Launching A New (Auto Collabs), Gaming While Driving & Old Designs Made New

‍SPEAKERS

Kyle Mountsier, Paul Daly

Paul Daly  00:49å

Yo, what is up? It is Tuesday, July 19. Could we get any more excited for Asuna? Con? Yes is the answer. Today we're talking about a new podcast we're launching gaming while driving and some old designs made new people really want to know

Kyle Mountsier  01:05

who it is. I'm really excited. It's like, this is the this is like, episode brought to you by what the kids are into. But it's actually automotive, which is really good. That's good. We

Paul Daly  01:20

should have retired episode brought to you by what the kids are into automotive. Oh man, we are going to be in Philly all day today. With our boy Michael Cirillo with the asoto crew with our event planning team are going to xfinity live will be at siopa Subaru will be at the live the live hotel where we're going to be hosting a big majority of the people who are coming to a soda con, and we're doing some new stuff. Kyle, what do we talk about? We've been talking about the new podcast for a while and we're kicking it off right in person. I don't know how much we're talking about. We never talked about that. We're

Kyle Mountsier  01:59

talking about it a little bit. I think it's it's time it's time to talk about it. So we'll get into that. Before we get into that. I've got a so yesterday I was texting with a friend of ours, Steven opera Chela, was strategic do shout out your experience. Shout out to Steven longtime watcher longtime listener hanging out hanging out around the asoto world and a definite troublemaker. Right. And he last Friday was saw the announcements about Jim McKelvey coming writer of the innovation stack co founder of square now block. I'm like getting that in my vernacular. So I don't mess it up.

Paul Daly  02:37

On stay in person.

Kyle Mountsier  02:39

But he was just like, man, that I'm so excited to see him in person. Because he's read the book, and track with me, he had it like on quick. He said, I have this quote, ready and available for me to remember. So I want to read this quote for everyone. Because I think that it is a massive spirit. When we get when I get to the end of the quote, you'll, if you want to read the book, read the innovation stack prior to coming, because it'll give you some insight into a lot of the stuff that we're talking

Paul Daly  03:08

about. So you're talking about a quote from the book that Steven brought up to you.

Kyle Mountsier  03:14

Yes, exactly. And it was like, Oh, this one, this one's always on top for me. So the quote goes like this If you stay within this metaphorical wall, so he's talking about like the way business has always been done. You're a sane business person. Nobody's gonna get mad at you. So that's, this is my context. Nobody's gonna get mad at you here. Continuing to quote, if you leave the world of the known, you're either an entrepreneur or a corpse. Scary. All those people I shuttled to the airport were business people now he's talking about a job that he had. Growing up all those people I shuttled to the airport were business people. Now here's the kicker. Here's the kicker lean in everyone. They were successful and respected. But they were singing the songs not writing the music. That one, that one got me because and I remember when I read that in the book, the first time I read it, it just it hit because I'm one of those people that I want to write the music and I think that so many people in automotive are that way. We are an entrepreneurial spirit by nature in our industry. And we're not just cool with singing the same old songs. And so the encouragement is to daily write the music, because that's what entrepreneurialism that's what singing off the song song sheet and real troublemaking is all about

Paul Daly  04:40

very, very, very cool. Right? We've been saying all innovation is trouble got my special innovation is a choice t shirt on today. Right? Innovation is trouble. Innovation means that you chose to do it a different way than everyone else was doing it and when you try to innovate, you'll either be a successful innovator or an entrepreneur if you start your own thing or Are corpse or you're dead? Right? And so the people of us who are innovators, the asoto community is about that troublemakers. Guess what? That doesn't scare us, actually, that makes life seem worth living and exciting. So in order to get

Kyle Mountsier  05:15

rid of all of the innovators and troublemakers segway I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll take it softball. There you go.

Paul Daly  05:28

Oh, you're doing the Segway. I'm making me finish.

Kyle Mountsier  05:32

I'm really excited about this podcast that we're launching. We're calling it auto collabs. We know that the theme of automotive right now is collaboration. You if you're if you're watching it, you can see we've got the podcast start which in our terms, like the logo makes it official, right?

Paul Daly  05:52

Once you have a logo, you're done, so a lot of collabs by a solo to

Kyle Mountsier  05:55

you. Yes. So what we're going to be doing is talking to different people across the automotive industry dealers, industry partners, OEMs people outside of automotive, all of the real innovators and troublemakers with with some real talk conversations. And Paul, we thought it'd be timely to just read exactly what we wrote in regards to just the description of of how to tie this down and how to, to give people like, what is this all going to be about? And what are we going to be talking about on this maryada podcast that we're going to be throwing out?

Paul Daly  06:26

Oh, it's gonna be a lot. And so you know, this will be in the show notes. I'm going to read it. It also if you go to auto collabs.com It just redirects to our temporary website or temporary podcast landing page. There's no content on it yet there will be really soon here it is. The walls are closing in on franchised retail auto dealers as the industry is moving at breakneck velocity toward a new way of doing business and the convergence of economic and social volatility, new entrants like Tesla and Carvana. And the new rules of retail are putting auto dealers in a crucible that will either destroy them or refine them. Auto collabs brings you deep into real talk conversations with the brightest operators and innovators in the retail auto industry who believe the dealer network is the single greatest way to serve the transportation needs of communities across the country, the only way retail auto dealers and industry partners will survive is by committing to innovate together. So let's get started. Welcome to auto collabs.

