A Simplified and Revamped Model 3, Bricked Lightning, Social Media vs. Entertainment

November 29, 2022
Welcome to *almost* the last day of November as we talk about leaked plans to revamp Tesla’s Model 3, one F150 Lightning user's experience with a ‘bricked’ truck, and is that app ‘social media’ or ‘entertainment’?
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According to a Reuters exclusive, Tesla is working on the first revamp to their Model 3 sedan that includes an exterior update.

  • Codenamed “Project Highland” one of the primary objectives is to remove unnecessary parts from the interior in order to focus on high value areas (like the display) and reduce production costs
  • "Over and over, we found parts that are not needed. They were put in there just in case or by mistake. We eliminated so many parts from a car that did nothing," Musk said in an interview at a Baron Funds conference earlier in the month.
  • Visible changes are a part of an effort to bring more ‘newness’ to the vehicle as the market is flooded with competing vehicles
  • Tesla has the most profitable EV on the market by far at $9500 per vehicle as contrasted with about $1300 for Toyota

EV enthusiast and Ford F150 Lightning owner Eric Roe (also owns a Kia Niro EV) tweeted that he plugged his truck into an Electrify America station, and heard a loud pop which was followed by a bricked truck

  • He followed up the tweet with details of being on a family vacation with his 2 dogs 1000 miles from home and posted pics of his truck on a flatbed which wouldn’t even shift into neutral and had to be dragged onto the tow truck
  • Emma Bergg, Global Director, Electric Vehicles & BlueOval City Comms for Ford Motor Company reached out right in the twitter feed and both Ford and Electrify America are said to have engineers on the incident to determine the cause
  • The twitter feed is full of user feedback on which is to blame
  • New tech, new problems

Is social media becoming less ‘social’ and more ‘media’. Platforms like Tiktok are counting on it.

  • Leroyson Figueira, a senior creative director at London-based marketing agency 160over90 explains: “It seems that every new digital platform that is not a website nor a utility app is immediately branded a social platform. Without pausing to think, TikTok has also been branded ‘social’ by our industry when it is anything but.”
  • “TikTok has film publishers and a film audience. It’s not at all like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. It’s more like a TV channel or Netflix than a social platform. But the most democratic channel in history.”

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SPEAKERS

Kyle Mountsier, Paul Daly


Paul Daly  00:23

We made it yellow is the last day of November 2022. is the last day in November 2022.


Kyle Mountsier  00:31

Is it really? The people with one No, I think I'm gonna call that quintessentially bought opener I think we've ever had. I'm pretty positive.


Paul Daly  00:48

The crazy part is I don't know how but I typed that date into the show notes. I just changed it well, hey, I'm like, I'm like, like Anchorman on a teleprompter. You know, I'm saying I'm just gonna report whatever's on that thing. put a question mark at the end of the sentence. I'm gonna be like, question mark.


Kyle Mountsier  01:09

We got some real talking about Paul.


Paul Daly  01:11

Good news is I just got a whole day of my life back. What am I gonna do with that extra day? 24 hours, I never still hold their productivity. Today we're gonna talk about Tesla's revamp model. A bricked lightning. We'll talk about what that is. And is it social media? Or is it entertainment? It's like the angel Quint central problem. That is only a joke. Since we asked in house 30 seconds ago. Oh, hey, we got a couple of things coming up here and extravaganza coming in hot. It is like three weeks away. I don't know. When we say


Kyle Mountsier  01:47

events, all the things dropping today. It's happening today. So keep your eye out on the socials on the website. We'll probably post it personally. So watch out for it. There'll be opportunities to come in person watch online,


Paul Daly  02:01

all the all the different things. Yeah, we're gonna have fun and the event everybody's like when you do an interview event, no one wants to do anything. And if you're actually no one wants to really learn at the like, we don't lean in and get into the details. But we definitely want to have a little fun. Want to reminisce a little bit want to look ahead and get people's perspective on what's coming. And look, nada is in January, bro.


Kyle Mountsier  02:22

Like yeah, January like hot, warm. calls yesterday like what are you doing for nada? What's happening? What are you doing for nada? Can you come to this at any?


