Tesla Blowout Sale, Toyoda Is Back On Stage, Walmart’s People First Tech

Paul J Daly: 0:00

Good Friday, everybody, January 12 12th is kind of an uneventful number but today's event for we're talking about a Tesla, Evie, blowout Toyota on ice vehicles and Walmart, thinking human first. I don't think I don't think human first when I think of Walmart, it's not the

‍Kyle Mountsier: 0:27

people of Walmart first,

Paul J Daly: 0:28

but like I was, I more think of the condition of humanity.

Kyle Mountsier: 0:33

Not human first the the the but there's an interesting condition.

Paul J Daly: 0:38

There's always a very human experience when you go to walk around here anyway. Oh, Walmart's are different. But that is

Kyle Mountsier: 0:44

my thesis is that people of Walmart are actually billionaires like those are the like everybody that appears on people of Walmart, like, like,

Paul J Daly: 0:54

you know, Mart has a massive I read through, they have a pretty substantive brand guide that you can you can search and find and I read through it, right. I pay attention to branding, and I just read the whole thing. And they know their customers so well. And there is a massive demographic, they talk about it extensively in their persona breakdowns on millionaires. Yep. Millionaire, not just high income millionaires. They're like, we have the largest group of millionaires shopping in our store than like any other retail establishment like by number, right. And those are people that are value focused. So I mean, they know we'll talk about Walmart a little bit more, but it is Friday. You and I get to spend time on dealership territory yesterday. So it's always fun when we're in the stores and looking at sales boards and talking about fixed ops and digging in. So that always gets us a little energized, although maybe a little jet lagged. Yesterday was the old 2023 hour day for me. Right? And that's that's from as from when I woke up to when I laid down I don't know when I when I actually fell asleep.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:53

i Yeah, it's it's one of those, like, I love the long days, but they because they're, you know, it's the in and out you get to be in your own bed type thing. Yes. It's always worth it. They they they push you hard, always worth it. Yeah, but you gotta go. Patch, which was really cool. Totally unexpectedly great friend. It was like we showed up same place. What happened there.

Paul J Daly: 2:13

I know. That's so funny how many times that happens, like where we see somebody else from the industry just happens to be of the, you know, 18,000 places we could be. We both happen to be recording

Kyle Mountsier: 2:25

more than cars and Steve Steve Rossler walks

Paul J Daly: 2:27

in. I was sitting there and I just kind of seen his hair moving across the backdrop and I was like What in the world is going on. But there's a lot going on next next week, six days from now next Thursday, we're going to be on the ground in Washington DC at the Washington area new car dealer association to cover public policy day at the DC Auto Show super excited kind of a new flavor of event for their. For us they're our friends at Mosaic helped us a sponsor the event to make it all happen. We're gonna be talking obviously a lot about compliance a lot about the FTC cars rule, we're going to be on the ground, there's going to be representatives of the US auto caucus there OEMs dealers, so we're going to try to you know, it's a new place, we're going to bring all the interviews and all the people we can to their vibe

Kyle Mountsier: 3:11

from there and we'll get everyone's favorite early childhood car just to get them a little emotion we

Paul J Daly: 3:18

go I'm gonna keep so that's a good one. Good. That's a good one. Well, you just put it out into the universe, we're also have plans a talk with NADA, President Mike Stanton reconnect with him. You know, that's kind of their wheelhouse. Yes, there, he's gonna know everybody. Also NADA show coming in hot. If you're going to be there, you already have your plans in place, hopefully 20 days from now, we are going to be covering extensively on the asoto side, bringing a bunch of production crew with us so that if you can't go, you can tune in to the live streams, you can pay attention to the content, and we will give you a great digest of everything that's happening. And some of the things that maybe nobody knew were happening, but it's gonna be a ton of fun, we're gonna go to the sphere for the part like it's going to be a thing. So just make sure you keep tuned in, follow us on LinkedIn. If you haven't, we're going to put a lot of stuff there at asoto. Also, if you're not on our daily email, a lot of summary content is going to be on there. You can go to a soda.com and just type your email in the very top there and

Kyle Mountsier: 4:13

if you get the daily email, okay, read it from today. There is so much information in that thing. Like if you haven't read it yet, go check your email and read it. It is rich. There's a lot of good, it's unbelievable.

