Fords Profit Sandbag, Potential Tesla Layoffs, Dealers $2M Superbowl Bet

Paul J Daly: 0:11

Thursday February 8, covenant hot today we're talking about Ford's profit. Little add on, though we'll talk about in a second potential Tesla layoffs and dealers and their $2 million Superbowl bet. Actually, it's only one dealer's$2 million Superbowl ad they stopped. A couple of bets going on. Coming after Vegas. I

‍Kyle Mountsier: 0:32

think that's on bets. Oh, look, there's always bets. There's always bets with with games, Vegas. And you better believe that if dealer just came off NADA, they're making bets. You know what I mean?

Paul J Daly: 0:44

Super Bowl being in Vegas. It's actually like caused a bunch of like, concern like the players can't be like killer players be on a gambling floor. And there's like questions like, yeah, they are allowed to be in a sports book, but they're not allowed to bet on football. I mean, it's getting real.

Unknown: 1:00

It's getting real.

Paul J Daly: 1:00

I mean, that's interesting. Yeah, I didn't think about it until I read this article. Like Roger Goodell is answering these questions like, well, what if you have a player on the sports book floor? Like can he talk to people can he be influenced but he's not allowed to officially it's just that's a bad recipe.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:16

It's a bad look. A bad recipe anytime you get a gambling floor anywhere so that's like, to the complexity of it. We've had players who are involved in the outcome that could what could possibly mean that they got like, you know, what, uh, I mean, the ENA obviously the the Super Bowl, but there are professional sports teams that are there all the time you think those cats don't like venture themselves down to the Yeah, heck yeah,

Paul J Daly: 1:44

thanks Brian Ortega for putting I bet on us. So do you think i Hey, we only have 96 days until a soda con in Baltimore, May 14 through 17th. At the live Casino Hotel momentum on this thing is just shifted into high gear over the last couple of days since we got back from NADA rocket, we if you are an industry partner, and you want to be part of the event, in partnering and sponsoring you better, let us know soon. Because we'll be getting all kinds of inbound and incoming in addition to what we already have lined up. So you can actually just reach out to us, you can email a m j, A M J, that's Ann Marie Johnson, our director of partner success AMJ at ASOTU.com or just crew at a soda.com or just go to the website and send that link whatever, we'll get it but if you're like minded like hearted, progressively thinking about the industry want to be around people that believe love people more than that I love cars, the soda cod is where you should be. Also if you want to attend the first tickets are thinking about some promotions but we already have a big early bird promotion going on right now. So if you gotta go get your tickets now also have a whoa can breakfast event women of color automotive network. So that's going to be going on day one, there's gonna be a breakfast meet up they have usually one event a year at the name ed conference, which is later in the year. So actually, we're going to make space at a soda con have a great room and a great event setup. So if you're part of what can you should also be at a soda con because it's gonna be awesome. How many announcements come keynote speaker will get there. They're like a small handful of the speakers that will be there already live on ASOTU con.com. And I have a couple of interesting conversations going on with some dealer associations so hopefully some more info about that soon.

Kyle Mountsier: 3:31

You will love all of these things on the EXPO 93 seconds of

Paul J Daly: 3:37

pure 96 days away is three months that is

Kyle Mountsier: 3:40

gonna go by that fat gonna fly. It'll be here before we know it.

Paul J Daly: 3:44

I mean it's 50 some degrees in Syracuse and sunny right now. This is I have no coat no nothing just this cardigan. Like, it is gorgeous out. It's warmer there than it is here. That's unbelievable. Is it really well. I mean, like I say there's two you can buy two piece bathing suit and target now in upstate New York. So I mean, we're practically swimming in the lake at this point. They practically. Alright, let's talk about a little news. Let's get to it. Okay, Ford is projecting an $11 billion adjusted operating profit for 2024 surpassing analysts expectations and showcasing resilience despite pretty massive Evie losses actually the company's pro business. Oh, it is the company's Ford pro business, primarily selling at no like companies commercial is one of the biggest profit centers. However, the Evie division lost 4.7 billion in 2023. CEO Jim Farley said the ultimate competition is going to be the affordable Tesla and Chinese OEMs. So framing this up. If Ford didn't have an Eevee division their profits would actually be 50% Higher.