Kyle Mountsier  07:23

Go check this so that So real quick, because I've worked so important. And and you chose the word crucible. And a lot of people hear that and they might not really understand like, you don't, maybe a lot of people don't have a concept for what a crucible is, right? So I'm gonna read the definition for you. And you can go look it up, but it's Cru CIB le, and it says a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected subjected to very high temperatures. And the idea of that is that it's both a refining act and a remote a re molding act that that can happen. Because extreme heat is able to be put on these metals, changing them to liquid and then reforming them based on what needs to have next. And so the idea of a crucible is to both refine and restructure everything that's going on. And I think that that that word is a crux word in that description.

Paul Daly  08:26

It is and you know what I have to give a shout out to my boy nada instructor, Matt Volkers, because we were in a conversation months ago. And you know, he was asking me if I was gonna write a follow up to the automotive manifesto. And I was like, Yeah, I've really been thinking about it a lot. My wife's been pushing me to do it, talking about this probably like 60 days ago. And I said, I was like, I think I might call it the automotive convergence. Right? And then he said something, a few things. He goes, You know what I would suggest? He's like, you might want us consider the word crucible. And it's been in my head ever since. So when it was like, Hey, we're writing the description for auto collabs. Like, I love that you. I never told you that story. But the you pulled that word out. That is a strong word. Yeah, that's that. I didn't know that. So while that, like, I pulled that out of your description, and that was a key moment. That's really why Yeah, and so like, look, that's another example right? Like, of, of friendships or relationships, that nada, who's teaching dealers and teaching, you know, teaching the folks that are going to be running the stores in the future, like because of relationship because of podcasts because of a sort of everybody just kind of working in cycling, circling in the cycling, certainly in this in this ecosystem together. Right. And that is the nature of literally that example, right? There is the nature of what we're doing as a soul to trying to get the ideas and the insights and the thought processes and the thought partners together so that we can actually do all these things that were saying we need to do so. It just made my day. Alright, we should we didn't talk about what we're doing with the podcast. So basically what we're doing is Wait a minute, I'm moving on to the next story. So here's what we're doing. We are going to be interviewing what do we how many people are on the list so far, it's got to be close to 78 or something close to 78. So we have this is a deeper level of conversation is going to be happening a little bit of a longer form of podcasts, a lot of people have been asking for longer form our morning show, like we do news and insights here and we have like a high energy level on all that stuff. The next one is going to be dialed back a bit. And we're gonna have time to stretch out the conversations and go deep with these dealers. Go deep with these industry partners about about you know, relevant things that are happening get the thought process is trying to unpack it a little bit. And Kyle, myself, and Michael Cirillo, who many of you know is the host of the dealer playbook podcast, probably one of the most popular podcasts in retail, automotive, and let's honest, one of our favorite guys to hang out with, we are going to co host and give some commentary on the show, we're going to open the shows up, we're going to be interviewing everybody kind of separately, like we're all gonna take, take a turn. And actually, we might have one more host we're gonna throw in here, but that's one of the things we're doing today is we're gonna record episode 00 and bring you some love. So it is going to be a new flavor. I think Automotive is going to be like what the heck, why does this happen? Sir? Surreal. We'll see. I mean, surreal has been part of our content. He was co host at nada, he jumped in, when when Kyle and his wife were having having their baby and he's just a natural fit. He's he's kind of like a spirit animal of asoto. I would call him

Kyle Mountsier  11:28

absolutely, especially that silky smooth voice he has, right yeah, there's

Paul Daly  11:32

gonna be a graphic what is what is Microsoft look like as a spirit animal. I don't know. Let's talk about a few news stories before we go today. Again, this Today's episode is kind of like what the kids are into. And this this article from The Verge is about the gaming engine steam working to be available to play in Tesla. So I had a consult with my 50 year old about exactly what steam is, I know it's a thing. Number one, because I see credit card charges from Steam on my credit card. Number two,

Kyle Mountsier  12:02

it's a real thing.

Paul Daly  12:03

Now I was a little familiar with it. So steam is like to video games, what like Amazon Prime and Netflix aren't a TV. It's a platform where you can watch, you know, play games, you can buy games, you have a community, they're a little bit different in that you have a community element. And so this is kind of where everybody gathers around gaming. But the thing is, like, all the titles are available in one place. So steam is working with Tesla to make their whole engine and platform available. So you can play it inside your Tesla vehicles. I mean, you can already play games. And Tesla's if you hadn't known that you can just Google it out, which is an interesting blend of automotive and entertainment or automotive in gaming, or we would say automotive and popular culture. There you go.