Paul J Daly: 4:27

I know and the beginning of the show is going a little long today, but it's worth it. If you're going to NADA I forgot to mention this on Friday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, February, Thursday, Thursday, we're sure

Kyle Mountsier: 4:39

Thursday.

Paul J Daly: 4:40

You know, it's on Kyle's question and his days. Thursday February 1, so this is education day at the convention center. The NADA live stage is right next to registration. We are going to be doing a feature on more than cars they invite us to be a part of it. We're super excited, where we're going to premiere some more than cars clips. More importantly have the dealer to We're on the show to talk about and most importantly, we're going to do a little meet up afterwards. So if you're in the asoto community, it's time to show up and represent at the NADA live stage just so other people can be like what the heck is this amazing thing going on championing the people in automotive Adrian while Gibbs chimes in on the live stream comment she will be there. We will see you there. And I know a lot of other people might be able to join us so let's do it. Let's tell people what we're about Alright, let's get some news. Let's go okay, you might have seen some of this on LinkedIn or social media yesterday one once a major proponent for Evie adoption hertz the rental car company is now selling a third of its Evie fleet mostly Tesla Model threes, due to lower than expected demand, signaling a broader industry retreat from EVs this month. That's significant. Yeah.

Kyle Mountsier: 5:50

Won't won't won't. Yeah, lots of lots of trigger pads for them. For sure. That

Paul J Daly: 5:56

huge reversal in 2021. Remember, hertz came out made a big commitment to purchase 100,000 EVs from Tesla. And both company's stock values went up this is that it's happening we're going to evey adoption is going to take hold and now the industry is cooling customer concerns over charging and just lack of adoption, lack of interest, the early adopters have kind of gotten their fill. So despite that, you know, hertz was going to buy 100,000 from Tesla 65,000 from Pollstar, right, higher repair costs, specifically regarding collisions, and the time to repair the cost to repair also depreciating values, hurts is just like you know what this isn't all cracked up to be, we better better get out. So they're going to sell a bunch of stuff. They're going to roll the profits from that into more ice vehicles. And if you ever want to buy a Tesla Model three, you can go to Hertz's website and they have a ton of Tesla Model threes for sale some of which are like 18 grand golly and if you apply the federal us Evie tax credit which applies to those vehicles $4,000 More you're in a not model three for 14 G's good Ness. I literally a story. You can't make this stuff. I was literally like, I want to get a model three. You're like,

Kyle Mountsier: 7:14

what should I just maybe try it? Like, I don't know, 14 grand like what is I mean? How

Paul J Daly: 7:20

much lower Is that gonna go? It's not right. So unbelievable. And so I wonder we have I'm thinking about it. Right now. I'm like I heard Yeah, carry the one. I mean, for me, though, they're all like the single like the cheaper ones, right? single motor, you know, not all wheel drive at a hertz version. They are the Hertz I'm driving around Southern California version. Yes, sunshine and rainbows. So here's a quote from Mark Fields. Hertz as interim CEO in 2021. He said electric vehicles. This is back in 2021. Electric vehicles are now mainstream. We've only just begun to see rising global demand and interest crickets on that and that one

Kyle Mountsier: 8:01

of those like that tweeted that tweet didn't age well. Yeah, that tweet didn't age well type posts. Yeah. Which I guess you can't Yeah, I guess there's still called tweets. But I think the biggest the biggest part of this story for me is the recognition that collision repair overall repair costs and the volatility of the Evie market because Tesla is just like willy nilly able to adjust their pricing at any time. Like, none of that maps on a balance sheet on a p&l for right now currently, for an you know, a rental car company, I think it will in the future because I think it's it's you know, there's there's cost opportunity there that that will happen as collision repair gets a lot easier and a little bit more universal. But it it it's like, there's this kind of like ha moment, but also I'm a little bit sad because this completely impacts the used Evie mark. I mean, you just flood the market with use DVS at a low cost. When everybody's already having trouble figuring out what to do with these cars when they drop in. Yeah, they're like let's it's just an intense and intense time for dealers to try and figure out what to do with these cars and wonder

