Apparently Car Shoppers Care About This, ICE Green Winner, Surge Burger

Paul J Daly: 0:16

Sending off February inside here I got my snow broom here. I made a nice post about the weather but it's snowing today but we are talking about a few things. What are customers actually value in the buying process? And who is the best who? What people really want to know? Where's the most efficient vehicle? We're gonna settle this dispute once and for all. Is it ice? Is it Evie? Hybrid is hydrogen.

‍Kyle Mountsier: 0:42

Maybe not once and for all but for right now for at least now we're going to talk about what it is right now.

Paul J Daly: 0:48

I mean, it's such a nice post about the weather earlier in the week. Me sitting outside sunshine in 60

Kyle Mountsier: 0:53

degrees. Yo. In shorts and short sleeves. Yeah, what's your eyebrow is 28 here so like, Okay, I don't feel this bearing they wanted to go birdwatching because they're studying birds in school. And this morning they've got like, bats and gloves and big like

Paul J Daly: 1:12

to lug the birds ain't even out to date. Oh, no, they

Kyle Mountsier: 1:15

were out today. Like I watch the birds come to Nashville, like mid February. They just stay so we had like a cardinal and j and the little like one of the little like, you know house birds or whatever they are these Yeah, like me guys. They were all floating around the set this morning. So we

Paul J Daly: 1:33

haven't seen we haven't seen a single one yet. Don't even know what birds look like anymore. Basically. I know they've forgotten. They'll be here. They'll be back in a month. They're making their way up from Nashville. Alright. Speaking of things coming up soon, I hate we mentioned it once or twice. asoto con may 14 through 17th. May 14 through 70. Baltimore. We have 50 plus speakers, auto dealer Association representation, industry partners. Music, the whole experience is coming in hot into Baltimore, New York, just south of Baltimore, New York, Baltimore, Maryland, just south of that. Couple other things going on there. We'll get dere keynote speaker. I don't know if we have slides for this stuff. I thought we got to be so good. Nathan was like, our producer was like I have all the slides for a soda. You guys never talked about it. It's now we're talking about it. Okay, here we go. We're gonna preview all the slides that we have will get asked for official New York Times best selling author of unreasonable hospitality. This book has been catching fire over the last two years. And he was just on the Jimmy Fallon show like a couple weeks ago so we're gonna have him live at a soda con you have to come meet him. You have to read the book. It'll change your life ties into one of our stories today. We also Oh, Ken, women of color automotive network is having a breakfast meet up at a soda con on May 15. You're welcome member reach out to the world can people we have a special code just for you? What else is happening? What's what's the next line effective

Kyle Mountsier: 3:00

is doing the podcast stage we're firing up over 20 podcasts that we're scheduling across the couple days there. And we're doing a little bit different that stage is going to be something that you can not just like innocent bystander but it will will will make it a presentation thing where the where the conversations can be heard throughout the hall.

Paul J Daly: 3:25

It's like, almost like a session stage. It's it's basically

Kyle Mountsier: 3:28

a session stage and what I love I mean, those are the podcasts I literally cannot wait every year, I listen to everyone I listened to every single one. And they are really good. They're They're some of our best podcasts of the year to be quite

Paul J Daly: 3:42

it's so it's so funny how that works out. You can go actually listen to some of them from last year and the year before ASOTU CON sessions ASOTU CON session, search it on Apple, Spotify, whatever. And check out a couple of those because they're fantastic, fantastic podcasts. I think that's all we have to talk about on this bonus year. It's like a bonus episode. All

Kyle Mountsier: 4:02

right, bonus year, we also have a bonus episode of Auto Collabs. So you can search that. There's a whole bunch of bonus today, you know, just Yeah,

Paul J Daly: 4:10

Auto Collabs is who John is where we had John Foley, put the put the slide up if he's got all these slides ready. And we talked so fast that we never get to use them. John Foley, founder of recharged great stories circulating on the internet right now of how the idea for recharge actually started at the first episode of Con. Oh, and now it's a reality. He's rockin and rollin. You gotta check them out. So yeah, check the podcast Auto Collabs wherever you get your podcasts. Alright, let's talk about some news. These are some fun ones. So you may very well be surprised to hear that the most efficient vehicle you can drive still has an ice engine in it. record scratch right there. New EVs kit. New EVs still can't beat the efficiency of plug in hybrid like the Toyota Prius Prime, which came up Number One On The List outperforming the lat latest fully electric vehicles in the US holding on to the titles But as the greenest car despite the rise in EVs, no one can beat its efficiency. Thanks to the you know, the small size, the lightweight, it's just an efficient vehicle. So this all comes from the greener cars report of 2024. You can link to it in the show notes, see the whole list? It leads with a green score. I don't know what comprises this green score, but I trust it right 71 out of 100 assessing admissions for men from how it's made.