Paul Daly  02:32

moment yesterday, Thanksgiving? Or late yesterday? It's like, what are you doing that day? Okay, what are we getting in? Okay, you're gonna be doing this. I'm gonna do that we could split up here get back together here. If I can hop in an Uber. I'll get on this shuttle I'll be at the Dallas Cowboys. Like nada is already over in my mind.


Kyle Mountsier  02:49

Basically done and dusted.


Paul Daly  02:51

Oh, hey, if you're an industry partner, and you want to do some collabs or partnerships for any VA, just shoot us an email because we're putting together stuff right now. And last year was insane. This year, we're rolling twice as heavy. And so we want to highlight and feature all the great stuff going on in the industry. Can't see it all. But if you highlight something for us want to do a little collab, and it is time to do it. Alright, let's talk about some news. Because that's really why we're here. Get it started in this wonderful world. We call retail automotive. So according to a Reuters exclusive, exclusive, very serious. Tesla's working on the first revamp of their model three sedan that includes an exterior update. So they've done some changes under the hood under the frunk I don't know they're saying under the hood anymore. I mean, I guess they say under the hood, even when you're talking about like phones and stuff, it's under the hood. But this one is going to actually make the vehicle look differently. Codenamed Project Highland one of the primary objectives is to remove unnecessary parts from the interior in order to focus on high value areas like that big gigantic display that's inside console armrest is useless you know it's they're gonna pull like a Steve Jobs like you don't need those extra buttons on the keyboard because I said you don't you don't need those extra ports and the man had a pass away in order for him to put the ports back you know, I'm saying so, over here's a quote from Elon Musk. From an interview at Baron funds conference earlier this month he said over and over we found parts that are not needed they were put in there just in case or by mistake, that's a good way to put it. We eliminated so many parts from the car that did nothing. So I mean, you think of the interior ons out here.


Kyle Mountsier  04:30

I'm eliminating Twitter employees I'm going to emanate in parts addition by subtraction age and the need to live on the planet like he's just out here eliminating


Paul Daly  04:40

the need for planet Earth. He picked a fight with Apple by the way. I get I picked a fight with AP I don't care how many I don't know. Who knows who knows how you're thinking when you have that much going on. Okay,


Kyle Mountsier  04:55

real quick sidenote, the fact that Apple the number one literal number One q1 advertiser on Twitter has now pulled all advertising from Twitter and maybe through the App Store. He's like, elimination. That's the That's His Word of 2023. But back to vehicles.


Paul Daly  05:13

Yeah, the trump cards when he's going to be like, no pun intended, not talking about the President Trump talking about, like, just the metaphor. No, no, no, the metaphor, the metaphor, trump card, like, here's the Yeah, he's gonna be like, Oh, by the way, but working on this phone.


Kyle Mountsier  05:28

Right? Like, it'll be the one where everybody comes unglued,


Paul Daly  05:30

we'll see what happens. But either way, if you've ever been in the interior of a Tesla, you know, it's already pretty simple. So I don't know what they're gonna take out of there. But they're planning on it. visible changes are also a part of to bring the effort to bring some more, quote, newness to the vehicle, as the market is flooded with, you know, a lot of competing EVs now, right? A lot of things that look kind of similar feel kind of similar. Yes, I


Kyle Mountsier  05:52

mean, it honestly, since it's come out, it's looked exactly like a Mazda three, because the designer went from one to the other. So know that, that makes so much sense. Yeah. So So you notice that and you're like, Okay, you probably need a brand refresh, especially because a lot of the other EVs are now taking that kind of front design to grill that taking that design cue, so time to kind of freshen it up. And, and, and here we go. And, you know, it's, it's interesting, because when you look at the competitors, you know, they're coming into the market, they're trying to come in strong, but they still haven't figured everything out. And now Tesla is even reducing their costs probably even more because of less production materials. You know, the article also noted that Tesla is still the most profitable, Evie on the market, by far at about $9,500 per vehicle, country, mile to the average of 1300 by Toyota. So


Paul Daly  06:48

7x 8x, so they're like, Yeah, well, to catch up to that number. Hey, Charles Higgins. Good morning.


Kyle Mountsier  06:55

Good morning.


Paul Daly  06:56

People say good morning,


Kyle Mountsier  06:57

Brian. You're reminding both of us that the 30th is tomorrow.


