Brian Armstead, Writer and Radio Host

Kyle Mountsier: 0:00This is In The Dirt with ASOTU.Paul Daly: 0:05

So I'm here with Brian Armstead, aka the voice of God. Right. All right. All See what I'm saying what I'm saying, Brian, you have a long history reporting in automotive. I give us a little background on you because I think our community doesn't know who you are. So can you give us the summary Introduce yourself?

Brian Armstead: 0:21

Sure. Brian Armstead retired foreign service officer have spent a lot of time in South Asia, West Africa have been in 79 countries. For the last 26 years I've written automotive. So I started with on wheels incorporated organizations, started by Randy Payton, who published the first black car magazine in history. What year was that? What was that? Oh, God, Earl 1997. Okay, yeah. And I joined in 1998. Been doing radio for 46 years. Car Talk Show doesn't surprise me. Did a car talk show on XM called Auto Sense. Then on Radio One, and presently on KCBQ in San Diego and WAOK in Atlanta. And just love cars. I write for Forbes and pursuethis.com And I do the NAMAD. E magazine called treads every month. I've been on your show before when you were in the clubhouse? A lot of fun. Yeah. So I love cars. I eat drink sleep cars. On six cars, even though I drive a couple of press cars every week. What's your favorite? I like Mercedes Benz products. Big guy. I need a big car can save. You know, this car of all time? For me personally? Yeah,

Paul Daly: 1:35

that's a subjective question.

Brian Armstead: 1:36

Wow. That's that's a hard question. My favorite car what I think the best stories of all time,

Paul Daly: 1:41

your favorite car of all time?

Brian Armstead: 1:44

Who got the V rod? Yeah. You know, if you go if you go big is that? Yeah, you gotta go all the way. Go bigger go home. So

Paul Daly: 1:51

the NAMAD the energy around the NAMAD conference seems to be growing every year? Absolutely. What is your overall perspective? On the next 36 months? I'm a man. What do you see the big opportunities being?

Brian Armstead: 2:01

Well, just to, for more manufacturers to understand the importance of diversity. At the Diversity Volume Leadership Awards this morning, Mark Bland from s&p global, called out to manufacturers who won awards for being top choices among minority consumers. But they weren't in the house. He did. And then took it over five tables. You know, Toyota won the bulk of the awards this year, they have fine products fit five tables of executives here this year.

Paul Daly: 2:28

And that's not an accident. Those two results are not separated. You have to

Brian Armstead: 2:33

practice diversity and inclusion and equity in everything that you do. It's got to be a core strategy of your business, or you're leaving money on the table.

Paul Daly: 2:43

It's also like, I think that the element of diversity, equity inclusion can sometimes get lost at the higher levels because they think it's only a social play. That's right. And what Mark was talking about and what NAMAD talks about is like this is a strategic Intelligent Business play as well. Absolutely. And like luck when you compare those two things together. I think everybody wins.

Brian Armstead: 3:05

Yeah. Future majority. 2045 census data shows that white Americans will no longer be the majority in this country. Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, Native American. Yep. We'll make up the core majority on age, nation's population,

Paul Daly: 3:20

population purchasing power, and even I thought one of the most interesting stats was he said in Miami, right where we are right now. That only 27% of purchases are by white individuals, Caucasians, it's right. Right now today.

Brian Armstead: 3:36

Look at the demographics of the state. Absolutely. Outside of Miami. You got people running around a golf carts, man. That's right. All right. You need a big golf cart, a large cachexia XL XL, right, we

Paul Daly: 3:47

get three wheels on each side. If you had one one chance to give a little exhortation to the industry, or people who are kind of on the bubble not participating in like proactively moving the industry forward. What What would you say to them,

Brian Armstead: 4:00

get your sugar honey iced tea together?

Paul Daly: 4:04

sugar honey, iced tea. That's a great well, we're gonna make a graphic for that we'll go together. Thank you so much for spending a few minutes with us today and I can't wait till the next time. Thank you.

Kyle Mountsier: 4:13

Thank you for listening to In The Dirt with ASOTU. We love the automotive industry and the people who make it run day in and day out. We would love to connect with you more through our daily dose of fun, a free email that you can sign up for at asotu.com That's a s o t u.com. We put our heart and soul into it every day. Thanks again for listening. Join us next time for more Conversations In The Dirt with ASOTU

‍