Tesla Skirts NY, GM Sees No EV Profit Through 2030, Service Dept Book Club

Paul Daly: 0:29everybody it is Wednesday, June 7 Cows got his hat backwards already. That's how you know we're working.today. We're talking about Tesla's skirt laws GMC, no profit EVs and service department, book clubs. Clubs.Get that out when they see.

‍Kyle Mountsier: 0:47

Oh, yeah, you were trying to you were trying to be like yesterday, but I got

Paul Daly: 0:50

it. I got it. I felt good about it. All right. So,today, today, if you if you didn't know, we have a couple other podcasts out in the world.And there's a podcast called The Amplified podcast that we recorded on site at the Reuters events. The Reuters automotive retail event in partnership with Reuters events and today's guests. It's an extra special one is Jennifer Cole said the brand. And what was her title now? It's like lead global brand and designer

Kyle Mountsier: 1:19

and design director. Yeah, or Ford. Just a wee bit of a title.

Paul Daly: 1:24

And you know, when we sat down to do the podcast, we kind of connected out of the gate because she would if we had pins, we should get pins, we would send her a troublemaker pin,

Kyle Mountsier: 1:34

full stop troublemaker, no doubt. Yeah.You know, some like you always auto industry to which she came from the auto industry, you always kind of like, have this feeling that people with big titles and big places, you know,with big publicly traded companies kind of got to put it on and there's kind of like,show up and say the words, but she like comes in throws a couple of punches, talks about what really is going to happen,what she wants to see happen,how she sees the world. And I love that we get the opportunity to kind of give people the space to say and be about those things. So you gotta go check it out, amplify. Go to all the other podcast platforms.

Paul Daly: 2:16

Yeah, amplify by a SOTU probably gets there a little faster. A couple things that have amplifying the title and fly by Soto, also a week from today. What a week from today we are going to be in Atlanta at the Buckhead theatre,bringing you as much fire as we've ever brought anywhere for a soda live tonight is going to be this combined event that starts at 6pm. It's going to be a live screening of more than Cardwell obviously, the way we do it, red carpet Step and Repeat photos, food, drinks, and then live screening of more than cars and then a brand new live Tonight Show with the band on the stage and Cirilo on the stage and all kinds of guests.This is our this probably our biggest guestlist we've had,maybe we got this, I mean, this is

Kyle Mountsier: 3:02

gonna be a nutshell. It's just if you're anywhere near Atlanta, or in California, you should be there.

Unknown: 3:09

Yeah. And if

Paul Daly: 3:10

you're a dealer, you work for a dealer, we'll let you in for free, because we want to make sure you get to the actually, if you're an industry partner, you fly in from California, we want to see the receipts. We'll let you in for free too. There it is. So please yet bring them to us. So two x.com Make sure you see get the tickets so you can get in we got we got some good space, but this one's gonna be full. So but that's gonna be for a reason.There's gonna be more giveaways.There's going to be new bits that we're working on. A dealer goes down to Georgia. Yeah,well, we'll do a thing. All right, let's get into some news.So today, or maybe yesterday, we found out Tesla's landmark partnership with the Oneida Indian nation in upstate New York, we'll see the establishment of its first direct sales outlet in upstate New York expanding their reach outside North New York City significantly. The showroom is set to open in 2025. It's going to boost access to EVs and charging infrastructure. You know, obviously, that push towards green solutions now, the United Indian nation, it is a sovereign nation. So that's what you know, these are all across the country. They're not US territory officially. And so it's definitely not New York state territory, but it provides a legal framework for Tesla to expand into New York not needing to sell dealers are not needing to sell cars through a dealership. So it's basically they're going to be selling Tesla's gonna be selling marijuana. They're gonna be having casinos, cigarettes for no taxes, cheap gas, you know,like,

Kyle Mountsier: 4:45

talk about some troublemaking on green in VN honoree in New York State.Yeah,I mean, this for one like, what you just got to give him a little Clap, right? Cuz thinking outside the box going after a way to to find business and new business opportunities that many people just haven't thought about, they're going to be able to deliver preorder vehicles,right from the site. You know,and, and they'll be able to do it like from a casino, while the showroom is under construction.So, like, all All in all, just on the way lievable, they found a way they got in, they figured it out, they're gonna have they get to announce a partnership with an Indian Nation. Just it.

