side by side, r2 scout. Just see if I see how fast we can get it. But. One. I think this is super savvy, right? We've seen these partnerships in the past. You see Toyota and Mazda, you see, you know, a bunch of different manufacturers going, yep, you have a little something better. Yep, we have a little something better over here. We've maybe got a brand, or we've got resiliency in the market. We understand the dealer network, we, you know, whatever, or the distribution network. When you start to see these partnerships, you typically start to see advancement and and so. And then also you look at like what both of these have done in adding manufacturing to the US, and we've been talking a lot about the new C and tariffs and how these both have made the investment in US manufacturing. And you think I agree with you, things coming together. There's a Venn diagram for success, but if

Paul J Daly  5:51  
I'm a dealer right now, what I want to see from Volkswagen is some very clear communication how this is going to benefit me, not like at some point, because rivian Obviously competitor to the traditional dealer model. Scout now a competitor to the traditional dealer model, and here's VW partnering the two together, saying we're gonna deploy this great tech. We're gonna help this competitor to you out by giving them $5.8 billion and we're gonna help out this competitor to you called Scout, which we kind of built on the back of your efforts. So if I'm VW or if I'm a VW dealer, I'm like, show me how this is going to help me release a vehicle. Show me how this technology can get consumers excited about doing business in my dealership. Yeah. I

Kyle Mountsier  6:36  
mean, obviously, a lot of questions here without a doubt. I mean, I don't know. I'm just, I'm always, I default to like, hey, there's more competitors in the market. Great Neck, you know, like, like, Jocko, like, Good,

Paul J Daly  6:53  
yeah, I know, but, but, I mean, I don't know. VW is kind of known for electrical issues, and they fixed a lot of them, you know, but I it's like, at Legacy brand that has always had electrical issues, so making that better, I don't know. We'll see what's Nathan have. Does Nathan, oh, he's looking at his screen, and he's like, come on. Okay,

Speaker 1  7:11  
so I had it done. Okay, here we go. Here we go. Here we go to download and upload. Okay, here we go. All right, let's

Kyle Mountsier  7:17  
see. What do we got? Oh, I mean, guys, I mean, if you're not seeing this, like I'm seeing it, I don't know what you're doing. Somebody's been hanging out by a Kemp. Somebody's been hanging out together, is all I'm trying to say, campfire like you make it one of these. We're making one of these.

Paul J Daly  7:38  
We'll pitch our we'll pitch our windshield just a little bit steeper, and we'll call it,

Kyle Mountsier  7:43  
I mean, it's uncanny, the resemblance that's Okay, moving on. Speaking

Paul J Daly  7:49  
of uncanny, outspoken UAW president, Sean fan, remember him? He's facing some mounting obstacles and organizing non union us factories owned by Toyota, Hyundai and Mercedes, amidst others, amidst the shifting political landscape now, following those historic labor deals with the big three, he aimed to build on momentum targeting new factories, especially in the south, to a big win at The VW plant, his efforts at Toyota and Hyundai has have had a lot of resistance, actually, as they raise wages, they said, This is why you should stay with us. Initially. Fan was focusing on this rapid takeover approach. And we all heard it, saw it, felt it. He now is kind of shifting the strategy. You know, he lost the Mercedes plant in Alabama. I heard he only had 40% support at the Hyundai factory, and he said it wasn't like we got annihilated there. It was very, very close. He emphasized the importance of their first contract with VW in Chattanooga, but is now saying it's like we're shifting strategies, I guess is his narrative. So I don't know, be happy or be sad? I don't know depends on who you are. I

Kyle Mountsier  8:57  
don't know whether to be happy or sad about this. What I can tell you is Toyota and Hyundai came in, and we're like, we care about our employees. I think the employees win on this one, and the employees win right either way, whether it's whether it's being a part of the UAW, which I could probably contend is a little bit intense as well, right? Because you got to get even more increased wages to cover the costs, you know, and you have a direct line to your employer, still, right? So I still like, I think there are places where a union can support the structure, but for the places that don't have it, the opportunity for the ownership to uniquely care for their employees and prove that over and over to where they never have to run to to a union. I think that that's the like, that's the thing that all business owners have to be thinking of, like, why are my people unionizing? And the question probably comes back to, well, I I probably haven't listened to them and care for them in the way that they're looking

Paul J Daly  9:57  
for and or, and. I haven't communicated well enough, right, right? Yeah, that's a lot of communication, the communication standpoint where like you and communication, like effective communication, is most effective when it's built on long term relationships. So when you start communicating, when there's union push kind of going on, it makes you look really reactive, and even though it could be authentic, so proactive communication look, I like the idea that people can form unions, and they're able to do that because it's, it's actually just capitalistic principle where it's all this, you know, competition breeds excellence. Excellence goes rewarded, and in this case, Hyundai, Mercedes, like, if you're excellent employer, you get rewarded there, you guys, right? Speaking of, I don't know, I don't know what this I don't know a little bit of the board or those gas champs speaking up,

Unknown Speaker  10:45  
speaking of getting the wrong time.

Paul J Daly  10:46  
Oh, hold on, nada, had a segue there,

Unknown Speaker  10:48  
speaking of getting rewarded. Oh yeah,

Kyle Mountsier  10:52  
we'll

Paul J Daly  10:53  
do a half segue on that one.

Kyle Mountsier  10:54  
Sorry. All right, so dodge is moving up the launch date of its gas powered charger, six pack to early summer 2025 five months ahead of schedule and in response to obviously strong demand for combustion muscle cars. How about that? The decision, they say, was probably partially influenced by anticip anticipated regulatory shifts under President Elect Donald Trump originally planned for late 2025 it is already planned to arrive before the charger Daytona, which is an all electric car. Here's here's the couple little details, a 3.0 liter twin turbo straight six hurricane engine with up to 550 horsepower in the high output variant. So

Paul J Daly  11:39  
what I mean, okay, a couple things here. Number one, I think the election results have affected a lot of people's perspective on what's going to happen, right? Everyone's betting on the future right now on what they think is going to happen. This is a pretty direct but this is a response to customer demand, so like pushing the EVS and now saying, like, actually, people want the muscle car, so we're going to release that first. They're probably, it's probably easier for them to make too obviously, the straight, the straight six is, is replacing an eight cylinder. So, like a lot of people are talking about the way it sounds. However, what's a straight six? 550, horsepower? I think the VA only made, like, 484, or something. Yep.

Kyle Mountsier  12:16  
So, yeah. So I it's, I think, well, one, I think that you're still gonna see these muscle cars. Like, there are people that just love their culture, love them going fast. And there's a culture the sound all of that. And, you know, for consumer demand to be met with the cars that people want, it's always like, back to capitalism, last the last run. You know, again, like, this is, this is an article that has a little bit of opinion. Obviously, if you know, the jalop Nick brand has got a lot of bit of, a lot of bit of opinion. But, you know, I still like, it's, it's interesting, like, you look at the relationship between President elect Trump and Elon. Like, is that actually a deciding factor in how OEMs are going to market over the next six months? Maybe, maybe not. Gosh, but hey, here, here for a loud, fast car. You know,

Paul J Daly  13:13  
I'm done with that. Oh, man, it's gonna be so crazy to see what happens over the next two years. Because I also think charging infrastructure is going to grow like it hasn't grown, right? You know? So I don't know. I think we need all types of the things, all the things I think we need.

Kyle Mountsier  13:29  
Are you? Toyota,

Paul J Daly  13:31  
smart, smart. Listen. Join us for the live stream of Episode Four. Go to more than cars.tv. So you can get a little check mark. Attend. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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