Kyle Mountsier  12:48

Because because they're converging to use your word, right? That like this, we talked about this last week, how even just the news media is talking about it. And so like when this popular culture, especially anything that's dealing with, like millennials, Gen X, Gen Z, and then and then Automotive is converging. And the recognition that that attention to pop culture is necessary to carry retail brand on the automotive side is that's a whole new level, right? You can't just build a cool car, you have to integrate popular culture into that cars brand.

Paul Daly  13:25

Without a doubt you think of, you know, Apple's new CarPlay that's going to be released soon integrated with the vehicle taking over more of the screens and more of the experience. Just more and more vehicles are becoming a seamless experience with other elements of your life. Now I know you can't control maybe all the stuff that's going on with your OEM, but being aware of this starting to ask questions starting to pay a little bit attention, because what at the very least helps you understand your consumers a little better. Alright, we're moving from one, what the kids are into the next. You don't car culture is something incredibly special in America. Right? It's been a part of really the rite of passage. Kyle, you said this the other day, you're like, getting a car is like a rite of passage. Yes. Right, getting your license. And so that has been like how we grew up How are parents grew up. And there's some questions on whether or not that's waning, like is car culture waning in a video game world in Uber world where there's ride sharing, and maybe you don't need to have your own car? Well, Hyundai is working to recapture the magic of car culture through new eyes with these two really, really amazing looking concept cars that are actually real one is called the AR n 22 e and the other one is the N vision 74. If you're watching the live stream, you can actually see what these things look like. And let me just say we linked the video that they released them for in the show notes. It's 10 minutes long, and it will blow your dang mind.

Kyle Mountsier  14:51

I watched less than 30 seconds of it because Paul was like you got to watch it and I just watched it real quick and it's it really is Even just the way it was shot, the cinematic, the cinematic nature in which it was shot is not normal, it is not mainstream and normal. no right way to put this video has over 2 million views on on YouTube. So there's high level of attention on the way that Hyundai is branding this new, you know, vision for their, like detail and design.

Paul Daly  15:28

It's really cool. I watched I probably watched about half of it, I'm gonna probably download it and try to like watch it, watch it through because it's worth it. But at first I thought it was just like, oh, this is a cool car kind of looks like a video game. Right. And they have some cool features like, you can pick what the car sounds like when it's driving, you know, emits the sound of speakers. First of all, it sounds freaking ferocious. It is unbelievable. And if you listen to it with headphones on, you're gonna like, I need to get one right now. And so, but when you watch the video, you actually it brings in it brings in the new drivers, it brings in the engineers, and they talk about things like what does it feel like to drive a car in this new way? And like they talked about how do you make a car move agile around corners? When when it's so heavy? And I mean, think about that, like you have a much heavier car battery operated vehicle, right a lot heavier vehicle, how do you change it, they're talking about how they tune the motors to work in a different way that talks about braking, but they did it in a way that was you'll see it we see the video is like this rebirth of of like a young person falling in love with like the fun of driving and like being a part of it and kind of soup in your car a little bit. And so like, car culture isn't die. Oh, how

Kyle Mountsier  16:43

do we get that crew to a soda con? I'm just dreaming this up right now. $500,000

Paul Daly  16:51

Oh, the video crew.

Kyle Mountsier  16:55

The crew that has like, like designed this the design crew and the concept crew because I'm just you know,

Paul Daly  17:02

that's a great idea. Hey, look, if you're a Hyundai dealer, or Kia dealer, and you have some connections, or if you're nada, or if somebody has connections to Hyundai, check the video out and see if you can connect your boys here with this crew because we would love to feature what they've done. As an example of progressive culture and auto retail thinking outside the box of traditional auto retail. If you can make that happen, we'll do something super nice for you. And we would be eternally grateful as should please. Well, look, her culture isn't dying. Right? It just needs some new context. And like

Kyle Mountsier  17:36

crazy is the concept is out of the 1970s Oh, one

Paul Daly  17:40

car? Oh my gosh, yes. I forgot to even think to mention that. So What's that one called? The pony? The envision seven modeled

Kyle Mountsier  17:47

after the pony coupe, right? That that it was the same designer that went on to design the DeLorean. So actually, you can kind of see DeLorean they're in there.

Paul Daly  17:56

They throw those pictures back up again. Yeah, so

Kyle Mountsier  17:58

if you look at the tops again, the one on like the top left and your right and left to top right. And you just pin that against a DeLorean you're like, Okay, I see where they came where they where they brought this design concept from. But that that right there? Looks like every single art kid in eighth grade Atlas drawing out cars, right? Absolutely. So there's this like deep passion play here that's like seated in the way that we dream up our vision car. It's not the way that a lot of these like curvy kind of, you know, the the way that the new Evie looks. And so it's a really interesting play for it. Yeah,

Paul Daly  18:39

it is. And, look, if you're just listening, trust us. It's awesome. And it definitely kind of broadens your horizons on what a car could be what a car should be. What might get young people excited just about car culture, because we know when the young people get excited about car culture, we all win because we have the opportunity to facilitate car culture. And if we pay attention, we can also facilitate pop culture, which is when we all win so whatever you're doing today, thanks for spending some time. Thanks for keeping your head up today. We have a lot more coming your way. Auto collabs is dropping get your asoto con tickets, man. We are just getting started.

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