Kyle Mountsier: 4:55

That's on believable there's a graph

Paul J Daly: 4:58

if you click through the article when you see it It's like, you know, it shows like their profit lines above the line of all three divisions. And then it's like this big negative red one for for the division. Oh, man,

Kyle Mountsier: 5:09

I mean, future takes money. I guess that well, that's why they split it out as a separate operating unit because they understand it's basically a startup, right? I mean, look at the operating net net loss of Tesla for the first 10 years, the who are in business and you're going to see a sad thing. You know, it, it blows my mind that Ford is in that position, like that level of net profit anyway. And it's, it is concerning to me that like, it's still the ultimate competition is Tesla and Chinese OEMs. Like that is the ultimate competition that Ford is, is looking at. You know, I, we might have mentioned this yesterday, multiple people saying, hey, look, we're Yeah, I did, we're investing all of this money just to lose more money on these EVs. And that's not just at the OEM, but at the dealer. Got to figure it out. This is the year. I

Paul J Daly: 6:06

mean, it's almost like the company's had a slow roll on evey like Honda is about to release what is the prologue, their first, their first EV, like crossover? And really think the companies that slow roll that have an advantage right now? Right?

Kyle Mountsier: 6:20

I mean, this is they would like blackberry and apple. Is that, is that really what's happening here? Oh, my gosh. Oh, it's

Paul J Daly: 6:31

like the same technology, though. That's just technology. I think. Yeah. I mean, that's the risk you take, right? Like Ford and GM just wants Ford especially when so far all little hard that and they took a risk. Now, I guess you would think that there would be learnings and they'd be much for more advanced in their manufacturing techniques and their development. Once they get through like the sandbag, which is this giant division that they built, maybe that need to be so giant, so maybe after some adjustments? Who knows? Maybe they're the first to come out with like a very affordable Eevee. I don't know. I'm rooting for him. I'm record. Look, I'm always rooting for him. But boy, but boy, are they waist deep?

Unknown: 7:14

$4.7 billion, a lot of money. Speaking of waist deep, oh.

Paul J Daly: 7:23

Tesla has asked managers to make a quote unquote binary assessment of their deputies roles, signaling a round of layoffs potentially, through a focused evaluation of team members is basically like, can you justify give me a justification for everyone on your team is basically what it said. So growth in headcount showed a significant slowdown with an increase of only 12,020 23, down from 29,020 22, suggesting a shift towards operational efficiency. Tesla has been known to do things like this before. Also, employee morale is facing challenges highlighted by some delayed stock compensation on satisfactory annual pay increases, reflecting more broader concerns over general compensation practices. So I don't know. I think Shawn feigns like

Unknown: 8:16

phase getting excited? I

Kyle Mountsier: 8:18

guess. So. I mean, Oh, definitely. Everybody is dealing with this. This is the you know, Tesla is not immune to just what has happened over the second half of last year, you just look at their stock, you look at what's going on in the marketplace, how they're facing competition overseas. And, you know, like, workforce is always going to be a tough thing to manage. But, hey, yeah, Shawn fain is just gonna be like, I'm

Paul J Daly: 8:48

coming in hot at the right time. And I also think this justifies you know, you and I talk about Tesla as a technology company, not a car company. Right. And I think the layoffs are an indicator that they're much more like a technology than a car company, because we don't see car companies laying people off. We see tech companies laying people off. And so I think that that's another little another little line, kind of in the sand. Here's a side story about Tesla. Sales in South Korea in January, dropped to just one vehicle. They didn't drop by one vehicle, they sold only one vehicle while South Korea overall eat now. Here's the broader picture. Now they're saying like no one buys a car in January because of the way the government incentive, you know, so maybe it's just a headline, but this is more interesting. I think. Overall, Evie registrations in South Korea dropped by 80%. I had nests with safety concerns or some battery fire issues, but one of the main issues is the predominance of slow charging. So 90% of charge in South Korea is slow charging. So um I just thought that was interesting. Right? Yeah, the whole, the whole craze even in South Korea, I wonder it's

Kyle Mountsier: 10:05

the same, the same thing everyone's dealing with is the adoption rate requires public charging access, and even in home charging access for those that don't own their homes. And so as we as we hit this kind of like adoption curve of earlier adopters, and the next wave needs public charging, I don't care what country you're in, that is going to be the barrier of entry is how do I refuel this thing? Right, because we don't have just a gas station on every corner that can handle refueling. Looks like South Korea is just getting hit harder with that earlier.