Paul J Daly: 9:15

what our friends that you'll have these you know, I'm thinking of John fully recharged. I'm thinking of Alex with evey cars, like are these us evey retailer scooping these up? We should have tried to get John on the show today. Are they like scooping these up because they're good value or do they have this like level of insight like first of all, these are the ones that nobody wants? Nobody wants anyway, right? Yes, comment I saw on one of the social posts was like it was dot dot dot, and they all smell like cigarette smoke and citrus. Immediately I could see

Kyle Mountsier: 9:50

some storm film on film. Immediately

Paul J Daly: 9:54

I had the rental car experience. The moment is like cigarette smoke and citrus like that actually turn And we off immediately like, oh, I don't want a car that smells like I'm not getting that. Man. All right, man, the Segway game was so good this week. And I can't think I wanted to get along that story. It was so we're just gonna hit stop, couldn't ended strong for maybe we will we have one opportunity left for former CEO and current chairman of Toyota Occhio. Toyota is back championing the ongoing relevance of internal combustion. This is kind of the contrast story to the first one, saying combustion engines have a vital role in achieving carbon neutrality, and also preserving love this automotive tradition and making sure that people can stay jobs, we don't disrupt society. But he also talked about the company's progress toward this lower cost solid state Evie battery with a 750 mile range that they kind of teased a little bit earlier in the year. And by the way, 10 minutes charge time. It's common with when a Kia Toyota gets back up and it's like, no, we're doubling down. It's actually we're figuring this thing out. So he was at the Tokyo Auto Salon where Toyota and Lexus showcase several high performance cars. And he said, Should we not all have enthusiasm for cars as we take on this challenge? He's like cars in general, I

Kyle Mountsier: 11:13

love this car. It's just another version of car.

Paul J Daly: 11:17

Yes, get excited about cars. So always Toyota taking the balanced approach from the beginning, it's being seen now as like the wisest approach. Basically, their focus is going to be on improving gasoline engines are still putting time, energy and money into getting more efficiency and use out of gasoline engines through higher efficiency. And obviously, the Toyota hybrid system is best in class. While they're developing this new battery tech, here's a quote from an article on electric. So Vikram Gulati, head of Toyota, this is an India confirm the plans at an investment summit that was ended in India about the batteries, he said, we will be rolling out our electric vehicles with solid state batteries in a couple of years from now, it will power a vehicle which will be charging in 10 minutes, giving it a range of 750 miles. So it will also have very good life expectancy. And they said we can expect to see some of this tech being released as early as 2027.

Kyle Mountsier: 12:10

This for me is like it's the same thing you and I were talking about yesterday how right now we haven't seen Apple come out with you know, they're like AI,

Paul J Daly: 12:19

right? Yeah. Why does Siri toe terrible still?

Kyle Mountsier: 12:21

Right? Yeah, well, why haven't they come out with their their large language learning model? Right? Well, because they're probably coming out with it this year. And when they come out with it, it's just going to be better than everybody else's. Right. And this is the way that I see with Toyota. It's like, well, why haven't they come out with this? Like, super, you know, EVS across the brand and all that type of stuff? Well, because when they do come out with it, it's just gonna be better than ever gonna be

Paul J Daly: 12:46

awesome. It's gonna be awesome. And so yeah, I mean, this is the, again, the contrast to the Eevee conversation that's going on. And it's a little bit like, following a daily news cycle right now, where you can't really get an emotional beat. Well, you only have an emotional beat on what's going on. You don't actually have the broad picture. Toyota is always a company that always is playing a game zoomed out, right? They're looking 10 years into the future. They're considering what has happened 10 years in the past and very measured approach. And you know, like, who's betting against Toyota? Really. Speaking of people you wouldn't ever bet against anyway, segway saved a little bit.