Paul Daly: 5:37

Here's some more details about like what I know,because this is not this actually isn't that far from my house. So I can get there in about 35 minutes, my house, it's on the New York State through which basically connects Albany,Syracuse, Rochester, and buffalo straight across. And so it's in a real strategic location in the state, it's kind of in the center. But there's also a service center going up for an electric vehicle service center going up in Syracuse, that the developer won't talk about who it is, but if you look at the spec, and you look at the plans,you know, it's going to be Tesla. So they really are figuring out a way to kind of infiltrate the sales network.Strangely, well, not strangely,but the taxes that would be paid, here's part of the deal,the taxes that typically would be paid on on a vehicle sale,they're not off the hook, the taxes will actually go to the Oneida Indian Nation, toward developmental programs like developing, they're young and education and training. So that's obviously a good deal.It's going to work out for them.And the flip side is the county taxes, though, are still going to go to the county it's located in so no local municipality is going to miss out on the revenue. So kind of savvy about the way they're going on just

Kyle Mountsier: 6:48

so mad about how good it is, you know, yeah, I almost can't be mad

Paul Daly: 6:52

hurt so bad. It is.Yep. Yep. So but as like you said, they are going to be starting to deliver pre ordered vehicles from just like from the casino, I'm sure not the casino floor, but right from the casino, I think pretty close to immediately. So I don't know,maybe when it goes up a head over there with a microphone and a little camera, and we'll ask a couple of people a few questions. Speaking of asking people a few questions. GM CEO,Mary Barra has stated that she doesn't foresee profitable electric cars in the third that are sold in the 30 to $40,000range until the end of the decade or perhaps even later,she acknowledge that Tesla currently leads Evie technology profitability and scale but believes the lead is not permanent. And GM can catch up.She mentioned evey battery costs as being a main contributor in the reason those vehicles are not going to get to profitability until those costs come down. You know, I have some questions.

Kyle Mountsier: 7:53

I got questions.I have some questions

Paul Daly: 7:55

when I hear all that.

Kyle Mountsier: 7:57

Alright. You know, it's, it's interesting,because it's like, we literally just covered the story, where Tesla now has a vehicle based on their based on the fact that they can they get the full tax incentive, which is

Paul Daly: 8:13

unconfirmed by the US government, I found out today fair car,

Kyle Mountsier: 8:16

but still that get in that range. So

Paul Daly: 8:21

there isn't profitable at all. That's what they're saying.

Kyle Mountsier: 8:25

Yeah, like that a 26. Five bolt is not profitable. And maybe that's,you know, due to recent changes in in battery protection, the ability to to get battery tech.But they, they, you know,they're trying to get the equinox around around the 30Grand range as well. You know,it's it's interesting. I just, I can't imagine that we would go another, what, seven years on this Evie trajectory and legacy manufacturers not find a way to become profitable on a vehicle list, price band of all buyers.There's no way we go any scale of mass adoption, if that doesn't happen.

Paul Daly: 9:07

Well, I mean, what who was it that we were just talking about earlier? I think it was earlier last week. And they were they set a target where like the profit parity to it an ice engine was like, not that far away. Who was it?Wasn't No, no,

Kyle Mountsier: 9:23

no, no. Yeah,profit parody wouldn't happen till 2030. That was that was actually for for him. Farley said that a couple of days ago.Right. Yeah. And

Paul Daly: 9:32

then in the whole in the whole division, though.Maybe it's the specific price band. I don't know if you've seen it. I mean, it's it's really I mean, the the writer of this article on electric,electric, he's seemed he doesn't think that that's the case. He said people are absolutely going to figure this out. It's just I've wondered what spurred the comments, right. Like, is it a is it a public relations play?Like, I don't know. It just,it's a tough thing. Like I said,I have questions I got Question.

