VinFast Screens Go Blank, GM CFO Buys GM Stock, Staples Goes Human

May 25, 2023
Welcome to a beautiful Thursday in the Auto Industry, folks. Today we talk about another glitch in VinFast’s US Launch. We also cover GM CFO’s recent purchase of GM stock, as well as a new campaign by Staples that touts humans over AI.
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Vietnamese EV maker VinFast recalls its entire first US batch due to a safety risk. This decision follows the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's warning about a software error in the dashboard of 999 VinFast's VF 8 vehicles, potentially increasing crash risk.

  • Software error in the dashboard display causes it to go blank while the vehicle is in motion
  • 700 of the 999 vehicles have yet to be delivered
  • The company isn’t aware of any incidents and an update is set to go out today


In a move deemed 'unusual' by analysts, General Motors CFO Paul Jacobson has invested $1.01 million of his personal funds to buy 31,000 GM shares. The move seems to be an indication of Jacobson's confidence in GM's transition to electric vehicles, amid GM's market cap being lower than Ford's

  • "I’m sure he finds the stock quite undervalued and he believes in GM’s EV transformation," said David Whiston, auto analyst for Morningstar.
  • "Paul’s stock purchases reflect his confidence in our ability to deliver both today and into the future as we grow our EV portfolio, and scale Cruise and other growth opportunities," said GM spokesman Jim Cain in an email to the Detroit Free Press.
  • CEO Mary Barra has been in the role for 9 years and has only purchased $26k worth of GM stock by comparison


Staples has introduced a new campaign called "Business is Human" to showcase the irreplaceable value of human interactions in the age of growing AI reliance. The campaign highlights the unique roles and expertise of Staples staff, asserting that customer service is more than just an algorithmic exchange.

  • The initiative aims to remind consumers that despite the digital evolution, Staples values personal connections, expert advice, and the human touch that builds customer trust and loyalty.
  • The campaign presents its employees in various ‘human’ situations like one employee sharing their personal "Workday Kickstart," expressing their preference for a good cappuccino, underscoring that "life is too short for bad coffee."

Kyle Mountsier: 0:29Okay, good morning, Thursday, May 25,coming in hot on this gorgeous Thursday talking about a glitch and vinfast lots of GM CFO buying stock and, you know,humans over AI. People really want to know, you know,

Paul Daly: 0:44

humans overhead.That's a great t shirt, right?They're just humans. Over Over.Yes, that's Matt last year has33 of them already. Already has the we're believers in that. But we also use AI quite a bit lately around the so diverse.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:01

Hey, but we got humans using AI. We actually like are making humans quicker over here in this in these.Yeah,

Paul Daly: 1:09

we are. I never told you this. But last week when I was at V con, I was with Dave Meltzer. And we're at this mastermind things and he and someone asked a question about AI. And he said, you know, my perspective on AI is changed. I had previously been kind of like, really hesitant toward it.And then I realized, this could be the most powerful servant I've ever had. And I was like,Oh, that's a great way to contextualize it.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:32

He just like, he just reframes everything he's like, look at the positive look at the look at the way that it that it serves that it helps that it cares for people. Pretty cool. Actually, Ben Hadley this morning on LinkedIn, if you haven't, go to Ben Hadleys profile on LinkedIn, he just dropped a little like, Hey,you're wanting a bunch of things in your calendar, it's only on a website only in a PDF. Here's four simple steps to use AI to put it in the right framework.So that boom, you can add a whole bunch of stuff to your calendar, you're sharing his story Taylor website to kind of be the guide for that. So you know, it's like, Oh, help for things to make sure you're aware and, and can can move quicker.

Paul Daly: 2:13

I love that. Hey,yesterday, we had an amazingly special afternoon, we live premiered our first episode of more than cars, the pilot episode more than cars, which is a like network style TV show,basically, that tells inspiring stories from dealers across the country. And we've been making this you and I were both insanely nervous, like we had the butterflies in our stomach wild. Never. It's been a long time since I felt that way. But we released the episode. There were lots of people on the livestream over 500 comments.And we just got to have been getting a barrage of text messages and DMS of people saying they loved it, they want to support it, which is cool,because it's going to be a crowdfunded

Kyle Mountsier: 2:55

project. Yeah,they so we decided, we said,hey, look, there's so many people that have said, How can I be a part of this, this needs to be seen. And we just wanted to make it really accessible to be a part of the project. Because not everybody can get their short store shot. Not everybody can, you know, come alongside or be a part of the soda team, but450 500,000 15,000 No matter where your capacity is, and how you want to see this show move forward, you can be a part of making sure that we get to shoot the full season one we need. I know it sounds like a big number. But it's really not.It's $500,000 to shoot all the episodes for season one at the quality and the level that we do. But it's not huge. Like you think about how broad and how large it is, and how much how car dealers have done over the last couple of years. Like how do we get behind this to rebrand and do the PR effort necessary to make auto what it needs to be in our culture.