Kyle Mountsier: 13:25

So at CES, a Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, showcased the company's people led tech powered strategy. So they were emphasizing new AI and AR technologies while underscoring still the importance of human engagement in the digital era. He said, we build technology to serve people and not the other way around. They have introduced AI enhanced search experience using a large language model for intuitive use case, based customer searches. For instance, saying something like I'm having a Super Bowl party, where you can see items that might fit the I'm having a Super Bowl party category, instead of having to search for like, give me toastiness

Paul J Daly: 14:07

TVs beanbag chairs, exactly.

Kyle Mountsier: 14:10

They're also integrating AR with a shop with friends feature allowing virtual outfits, sharing and feedback, streamlining in store processes, like receipt verification, with a whole bunch of new technologies. So they they definitely are leaning into technology, but making sure it has a human centric approach is kind of their idea to which Matt Lasher stood with a round of applause.

Paul J Daly: 14:36

You know, so there's the I love the incremental improvements in the shopping experience. And just thinking like what do people naturally do? Again, Walmart has just a ton of data on what people actually do, what they ended up buying, where they start searching all this first party data that they're deploying into usable, real world situation tech, the AR like try on outfits with friends. That is brilliant. I'm surprised I just that Walmart. Like is the first one to come up with this. I know because you don't think of Walmart as a company that where people go to like, get into fashion and share outfits with friends, right? You think of like the higher level retail stores that only do clothes. But I'm like kudos to Walmart because again, they know they're like, Yo, like we sell a ton of clothes. Right? They do we know what people want. They want affirmation from their friends. It just looks cute. And so it's really cool. Also, what's the we put anything about the drones in here? Have

Kyle Mountsier: 15:30

you seen it? Have you seen the drones? Oh, it's so cool. So they are expanding. They're the their omni channel approach on drone delivery in Dallas Fort Worth so that they can help 1.8 million households now 75% of the market area get drone delivery of certain products. And these things look cool like they are

Paul J Daly: 15:54

so we'll get drone delivery so we can film this on. If it's available in his neighborhood. That would be really smart. We're gonna check that out and check on that. Or if you're in Dallas Fort Worth area and you're listening get a drone delivery video that things send it will bring you on the show. Talking about your experience. I don't we have to have somebody that's there that's like, oh, yeah, I see drone. I still like him all these questions about drone delivery. But I mean, Walmart's leaning into it a little bit further. A lot further. All right. It must be something have to go look at the drones. If it goes how big are they? They're

Kyle Mountsier: 16:24

they're smaller. They're like white. They've got this like interesting wings structure with a little bit more of like a boxy shape as opposed to like typical drone, which is all centered with how wide would you say they are?

Paul J Daly: 16:35

Are they like arm span wide? No, no? Okay, but bigger than like a DJI drones way bigger than that. Yeah,

Kyle Mountsier: 16:42

yeah. It's in between. It's like three and a half feet, I would say. Yep.

Paul J Daly: 16:46

Okay, that's big enough. Oh, there. Oh, hold on. Nathan. I just pulled up a picture. Here

Kyle Mountsier: 16:50

comes there it is. Oh, there's the guys because the drones look those things right.

Paul J Daly: 16:56

And we're just if you're just listening, we're there. Everything's like surrounded by this cage. And there how that isn't interesting. It's much more

Kyle Mountsier: 17:03

like a little plane. You know? It does. So

Paul J Daly: 17:06

basically, it's lowering the the little Walmart colored box from from kind of like just a zip cord. It's going up and down. Probably, I don't know. 30 feet in the air dropping it down. Just enough just far enough that my dog can grab it. And pull that drone around the yard. Yeah, it's gonna be awesome. I can't wait till they get in my area. Half of my neighbors are just going to shoot out I'm probably set live in the farm. It's over my Yeah. On identified object in my airspace. I don't know my neighbors don't talk like that. Nor would they shoot at it. But it just felt like a good story. Not from Alabama. No, they're not. They're not

Kyle Mountsier: 17:42

at all. Oh, Nick Saban. Let's get out of this one. Yeah. Before we

Paul J Daly: 17:46

go, oh, we hope you have an amazing weekend. Friday head into the weekend shows you're gonna be full of people. You can be full of empathy and we can all be full of I don't know, money.