Kyle Mountsier: 5:25

Well, that's the trick, I think, is a massive trick. It goes all the way from how it's made to its lifecycle. Yeah, so case, it's everything involved in how that vehicle was impacting emissions from how it's made. Love it livered.

Paul J Daly: 5:42

This is a rational number is a rational metric for reference, so it's scored 71 out of 100. To compare the Evie Hummer scored 26. Wow. The Mercedes Benz AMG g 63. Had a it was the lowest score at a 20, which you would expect, right? It's a vehicle trying to get out of a cage. Right. But the Evie Hummer only scored at 26. While the middle of the list I was like to Toyota Sienna hybrid hats off to you, Kyle, you got one in the middle and the Lexus ES 300 H, which score 259. And basically this study is meant to challenge the assumption that a fully V is actually better for the environment. For some people, right, they're kind

Kyle Mountsier: 6:29

of interesting, you know, the leaf scores extremely high on that. So so that's pretty strong, awesome. gas cars that score.

Paul J Daly: 6:36

I have a lot of Eevee. Yeah,

Kyle Mountsier: 6:38

I mean, the mini scores, head of some EVs, the 100 and luxury Alonso hybrid is up there. Toyota Camry Hybrid, a Toyota Corolla hybrid. I don't know if you can notice kind of a trend. There's a theme to the top 12 list. Like I feel like everybody in the world is just pinned us as like these. Like, I don't know, like Toyota pays us off or something. That's not the case. That would be great. If you're from Toyota, and you want to pay as well talking about you more Oh,

Paul J Daly: 7:15

they're like, why don't we need to pay five. And I'm like, now just keep doing what you do boys.

Kyle Mountsier: 7:22

Yeah, so I think it's I think it's really cool study. It's great. Yeah.

Paul J Daly: 7:25

And it's a rational study. And I think it just falls and drops at the right time. When everyone is kind of like it's this Evie pause moment where everyone's saying, like, hold on a minute, what are we actually doing here? Right. Who are we actually helping? What's the actual purpose of doing this stuff? Is it rational? Do the consumers want it? And this is just like another important texture to that conversation? Speaking of important textures, the conversations. This is a good way. You and I I know a couple of dealers that are a little passionate about this one. A recent survey reveals the dealership experience significantly influences car buyers, boosting their confidence yes the building like in the building, boosting their confidence in the purchase decisions and impacting their vehicle choice. So changeups surveys found that 84% of car buyers felt their dealership visit influenced I like the way they use the word dealership visit influenced their buying decision with 90% gaining confidence after a during the visit in their choice. Based on the experience. This highlights the crucial role in the car buying journey. That's not just transactional, but it's also personal, holistic experience in person. And most surprisingly, this surprised me. Millennials and Gen Z. Gen Z shoppers in particular value the dealership visit very highly with a significant percentage, unsure of their choice until visiting in person. Here's a quote from Lee carpenter of changeup says the dealership is so much more than just a transactional space. Yeah, you know, it's like she stole the words right

Kyle Mountsier: 9:00

out of our mouths. I don't know, she could have just like said it's so much more than cars, you know. But here's, here's what I love about this. And we were talking about this probably early last summer when particularly like malls and shopping centers were noticing a higher traffic count, specifically from millennials and Gen Z shoppers. So there's this there's this clear path to those shoppers wanting more of an in person experience in in all of their shopping behavior. This is what's key to this. And I think like we always see this in all of cultures that the youngest buying power typically influences broader culture. So if millennials and specifically Gen Z are looking for more of that in person interaction, we're seeing that more across all bands of shoppers, and and it's clear like at post COVID there's a recognition that in personal experience is understanding who the people are that are working with you that are that are helping you experience your buying journey is extremely important to everyone. I actually I had a buddy visit an Apple store last night and was just texting me like, man, you just when you go in there, it's it's this experience that you actually start to get excited about as you as you walk in, even just the way they're dressed the way that everybody presents themselves. And so like that, lining up to the way that dealerships craft and experience and acknowledge the fact that people want that they're not afraid of it is really cool. I

