Tariffs Dominate NY Auto Show, US-Made RAV4s?, Police E-Motorcycles

Paul J Daly  0:00  
Music, good morning. It is Friday, April 18, 2025 this is the automotive State of the Union. I'm Paul Jay Daly. This is Kyle Mountsier. Today we're talking about the auto show us, maid, rap force and electric police motors

Speaker 1  0:15  
go. The people really want to know who I is and who I be. They stop and stay when they see me.

Kyle Mountsier  0:20  
Electric police motorcycles. That's a weird one.

Paul J Daly  0:26  
That sounds like an amazing one. Are you kidding me? I mean, talk

Kyle Mountsier  0:29  
about, how is that weird? It's just like, I don't know. I've seen

Paul J Daly  0:33  
a science fiction movie, the police are always on electric motorcycles.

Kyle Mountsier  0:38  
Also, you think about, like, how many motorcycles are rolling around parades in the US, right? Like little electric motorcycles, just pit pattern, you know? Yeah,

Paul J Daly  0:47  
I guess the electric motorcycles, the parades, kind of is a little lacklut. We'll talk about them because you kind of want to

Kyle Mountsier  0:53  
hear the sound, yeah, right, big old speakers on them. Next

Paul J Daly  0:57  
day, we got a couple awesome things to talk about today. Number one, the agenda is live on ASOTU con.com we're still adding to it, but there is so much on there. So here's we want to do. Go to ASOTU, ASOTU con.com click on the agenda. Look at detailed agenda, and you can start scrolling through, day by day, the list of detailed session information for all the topics that you're trying to work through, trying to figure out what you want to do. And you can also go to the speakers tab, I think is really effective, and look at all the speakers that are

Kyle Mountsier  1:30  
there. That's exactly right. And the speakers and what sessions they're going to be doing a little bit about them. Get to know the speakers before you actually come one of my one of the ones that I'm most excited about is I've got we've got Steve Greenfield hanging out with Chase Frazier, Bill Karis and Brian Donnelly, all four investing significant dollars into the mobility tech ecosystem, in auto and like, the reason for bringing net new software and technology into the industry right now, like listening to the way those guys see the industry headed, the way tech is headed, talking probably AI and integration tech and all of that type of stuff, that's going to be a 45 minute conversation on day two. You're not going to want to miss. I think

Paul J Daly  2:18  
one of the biggest values are just asking other people, like other dealers, other operators, or the people that that are in the same seat that you're in, or, you know, like CO CMOS, uh, sales managers, general managers, the very powerful question, what are you doing with this right now? Yeah, right. Like, that's, that's where you get the real unlock. So we hope you can join us. Go to ASOTU CON com, get your tickets and join us. I love watching all the ticket sales coming in every day and like I like searching the name. I don't know it's a combination of both of those. All right, I think it's time for some news, right? Let's get into it before we get some news. We do need to thank our friends at Reynolds and Reynolds and Google for being our presenting sponsor this year. Talk about a company who has been around for a long time, however, is still on the hunt, still developing new tech, new tools, doing everything they can to bring solutions to dealers. And I don't know if they're bringing their robot, but they had a really awesome like drink serving robot. It was like a parts delivery robot that they retrofitted to serve drinks. So I wonder if we're gonna have that there, but either way, thank you to them, and I can't wait to be with the Reynolds team at ASOTU CON as well talk some news. So we were at the Auto Show. We were in New York City earlier this week, and all the auto makers came to New York looking to celebrate new vehicles, but found themselves answering the same questions about tariffs, despite flashy debuts and reveals, the weight of trade policy loomed on every conversation. Subaru's us chief Jeff Walters debuted the all new outlook only to field immediate questions about tariffs instead of the vehicle. Yeah, that's got to be so frustrating. You got this new car, and you come out, and then everyone wants to talk about

Kyle Mountsier  3:54  
tariffs. It's unbelievable. It is it is sad. Like, come on, people, we've been talking about it for too long, like let's get into let's get into the real thing. Nissan embraced the tension with a little tongue in cheek window decal that read quote free from new tariffs all over its US built models super smart, super smart. They also revealed plans to build 80% of their US inventory domestically, up from 50% citing flexibility amid tariff volatility, tariffs Donna may dominated so many conference panels with one moderator finally pausing and saying, ladies And gentlemen, the bar is and it was 10am

Paul J Daly  4:43  
Oh, yeah, bar open, yeah.