Paul Daly  07:02

I don't think you reminded you I think he only reminded


Kyle Mountsier  07:05

me to welcome myself into the I appreciate that. That's our podcast.


Paul Daly  07:11

I appreciate that. It's like good, like the corporate like we'll take the hill we That's how you know you but your boys got your back. That's how you know, it's so yeah. You know, we'll see. I wonder if this is like, my first thought was, you know, it's talking about Tesla and apple. You know, the Apple like leak stuff that's, like intentional to get people talking about Yeah, I wonder if it's just a little play out of that playbook. Because this is a leaked story. They haven't officially announced it yet. But everybody's talking about it. So I don't know. Maybe that maybe maybe Tim Cook and Elon Musk are actually behind the scenes besties and they're just like playing a little game out front for some PR. I don't think I really don't think so. I can think of two different people sure


Kyle Mountsier  07:49

they'd be okay. But I'm not calling them dead besties anytime.


Paul Daly  07:53

Barbecue buddies. Speak you're getting fried. Speaking you're getting fried All right, this is this is a new one. This is a new one Evie enthusiast. And Ford F 150. Lightning owner Eric row. You also owns a Kia Niro. Evie. By the way, he tweeted that he plugged in his truck, his f150 Lightning into an Electrify America station. So the largest charging network and heard a loud pop, which was followed by what he called a bricked truck. And if you're not familiar with that terminology, when something breaks, it's a piece of electronics that's now doesn't do anything. So it's a brick. It just sits there and it's like paperweight. So he says a brick this truck. He followed up the tweet with details. The fact that he's on a family vacation with his two dogs and 1000 miles from home posted some pictures of the truck being pulled onto a flatbed trailer which he added you know the car was unable to even be put in a neutral like it was just totally dead. Pop man. I've heard that pop and electronics before like being in sound and that is pop you're like that's that's it? I mean, good fortunate there's no smoke, but then you know, I had unlimited drive the car onto the flatbed. Oh, this is kind of cool. And the bird Global Director of EVs and blue oval city communications for Ford, right. So pretty high position right there. She actually just reached out right in the Twitter feed. She's like, hey, please DM me. Right? That's kind of cool. Like we're talking. And so that's really what it's like how we're talking to this on Twitter, too. Right? It's, it's all connected now. Tesla's Twitter, Ford lightnings. John Roper, weighs in on the live stream. Dude, my car's did that once when I ran out of gas. I hope it didn't.


Kyle Mountsier  09:38

I hope it didn't pop. It probably did stop running and not going to neutral. Maybe the alternator battery, you know, like, Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. I know it's a one off story. It's something that we're gonna have to deal with it. You're dealing with electric Yeah, we'd like to probably be plugged in. I mean, think about this. Like it's it's the same thing as if shell let some water get in their gas at a gas station, right? Trucks gonna seize up. So like that's happened before. It's just a new thing that we have to deal with and like the manufacturer has to figure out like, how do they recover that truck? Is it a manufacturer thing? Are they? Are they taking care of the battery? Like? What's the question right now? Is it Electrify America? Was it right? Oh, and so who engineers are talking?


Paul Daly  10:25

They said, Yep. Engineers are talking like, was it the plugin? Was it the vehicle was the charger. And if you read through the Twitter feed, it's kind of fun. Because like, you see, like people willing to like die on the sort of either side of that, are you it's definitely the charger. It's definitely the truck see and newest. So I'm just part of like, hey, whenever you whenever you innovate, right, you're gonna have new problems. And so it's just one of those new problems and we're talking about and we're talking about, you know, I think the big opportunity really is always how a company deals with the problem. Right? That's the real opportunity because things are gonna happen. What are they going to do with it? They're gonna make it a chance for a deeper customer connection, giving people comfort? Or are they going to just play that like deflective PR game? Which I hope not, because, you know, social media is where life is played out these days. Speaking of social media, oh. fascinating


Kyle Mountsier  11:20

part of that last sentence. By the way, speaking of social media has played out. Yeah, social media is where life is played out. I just got a little bit depressed. Okay, keep moving. Keep moving. Keep moving.


