GM’s Hydrogen Play, Physical Button Comeback, Target Subscription

Paul J Daly: 0:00

Yo yo, it is March 6, Wednesday and who's in the house? JC is in the house. Today we're gonna talk about GMs hydrogen play, physical button come back, and a new target subscription.

‍Jordan Cox: 0:27

Boy, days in a row. Look at that.

Paul J Daly: 0:31

I plan on Wednesday, repeat. We also kind of have another guest and Roberts. It's a pre recorded guests. But nonetheless, a guest on the show. Oh, yeah, I wish that Roberts was here. I always wish Ed Roberts was here.

Jordan Cox: 0:45

I know me too. Every time I talked to him, my day always gets so much better. You just leave that conversation with a smile. I

Paul J Daly: 0:52

was they were talking about the fact that a lot of times, people will look at a soda and look at the fact that we're kind of upbeat and positive. And we talk about like a variety of things and think that like we're not serious about the car business. Sure. And I know that can be hard to think about but but the reality is like, we love the practitioners, we spend a lot of time on the front lines we get in the details of the tech. And Ed Roberts is one of those guys who's probably one of the most savvy practitioners we know most dedicated, most driven. And he's kind of always smiling to not always right. Not always smile on his face. And I thought about this. It's hard to look serious when you're smiling. Yeah, you're right. Right, when you're smiling like no one thinks I mean, like, maybe they can think you're seriously happy. Yeah. So I don't know. So I probably one of the least serious looking people just smile all the time. Yeah. And like if I if I remember not smiling, like even if I'm just like normal face, people are like what's wrong?

Jordan Cox: 1:49

One of those like two extremes, right?

Paul J Daly: 1:51

I know, I know, there's gonna be a lot of opportunity to smile and hug in person out of soda calm, which is now only 69 days away, we've just rested, we've broken the 70 day mark, it's going to be May 15, and 16th, we're going to have so many things going on, you can still get your discounted early bird tickets at ASOTU con.com. We keep updating the site on a regular basis. So you can see the speakers who are going to be there, the auto dealer associations who are going to be there, some of the sessions that are going to be there, some of the sponsors, that sponsor page is going to be racking up really, really quickly because I've been on like, I don't know, I feel like 1010 calls yesterday with people who want a sponsor. And so like I already know, it's outdated even because I know the site hasn't been updated yet this morning. And so a lot of industry partners jumping on, they want to be a part of the event, we hope you can be a part of the event. If you're an industry partner, reach out crew at a soda.com or go to ASOTU con.com Fill out the little form. We would love to find the best fit, you know, we're not, we're not like, get your name on Bev snaps kind of event. You know what I'm saying? In fact,

Jordan Cox: 2:54

someone tried to do that. And you told them no. That's right. That's right.

Paul J Daly: 2:58

They were like, No, we're more like, let's have meaningful conversation. Let's put you with other people. And if we're going to print your name on something, it's going to be a really great soccer scarf. Yeah, that's right. Right. So here, Michelle, last year, swag sponsor was foundation. Yeah, Foundation. They look great on the scarf. And look at that logo, logo and the other sides of Soto and like, I'm gonna put this on Kyle. And I never take these off. It's like a NASCAR place. It's an every shot. Yeah. What else are we talking about today? Okay, well, we have Ed Roberts, I actually don't even know what he's talking about. But Nathan, our producers, like we got this clip from Ed, we're gonna play and I was like, Okay, let's play it. So actually, for

Ed Roberts: 3:36

the first time discussions and talks about looking at through a customer's lens, we so much look at it from a reactionary from the lagging indicators, rather than the leading indicators and the lagging indicators as a financial statement, and KPIs and all those things. Yeah. But what leads that, so I love it, when we go around it from the other side, we're looking at it through the customer's lens, that's what creates all of those KPIs. So anything that looks at it from the customer side, rather than internally outward, it's the lead indicators rather than the lagging indicators, what's so cool about these events, we can go there and share those things that we do well, but then also that we all have that friction point. And when we go and we see someone else, that's not a friction point for them, it's something that they do well, and we could pick up some elements of what they're doing, and then bring it back to our store. And that's the key. It's not just getting the information as bring it back to our store and getting to do something about it.

Paul J Daly: 4:20

Hey, I love that. There's a lot of smiling in that testimonial, but he still seems really serious. Ed Roberts is one of the most open handed people I know, he actually reached out and was like, Hey, we've got a lot of good momentum with mobile service. Yeah. And he said, Could we do a panel on mobile mobile service and share some of our best practices with the other people because you know, it's a challenge for people? And we're like, yes, so we are going to have it's not it might not be on the agenda yet. But we are going to have a mobile service panel with Jeremy Stephens, who is running the mobile service director for Bozar. Lincoln for Lincoln, in St. Augustine, Florida. And we're also gonna put some other people on that panel if you're into mobile service and you're doing it and you're working it out, let us know because we're actually going to probably put one or two more people on that panel. But man, Ed Roberts, I can't wait to hang out with him. I know

Jordan Cox: 5:08

even like mobile service as a whole that is such a new thing to most people. But he's been doing it for a few years, and the scale that they're going to do this year, so I'll let him break that news. But I'm excited to see how big they're making that this year at Bose RT is gonna be nuts.