Paul Daly: 3:56

I know there's it's a scary moment. I mean, we've thought like, Hey, there 500People in this industry that have $1,000 to make sure that the world sees this because we do have lines of communication and distribution like paths to Amazon Prime Apple TV, probably Netflix to we're trying to get the season shot. So then we can show the rest of the world with the auto industry is really about not the stigma that people know. And it's kind of a moment of truth for us. Like how much do we believe that this is the case. So we did our best to invest in a pilot episode and another one as well so that we can get the ball rolling and put our money where our mouth is and put our time where our heart is.And we hope that you join us you can go to more than cars.tv more than cars.tv Check out the pilot episode, you can actually see the LinkedIn live stream that we did, because Kyle and I were on before and after. It was pretty cool. And also you can get right to the crowdfunding campaign where you can see all the cool perks that you get when you get behind and back to the project.So we'll leave that there. And hope you enjoyed it. Hope you check it out.

Kyle Mountsier: 4:55

Speaking of projects, go segway Vietnamese Evie maker vinfast is definitely in the midst of a project,bringing their 999 vehicles their VF eight into the US. They have recalled literally the entire first batch due to a safety risk decision follows a US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Say that eight times fast it's

Paul Daly: 5:24

an acronym but we have to say it because it's NHTSA or something like Yes,

Kyle Mountsier: 5:28

exactly. They're warning about a software issue in the dashboard. Basically what happens is it causes the display to go blank Wow, oh, motion,which is a big deal. Because there's a lot of things all

Paul Daly: 5:42

play I think in the car, like all the information is on display, like your speed,your directions. I know what happens when one of my kids screens go blank around the house, there is mass uproar. But yeah, for real, so like when the screen goes dark. You kind of that happened once in one of my cars where I was like backing up and the screen went out. I was like so weird. Good thing.

Kyle Mountsier: 6:02

Good thing I drove before we had screens,right? It's done. It's done at one time in my vehicle too. And it's like, even though it wasn't the like main like odometer and speedometer, it was it was the main screen. It was still just this like disoriented feeling.Right? That's a great. Yeah,it's just kind of disorienting.So here's here's the interesting thing, unlike the Takata, airbag recalls of the early 2010s. Boy are still going on. Yeah, right.They're still going on. I know,I saw a whole nother set of recalls. But unlike that recall,guess what's gonna happen, Paul?They're just gonna push a little quick update today. Just there you go. 700 cars out on the road, done fixed ready to go?

Paul Daly: 6:43

Actually, they so if you remember, we talked about this a lot. When it happened.They had this big, awesome looking, you know, see vessel that carry these odd vinfast on the side delivered these 999vehicles to the port? Actually,they've only delivered 299 of them so far. They still have 700they have still actually have700 Like in hand. Yeah. And the company's not aware of any incidents, right? Like this didn't come up because like there was an accident, they just became aware of it. So vinfast having a having a rough go at their first swing. You know,lots of hype in the beginning.But we'll see. You know what I mean, you get a couple of hits.Fortunately, this is like a software update.

Kyle Mountsier: 7:22

Yeah. Done. Good to go.

Paul Daly: 7:25

I think two, 3billion behind them. They're good. Yeah. And

Kyle Mountsier: 7:27

here's the thing. It's just one of those things where it's like, hey,look, if we can solve problems easily, and we can prove that it's quick and easy to do up front, we're gonna get lifetime loyalty out of our consumers.And if the majority of the problems are on the software side, like software can be fixed hardware, it's a lot harder to get fixed.

Paul Daly: 7:45

All right, speaking of

Kyle Mountsier: 7:48

don't have a lot of

Paul Daly: 7:49

money, a lot of money. In a move unusual by analysts General Motors CFO Paul Jacobson, has invested a million dollars of his own money personal funds to buy 31,000shares of GM stock. This move seems to be an indication that his confidence in GMs transition plan to EVs is strong admits which is really strange Jim's market cap being lower than for GE right now. David Whitson analyst for Morningstar said I'm sure he finds the stock quite undervalued and believes GMs Evie trends in their Evie transformation. Jim Kane, GM spokesperson said the Detroit Free Press Paul stock purchase reflect his confidence in our ability to deliver both today and into the future as we grow our Evie portfolio and scale crews and other growth opportunities. As a reference point, CEO Mary Barra has only purchased $26,000 of stock over the last nine years in the company. It's a pretty rare thing actually for a high level exec to make a public stock purchase.