Kyle Mountsier  4:45  
Like, I mean, it was tongue in cheek. Like, guys, are we gonna talk about this all day? Let's just go to the bar and have a drink and get on with it. Yeah, the you know, this is we experienced it. We tried. To move the conversation away from it as much as possible. But the entirety of the day on Tuesday at the NADA JD Power auto forum was filled with it, right and, and it's just like, it's a struggle. So,

Paul J Daly  5:16  
yeah, I mean, they're not the only ones with a struggle right now. So that's kind of going all around. But you know, consumers, the press is relentless. The press is like, yeah, yes, yeah, off road capabilities. Tell me about the tariffs. I don't know some great product coming out, though. You know one of the things that that's coming from this right into our next story at Toyota reevaluating its production strategy as a result of the tariffs for the next gen rav4 looking at shifting production to US manufacturing the hedge against the 25% import tariff and also currency swings. Toyota sold over 475,000 Rav fours in the last in the US last year, the most popular model in the whole lineup is this vehicle, making up 20% of its entire US volume from this one vehicle, originally, they were planning to export it from Japan and Canada. US production in Kentucky is now under serious consideration. The shift would help meet expected demand, mitigate tariff costs, with potential us output beginning as soon as 2027 still takes a long time to refit, refit a factory. While plans aren't final, Toyota noted that it, quote, continually studied ways to improve its manufacturing, but declined to confirm the speculation.

Kyle Mountsier  6:28  
Yeah. I mean, the Toyota already has a ton of US manufacturing, so it's not like this is a completely massive move that brings only one line into the US. They do a lot in the US, obviously, you know, you got to produce a lot when it comes to the rev for just because of the volume that they're able to put out every single year. But it's not going to surprise anybody that more and more manufacturers, especially over this four year lifestyle four year political cycle, bring production stateside, and whether that's because of tariffs or other tax incentives that they may be getting to bring things stateside, you'll see a lot of this. I mean, I know that there's like an engine plant for Toyota out in Jackson, Tennessee, and all the employees love working for them. The city loves Toyota, you know. So it's, it's, not out of the norm to have a lot of production there, and they've done a great job at not, you know, having unions enter in so they don't have some of the cost prohibitive stuff happening across their production.

Paul J Daly  7:37  
I think it's time where we talk about electric motorcycles. Yeah, I know that's kind of waiting for this. That's the only reason I showed up this morning. Live Wire, the electric

Kyle Mountsier  7:44  
spin off from Harley Davidson. We've talked about them a few times, is getting into the public service game with a new line of police spec electric motorcycles. You can see them at the link in in our bio. The new fleet includes emergency lighting, sirens and reinforced mounts tailored for urban patrol motorcades and event security. Benefits include low maintenance, silent operation and instant torque. That's the real one. I think ideal for ideal for quick maneuvering through tight city traffic, custom ride modes, regenerative braking and one handed operation aimed to reduce officer fatigue and improve shift efficiency. They can choose from a suite of configurations reinforcing the models flexibility and law enforcement rides.

Paul J Daly  8:28  
So there's so many things about this bike that are awesome. I remember talking to Rick Reichert about these live wire bikes, because they're hard, that's right, yeah, and so they also sell these live wire bikes. And he was just saying how amazing they are to write because he's a serious rider. He's like, it's something different altogether. Um, you can totally, I guess, just use your rational brain and realize the electrification of police fleets in general, aside from like charging, if charging like range is not an issue electrification now, having driven an EV a lot, I mean, like, let's, let's face it, oftentimes, oftentimes, I pull up next to a car, no matter what it is, and be like, I could beat you in a race, right? Yeah, I already think that. But electrification of a motorcycle, you think of the maneuverability we were just off the line. I can't tell you how many times we almost got smashed by, like, electric bikes that are now in the bike lane, oh, yeah, right, because they're moving like, fast and quiet, and you have a police bike doing this. However, the coolest thing about this whole article is when it says one handed operation, because all I can think of is like, I know this isn't the reality, and I'm sure we're not, like, firing weapons from a moving motor

Kyle Mountsier  9:32  
circle, but, like, in the video game,

Paul J Daly  9:35  
but you could if you wanted to. It's unbelievable.

Kyle Mountsier  9:37  
Yeah. I mean, even just like the pictures and the launch here is, is just not something that you would typically see from like, Hey, we're making police vehicles now. Like, it's a cool thing. I I'm I actually imagine that, you know, there are, there are cities and states that have trouble hiring into the police force, like, hey, come work for the police force. Course, you get to drive an electric bike, right? That's a, that's, that's a work perk, right there. That really, that really is a work perk. So

Paul J Daly  10:07  
I don't know, have you, I'm trying to think, I'm like, do we know anyone that has a live wire motorcycle that we can get to a soda? Oh, hey,

Kyle Mountsier  10:15  
if you know someone that has a live wire Mike, hey, we can bring it right in. We'll throw that thing.

Paul J Daly  10:19  
It's easy. Yeah, the bike, the cars are a little more complicated. The bikes, it's electric, no gas, no, no. Like, safety issue, like, Okay, I think we need electric motorcycles at a certain we still gotta get that SCU. God, either there, we do. And we were, we were talking about, like, making the entrance from opposite ends of the stage on electric scooters one year, or just,

Kyle Mountsier  10:38  
or just, or just flying in from the rafters, one of the two, whichever you want to do, I

Paul J Daly  10:43  
know wise will roll the outro music. Look, it's Friday. Everyone's got a lot to button up. Heading into a busy weekend. Whatever you do, make sure you take care of the people and go to ASOTU CON com. Look at some speakers and sessions. Buy your ticket, and we're going to be there with you just a little over three weeks. You

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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