Paul J Daly: 5:23

It's so good. So good. Alright, let's get into some news today. So, first story of the day, GM has been awarded$26 million in federal funding to develop hydrogen fuel cell powered medium duty trucks as a part of the US Department of Energy Supertruck three program. So basically, they're going to be collaborating with Southern CO and nel, hydrogen, us to introduce the trucks in Georgia. Alongside efforts to establish right you have the trucks that run on hydrogen to establish a supportive hydrogen micro grid. So that that is a $65 million project partially funded by the Energy Department and US Army's ground vehicle systems center. That's a lot of a lot of departments. Right, they're getting together. Their goal is to achieve 75% greenhouse gas emission reduction. So this is through that commercial lens. So the pilot trucks will actually mirror the 2024 Silverado 5500, and feature over 300 miles of range and get this the capacity to generate 300 kilowatts of power. So not just the vehicle, a little mobile power plants pretty sweet. GM and Honda had been producing hydrogen fuel cell systems a lot through a joint venture in Detroit, and they're working with Autocar industries to put hydrogen fuel cells in vehicles, like cement mixtures roll off trucks starting in 2026, Charlie Friess, Executive Director of GMs Hydrotech hydrogen fuel cell business said by using hydrogen as high energy storage density advantages, there's a lot of nerdy talk here. These propulsion systems can refuel in minutes, much like conventional petroleum fueled engines. So I think the hydrogen the hydrogen conversation Jordan is seems like it's ramping up quite a bit. It just

Jordan Cox: 7:04

changed a little bit. Look at that $26 million in investment just from GM alone, that when we talked about this back in like November and December, our creative director Kelly Kelly Vertie what she kept bringing up was hydrogen about how that will work out long term. But the problem is the infrastructure so it's cool that they finally got this especially at that level. Yeah, I mean, that's Game Changer the commercial

Paul J Daly: 7:28

the commercial applications seem like the best fit I mean, we talked about this with TVs as well right Evie application of commercial vehicles seems like the logical first place because you know a lot more with a lot more certainty what the vehicle has to do every day where it will be parked at night and so you can you know, recharge or refuel hydrogen obviously, you can move hydrogen around in a truck, you can't move electricity around in the truck you know what I mean to refuel have on job sites so it'd be interesting to see how the commercial side of the business does this Can you imagine a cement mixer trying to be powered by a battery?

Jordan Cox: 8:01

Well that's their thing to so ready so heavy yeah in price range to once you put hydrogen on something like this. I know it's got the hydrogen generation it's very similar to how the gasoline engine is set up. But man like the the price point changes drastically. Absolutely within Toyota more I was doing I

Paul J Daly: 8:17

know, I know. Well, we'll see what happens. Speaking of seeing what happens, segue. Friends across the pond here, European carmakers are being urged by the European new car assessment program, and cap to reintroduce physical controls for basic functions to enhance driving safety effective January 2026. So you know, you make the car in the year before the year so 2026 that means next year, they're gonna start doing this euro and caps, new rules. And for cars that have tactile controls for essential functions like hazard warning lights, turning signals, windshield wipers, SOS calls, I don't know when SOS call is might be a European thing, and the horn to maintain their five star safety rating. So they're saying if your car doesn't have these tactile button features, you will not be able to get a five star safety rating rating. It's addressing the risk of driver describe distraction caused by use of touchscreens for basic controls. Many manufacturers obviously moving to that a lot of UV technology moving in touchscreen, it's a lot cheaper to put all the controls in one screen control it with software as opposed to physical buttons that need some mechanical movement and response. Matthew Avery of Euro and cap commented the overuse of touchscreens is an industry wide problem with almost every vehicle maker moving key controls on the central touchscreens obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes.

Jordan Cox: 9:43

What's nice about the way they set that up is you can still do it, you're just going to lose your five star rating. That's that's a great way to do it. Yeah, which is like it's a big deal but you're doing the incentives correctly, you can let them choose. So now all of a sudden they can either choose to continue doing what they're doing, or they can To go back to a physical button and get back to the reading that they want, they get to choose like on a Tesla. It's kind of frustrating after windshield wipers are stuck by the screen. I mean,

Paul J Daly: 10:10

some at some of these systems too are really bad like where you need three taps to get to a heated seat. I mean, that's not an essential function unless you live in, you know, like where we live when it's called totally essential function he didn't see. But I think it goes one step further, Jordan, because you said you let the manufacturers choose what they want to implement, implement or not, but actually, I think it allows the consumer to choose, like even more, it's like the consumer saying, well is five star safety rating important to me? If so, I'm only gonna buy cars with that rating. Therefore, manufacturers may begin to lose market share to the ones who do implement the tactile buttons. I'm a big fan of the right balance, I love share tactile buttons, but obviously too many of them. You know, it can be confusing or certain certain things are fine on the screen, but the bait I want the basics, like I want to be able to reach and feel it, do you? I don't know. You probably never did. Did you ever have a Blackberry?