Kyle Mountsier: 8:48

Well, it is rare because a lot of their a lot of their bonus structures. Right?Yeah. So it's interesting to see that and I actually love it.It's like it's like a personal brand play and a brand play for the brand to be like Yeah, our CFOs looking at the balance sheet looking at the trajectory,the projections, looking at everything that's happening and going, oh, man, there's something here there's a wild opportunity there. I'm gonna lean more in and not just rely on my options based on bonus packages, but I'm gonna buy buy stock with my own money because I see the value of the forward motion of this company. I wonder what the stock is going to do after that? Because that's a that's a bold look at Oh,

Paul Daly: 9:31

look, it'll be interesting to see I was thinking the same thing but without a doubt like if you if you buy stock and you're in the markets How can this not make you like take a look at least because it wasn't like it was like 100 grand like a million dollars in stock about 31,000share so sure we'll see. We'll see but I liked I like how you just brought up that it's a personal brand play to like you're about to see my name everywhere.

Kyle Mountsier: 9:54

That's exactly what's gonna happen that dudes SEO value is strong. Well speaking of stuff wrong place.Segway

Paul Daly: 10:07

shows over on the ones and twos today.

Kyle Mountsier: 10:10

Staples introduced a brand new campaign called business is human showcase the irreplaceable value of humans interactions in the age of a growing AI versus reliance. The campaign highlights the unique roles and expertise of the staple staff asserting that customer service is more than just an algorithm exchange. You may say that it's more than staples. Paul, the initiative aims to remind customers that despite the digital evolution, staples,values, personal connections,expert advice and the human touch that builds customer trust and loyalty, I tell you what these people pulling on my heartstrings ever.

Paul Daly: 10:54

Yeah. That one, like the cool thing about the campaign is they feature their people in like kind of like real world scenarios. You know, one one person a little vignette,they call it the their personal workday, kickstart expressing their preference for a good cappuccino. And saying Life is too short for bad coffee that made me think of you, as the beginning of the boring car show.

Kyle Mountsier: 11:16

too short for bad cop and I haven't good coffee.

Paul Daly: 11:20

This is I mean, like,look, I don't know if you've ever been in a staples, there was a time in my life when I had to go all the time. Because, you know, like, many years ago, that was where you got stuff that I owned a stapler back in the day.And if you've ever gone in there, just like any retailer,right, I probably very much depends on where you're at. But when a brand does this, I think they have an opportunity to set the tone in their culture, I mean, obviously playing off AI is going to be a very strong play right now people are talking about it. And so it'll get you know, they're doing the right thing from a marketing standpoint. But realistically,if they don't push this down into their culture on a store level on a frontline level, then it's just going to be a marketing campaign, and it's going to come and it's going to go, but they have a real opportunity to celebrate the people and practice what they preach. I've been in some staples that were good, and some staples, that were not so good.

Kyle Mountsier: 12:08

This is the trick because it's like when marketing isn't tied to operations, you have the risk of marketing telling a story that's better than the operations. Now,here's, here's the real here's the real like straight line yesterday releasing more than cars and talking about what the industry is and what we believe that it is and how it should be in culture. Like, we recognize that we have to tie that marketing message as an industry, to the operations of the broad industry. Because the minute someone steps out of the guidelines of care and community and culture and people, what happens is that is that front face anything that happens from a PR perspective of an industry of a brand of a business, if it's not tied to the operational efficiency and the culture of that brand, directly, you start to miss the whole thing. That's why I like the Chick fil A campaign, the Red Couch campaign is so clear, and so aligned,because when you go into the store, you meet those people and you realize that it's not just a ploy, it's not just a play. It's not just a brand campaign. It's an actual, like operations campaign.

Paul Daly: 13:17

That's right. That's right. That's the biggest risk.I mean, it's a huge risk. But you got to take the risk until you show people there's a better way and are willing to say like no, it can be and should be this good. Then what are you even doing? You can hit the trigger music Hey, if you are an industry partner, and you want to get behind more than cars in meaningful life, and none of the crowdfunding things work, send us an email crew at a show.com If your dealer that needs to get this done at your show, email us as well. crew@asoto.com

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