Paul Daly  11:32

Well, after I saw the stat yesterday, we'll talk about this Saturday. And actually, what we'll start at our ends that right now. Report, Wall Street Journal, tick tock users spend an average of 96 minutes per day on the app. Can you 9096 minutes, it's a lot of time. It's a lot of time, just dedicated to the screens five times what they spent on Snapchat, tripled their time on Twitter, and almost twice as much as Facebook and Instagram. So, you know, this is according to data analytics, be the Sensor Tower. But the real story here is the question is social media becoming less social, and more media. So platforms like Tiktok are actually weighing in on that live Royston Figueira senior Creative Director at London based marketing agency 160. Over 90, he explains, it seems that every new digital platform that is not a website or utility app is immediately branded a social platform without pausing to think Tik Tok has also been branded social by our industry when it is anything. But yeah, and what the argument is, is that social media is actually an entertainment platform where your content is curated that you go to for entertainment, not for social interaction.


Kyle Mountsier  12:41

Well, I think depending on the platform, and the part of the platform that you're looking at, is definitely you know, could change like whether or not I'm going here for entertainment and are going here for social Facebook groups. Social right? When when you're looking at you know, Tik Tok, probably majority entertainment or even research like, there's a lot of research happening there. So I think that, like, it is kind of getting a lot of research happening where tick tock on tick tock, yeah, like people are learning things on on their like, or are learning new recipes or figuring out how to do something different, like it's very huge. It's very, like early YouTube esque in the way that tick tock is happening. So when you look at, like, the the overall branded social media, as Facebook kind of was the creator of that, that it was intentionally social, it was person to person, that ecosystem is totally different. It's kind of like, it's kinda like, you know, I've got a cell phone over here. That isn't cool. Phone except for, like, reframing some of these, especially when you know, and they talk a lot about, like, what how marketers, or companies or businesses are approaching these platforms, thinking like, hey, some of these are, you know, some of these are things that are our entertainment, focus. And some of these things are our social focused and kind of playing in all of those worlds and understanding that your content has to like, join and swim in the river as we talk about a lot. So it's maybe


Paul Daly  14:16

the best, this may be the best audience comment we've ever gotten. That's where Kyle's gets his new dance moves, dot dot dot research. I don't agree with that, you know, so probably does probably not I actually, I don't think that's great. It's just, it's just natural. It's just natural. Here's here's a big difference. So you think of the way a TV channel tries to build their audience by having shows and showing you things you like, so you go to that channel first, and they're saying like tick tock is really built the same way. Blake Chandler, their president of Global Business Solution clarifies the distinction. He says that most other platforms build their algorithms based on the social graph that that's like, you know, how people interact and engage with one another and based on the engagement they show, he said, but they use And that's those other platforms core competency. Tick tock, however, is an entertainment platform. And the difference is significant. He says, you know, they think about influencers, Less and More creators, which is the whole, the whole creator economy is moving that way. Influencers is like somebody like a celebrity, like, Oh, I know them, right. But a creator is more like, I like what they make. I like what they do. There's like a closer tie to the authenticity of the person and not just like famous for famous sake, it's, you know, popular because of something that they contribute, and something they make. So I don't know, it's interesting.


Kyle Mountsier  15:36

I so I'm the guy who created shield app, which is basically a LinkedIn analytics tool analytics thing. He actually posted the other day, he posted this and the lead was selfies are for familiarity. Content is for following. And like that, so that's kind of like right in line. It's like, oh, people can do self selfies. That's a familiarity thing. Like that's, that's social interaction. But But content for content sakes, builds a following build something that people are, are leaning into what you're saying, or doing or making. And so I'm in shift, I think that it's great.


Paul Daly  16:16

I mean, when you think of that, that selfies I mean, that's, so we talked about we you and I spent a lot of time on LinkedIn. Right as a soda, we spent a lot of time on LinkedIn. And I think LinkedIn is obviously a social platform, right? LinkedIn, a place where conversation happens. And even if there's a selfie, on LinkedIn, typically speaking, there's content of some level of substance in the copy that actually invokes a thought, or a position or a question that allows you to interact. So you know, LinkedIn, there's some entertainment in there, but primarily social tic tock. Let's just have some fun. If we can learn something on the way it's a bonus, but honestly, we just want to have a little fun. I don't even know how you would clarify. This podcast is probably not that much entertainment or information. But you show up here any day regardless, because we'll tell you the wrong date at the beginning. You have a whole extra day of November, go get some

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