Jordan Cox: 11:04

I did. So okay, Dad had one I had one of the basic ones. And then I also had a Motorola Q nine CD. Remember those? It was like a Blackberry knockoff?

Paul J Daly: 11:13

I do I do? Well, the thing about that is like switching from, like, if I had a Blackberry, I could type a full novel. Without looking down at that keyboard. No problem. I could send emails, I could do everything. And then I got the iPhone. I was like, I know some people can do it. You definitely can't. I mean, you got to be special but the BlackBerry emails all day long. I'm looking at your digit. Yeah.

Jordan Cox: 11:33

Well, you know, right, like t nine, right? When you had t nine.

Paul J Daly: 11:37

Let's explain what t nine is for the kids, Jordan? Because sometimes explain it, Paul. Okay. So you know, like an old, like, not a so it's got the numbers. Well, if you open the phone app on your iPhone, it's got the numbers. Yeah. And basically, if I don't know, does it I'm gonna look on my phone. This is still have the letters. Signs. Yeah. Hold on, okay. Okay. Okay, so when you're looking at this iPhone, on the number two, there's an ABC on the number three, it's def, and so on and so forth. So t nine meant, if you wanted to type a word, you had a hit that key the number of times you wanted the letter. So if you want the letter C, you have that that number two, three times, and it goes a B, C, and then you go six.

Jordan Cox: 12:16

So actually, that was ABC, and then the t nine, one, you can like jump fast between them. You remember that? Oh, that was when it started to get predictive. Right, exactly. You're right. So that like the predictive part of it and like AI as a whole like that. That was like that was original AI. All that was,

Paul J Daly: 12:30

right, because then you could type in a word just by hitting the keys and it would say, Oh, you mean to type this word? Exactly. And that's throw me back. I used to be super fast at that. Now, like even thinking about it. I wouldn't even know where to start. I have to all retrain. But yeah, yeah. So hats off to you across the pond. I think that's a great thing. And we'll see if it makes its way over here. I mean, agency model never really made it. But hey, this seems a little bit more practical.

Jordan Cox: 12:51

That's right. I guess convenience for the when speaking of convenience,

Paul J Daly: 12:55

segue, Jordan, you're amazing Bub center on the Segway. I have to say it's been very enjoyable. These are

Jordan Cox: 13:02

like the highlights of my day when I get when I get to do this with you, Paul.

Paul J Daly: 13:05

Man I love we're gonna call back tomorrow like Kyle Jordan really set you up? Yeah. All right, target announced the launch of target circle 360 a $99 a year subscription program offering various benefits including unlimited free same day shipping or delivery. Aiming to revitalize this e commerce strategy, they've been working really hard to find the balance on target circle. 360 includes that free same day delivery in some cases in under an hour, probably not where I live for orders over $35. Also, other perks like to day free shipping. If it's not local, you know, to your market. If there's not something in a store near you, CEO Brian Cornell emphasized the program's role in meeting customer demand for convenience, while the customer always also revamps its free target circle loyalty program for added value. Here's a quote from the CEO, there is a guest who's looking for the ease and convenience of having something brought right to their home, in some cases within an hour, and we just want to elevate the awareness that we can do that for $99 a year. That seems that seems like a deal to me.

Jordan Cox: 14:07

It is but I'll be I'll be the first of many to say it. They're just copying Amazon. You know, they're giving you free two day shipping. Yep. It's at a premium for whatever the price is. So nine bucks. So very similar, cheaper than

Paul J Daly: 14:18

Amazon Prime. Oh, is it really? Oh, yeah. Amazon Prime Now is like 139 Oh,

Jordan Cox: 14:23

I just keep paying it every year.

Paul J Daly: 14:24

I don't even that I mean, Amazon's got us, man. Yeah,

Jordan Cox: 14:27

that's right. No, but they that convenience. Is there the two day free shipping. Now I would be super curious to see how they do the under an hour delivery. I know they do that with whole foods.

Paul J Daly: 14:39

And so markets Correct. Right. Like are they outsource is this this target drivers are they're probably just leveraging a network like DoorDash Yeah, Uber Eats to accomplish that. You know, you have to be close to a store and they have to have a good delivery network. You know, this is one of those things where there's so many targets everywhere that they have these mini warehouses all over the country, and make I feel like They should be able to fulfill one hour orders and same day stuff better than Amazon would, because you think about it, it's right there in the store. It's not buried in a warehouse somewhere right in the store, and they already have the mechanism. So I mean, we're not big at my house on having stuff delivered to our home, because we kind of live in the country and our driveway is kind of long. So don't just want randos driving up the driveway, right, like coming back by the house, then we got to deal with the dogs and things. So I'm not the consumer for this. I'm not paying $99 a year to target but I can see why people would.

Jordan Cox: 15:32

My wife is gonna pay it, I guarantee it.

Paul J Daly: 15:35

There you go. We'll take that. Hey, whatever you're doing today, whether you're trying to make things convenient for other people, or just trying to care about some people, we hope that you do with all your heart. Get out there, sell some cars, service, some cars, care about people more than cars, and we'll see here tomorrow

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