Paul J Daly: 10:40

hope that OEMs lean into this concept, not just in like building a palace, right? That is a brand icon, but really getting intentional about the flow, the way people are treated like thinking with a hospitality mindset in and out. Right. There's so much opportunity to make the dealership experience like the Apple experience or like the best experience. It's so much more visceral than an Apple store experience. Right? Because let's get together and look at a little screen. Right? Yep. Like that's exactly what we're trying to get our kids not to do. But the dealership your visceral their cars in the showroom. There's there's height to the ceiling, there's space, there's food. There's all of this stuff. It could be an amazing Well, it is an amazing experience at some point. Yeah,

Kyle Mountsier: 11:24

I just still think we haven't found the right the really right retail experience I haven't seen I agree now a couple of like the highline new Evie automakers are trying to kind of do this boutique type thing. But

Paul J Daly: 11:37

on mass market. Yeah,

Kyle Mountsier: 11:39

it goes too far. Yeah, but there's somewhere meeting in the middle that that just becomes like, you know, not a giant shoe box with cars in it. Right. And I think that's what a lot of them feel like right now, for sure do better as an industry, which is why I really wanted to get the team from Praxis on and like, like, figure out that conversation. I've been chatting with them. We're gonna get them on a podcast now because they're doing some of the most innovative stuff and dealerships across the country.

Paul J Daly: 12:03

Yeah, Matthew, put in comments in the live stream, except no one is trying to sell me anything at an Apple Store. Fair? Well, okay, well, I

Kyle Mountsier: 12:12

disagree with that statement. I'm gonna go ahead and like with the person on the lives, I'm gonna say, Matthew, like, I actually think everybody there is trained to sell you something. The there's one word, except nobody. It feels like nobody is trying to sell Oh, that's an interesting nuance. But the fact that they all have checkout machines on their hip is very clear. Everyone is ready. Everybody ready to sell you something right there. Yep. And

Paul J Daly: 12:42

we'll put this in there. You also know exactly what it's gonna cost. Oh, this was for that one. It's I know, it's complicated, guys. I know. It's complicated. But hey, back to

Kyle Mountsier: 12:55

Matthew said they will sell me something. Well, yes, of course.

Paul J Daly: 13:00

The pressure is different. And so we could just keep going on that topic. But back to the actual experience in the show the building the space, really an increase in OEM dealer collaboration on this? Absolutely. I think like who are the best operation? How can you start to model stores after the best experiences that dealers are giving and then let's take it another level. Let's go we're trying to see the full circle. Speaking of things coming full circle in just 24 hours segue.

Kyle Mountsier: 13:29

Everybody was up in arms yesterday, because Wendy's was straight up stirring the pot with its announcement of dynamic menu pricing strategy that could change how we pay for fast food. But there's been a couple of clarifications on how they're going to use the new digital menu boards based on some of the blowback from yesterday. So initially, they stated that they were going to test dynamic pricing, potentially adjusting the cost of items like they've single base single based on a man with a $20 million investment in their new digital menu boards. A bunch of critics consumers, social media champions, came out to express their concerns over the fairness and reception of fluctuating prices. drawing parallels to failed experience since like Coca Cola has temperature based pricing and the potential for perceived price gouging. After the backlash, they they clarified that they weren't intending to do surge pricing during peak hours. reassuring that customers is it's not the goal, to have them pay higher prices for when the stores are in more demand or have more traffic, but rather to offer discounts and value during slower times. So I CEO Kirk Tanner said they are they're emphasizing a strategy. As a move toward modernization. Leveraging AI for menu adjustments and promotional officer offers aiming to enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction during off peak ours. So yeah, one of my trigger on this was like, at one point they refused comment on whether surge pricing

Paul J Daly: 15:09

question they like they like no commented on this, Michelle quotes, jumps in a live stream says if Wendy's does nothing with this they succeeded at least in having everyone talk about Wendy's today. They're pretty good and they have to have to land the plane really well. But I think this points out a very important part of the consumer psyche and what people like and don't like that we in the industry can take some cues for and granted like our product market based pricing is something that is a part of the auto industry in real estate and lots of other things. But we it does tell us that consumers are very sensitive to feeling exploited when they have to pay more during certain times and not during other times. So obviously, it's a balance being we have to walk but I think just learning from this retail little blip on the screen. We realize people are very sensitive to it. They think about it, they talk about it, and they don't forget it.

Kyle Mountsier: 15:59

No, no. But hey, Wendy's going to Wendy's you know they're always

Paul J Daly: 16:04

Wendy's. That's great, great Twitter account by the way, our ex account. always so much fun. Well, look, we got the extra day in February. You have no excuses. This is just gravy on top of the February month. Go out there, sell some cars, give some great experiences and love some people more you love cars we'll see here in March.

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