Paul J Daly: 10:43

I have to go to Orlando next week for a day. And I was looking at rental cars yesterday. And you know, one of the cheapest ones was Tesla Model. 340 48 bucks.

Kyle Mountsier: 10:56

No, yes. That is cheap for a rental car right

Paul J Daly: 11:00

now. And so I real quick, was it please? It's just I totally taken that. It's I want to just get a little more experienced driver one, but it's, um, it's a standard range, model three. And so I'm like, What's the range on that? 215 miles? How many miles do I need to drive like 100? Yeah, right. I'm not not planning on charging it at all. Right now. You're

Kyle Mountsier: 11:22

gonna bring that thing right back with no charge? Yeah. Well, hopefully

Paul J Daly: 11:25

I have a little bit. I wouldn't have the charge. I wouldn't really charge you for that. It's not gallons of fuel. What is it Gilad hours?

Kyle Mountsier: 11:31

Yes, it's got to be gigawatt hours power, you know, power just like a flat charge. What does that mean? It's probably cost 10 bucks at the most so the costing more than 10 bucks. They're doing it wrong. So

Paul J Daly: 11:42

$40 Tesla Model three, it's going to speaking to covenant hot segue three days.

Kyle Mountsier: 11:49

Reading days. A Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl win could mean more than just a win. It would mean a massive win for some Mitsubishi buyers as family Mitsubishi in Wichita, Kansas is offering a unique Superbowl promotion promising full refunds on vehicles purchased if the Chiefs win under some specific conditions. Here's the cool thing. The the actual the promotion applies to any customer that bought a new Mitsubishi between August 16 and October 15. So they ran they ran this promotion for a long time. Listen, conditions for the refund include here's the conditions the Chiefs have to win. Patty mahomes needs to get a touchdown to buy homes, and the team's final score ends in a zero. So something like 1020 3040 50 Right, adding an exciting twist to the Super Bowl anticipation. So it's like a multitude of things.

Paul J Daly: 12:44

There are a little crazy things though,

Kyle Mountsier: 12:46

they're not crazy. I mean, like, you know, it

Paul J Daly: 12:49

ends the scores. Gonna be the biggest one,

Kyle Mountsier: 12:52

Patty mahomes is probably gonna get a touchdown. It's a smaller dealership. So a little over 60 Customers could benefit with nearly $2 million at stake. And they are just leveraging the heck out of this Super Bowl talking about it. Obviously, it would boost a ton of loyalty from these customers that say like, Hey, look, these people did a solid. But hey,

Paul J Daly: 13:16

few questions. Number one. Since they're from Kansas City, they're probably chiefs fans. Do you think this competition makes them not as disappointed if the 40 Niners? Well, I don't know. Like the second question is, did they buy insurance for this? Are they fronting it? They probably absolutely bought insurance for it. What do you think? What do you think your costs are something like this? Probably like a couple 100 grand? Yeah,

Kyle Mountsier: 13:43

no, no, no, no, no, not even that.

Paul J Daly: 13:45

You don't think? No, no, I guess it's that last criteria? Like what's the over under on that last criteria?

Kyle Mountsier: 13:51

Yeah, I mean, I have no clue what the what the insurance cost but

Paul J Daly: 13:56

you are in this put your guests in the comments if you know how much

Kyle Mountsier: 14:00

whatever that insurance costs. I think it's worth it. Because if you if this actually happens, then you're hoping it happens because you already spent the money. You spent the money and not just that but you realize how many news stations like ESPN is going to pick this joker up like you just became front page news for a bunch of places. Now.

Paul J Daly: 14:18

I think they're having a big Superbowl party too, which

Kyle Mountsier: 14:21

would be amazing. Like, everyone just loses their mind. Everyone has video cameras, they're like crazy. Even

Paul J Daly: 14:27

if you don't even if you don't like didn't buy a car there. You still really want the people to get their card. Absolutely. That's a great one for when it's a good one. It's a good one. Well look, I'll make sure I get the right button. You know everybody we are rooting for you today. You in the industry. You're what we're building not the shows in the conferences. It's you so go out there love people more than cars. We will see you here first thing tomorrow.

Unknown: 15:00

Didn't

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