Kyle Mountsier: 10:01

We're not sure about the answers, but it's clear that the timeline on electric vehicles is a lot longer than maybe a lot of people thought. And we're starting to sense you know, a little bit of trepidation in in some of the legacy manufacturers so we'll see what kind of the future holds for that. Speaking of the future having

Paul Daly: 10:22

the answers Oh,segue, which is good to

Kyle Mountsier: 10:28

building current and future leaders is a big is a big piece of what we see as the opportunity in dealerships and service departments are finding increased efficiency and revenue through unique approach bookclubs Sherwood Ford and Alberta and shaking Chevy Chevrolet in Michigan, both have implemented reading programs with much success at Shaheen team leaders read Extreme Ownership I just go right back here. So chapter at a time.Yeah, each writing a synopsis and discussing how they can apply the principles. So basically, one service advisors,a service repair order work would jump 23% in one quarter,come on, you're implementing some of the ideas. How about

Paul Daly: 11:11

that? Yeah, that you can take your software somewhere else.

Kyle Mountsier: 11:15

Yeah, it's just like, extreme leadership, taking ownership of, of what you're like what your corner is, oh,leads to a 23% jump and like that person is saying, that's why it happened. Brad and Milliken, the assistant service manager said all team leaders saw similar improvements in their metrics after implementing concepts from the book. And we went around handling around to upset customers a day to one per week.

Paul Daly: 11:45

Like, I want to hold the book up so people,

Kyle Mountsier: 11:50

if you can imagine the time spent and lost on handling to upset customers a day to only have to learn to handle one

Paul Daly: 11:59

at a time, the revenue, the reviews, the things are saying they're their friends, the repeat business.Good night, and like this is this is where you know, when people say talk about like, oh,that mindset stuff. I don't buy it's a bunch of internet Frou Frou whatever, like it legit works when you do it in a way that makes it a part of your culture. I

Kyle Mountsier: 12:22

think well, it's a big part of the culture, it's part of the community,everybody's talking about it.It's not just one person, like read Extreme Ownership, I'm gonna win. It's like everybody is looking and talking and thinking about things in the same way. This is where community collaboration for learning is so key. The other team that we that we mentioned,the team at sherwood Reading isn't mandatory, but employees are actually paid to read. And then the employees, smart manager dealer principal office library. Yeah, like they're paid five to 10 bucks for just a short book. And longer books,you can get paid more, they have to write a little summary and are invited to join a service advisors meeting, that that discusses some of the book.Like, how cool is that like bonus structures on reading guides that is literally changing people's livelihoods at this, like bonus structures that change more than just like, Did you sell a car did your service increase today, it's going to reap way more benefits for your business model.

Paul Daly: 13:24

And the cool thing about stuff like this is that it translates right across from their professional life to their personal life, right if you train someone on a walk around,or, or like how to work the software, but you can do all that stuff. But it typically stays at the job. And at the workplace. When you do something that improves someone's attitude, mindset, the skills they have inside of them and their emotional state to manage situations and of handling all that. Yeah, you don't think that translates Extreme Ownership into your relationships into your fitness into your health,like it translates into all of it, which is why I love this because when you help someone improve their life, guess what?They happen to be more excited about coming to work at the place that's helping them improve their life. And when you normalize that across the culture, when your culture becomes Oh, all of us? Well, we think in terms of owning the situation, it gets so much better for everyone. I love this story so much. We found we're gonna have to dig into this a little bit more I need to know more about this. I know

Kyle Mountsier: 14:25

I gotta know these service managers and these people that are putting this in,I would say like, if you're not thinking about education as more than just what's your training on the specific role and responsibility of your people?Then start thinking again and start training your people and grow new people outside of their career

Paul Daly: 14:39

path. I think we're gonna do at a soda book club.We've been talking about it. Oh,we're a book coming out about it. We're gonna leave that but stay tuned. Stay tuned. Whatever you're doing today, we hope you're taking some Extreme Ownership for your little corner of the automotive world. And when we all do that together,guess what? It gets a lot better and other people start wanting to be a part of it too. Good

Unknown: 15:12

evening

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