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It’s Thursday folks and today we’re talking about Carvana’s surrender of their dealer license in Michigan. We also cover Porsche and Google’s talks, a follow up of our EV charger story yesterday, as well as a new AI written celebrity ad. 

The Carvana location in Michigan will be surrendering it’s dealer license and ineligible to apply for a new one as part of a plea deal with state regulators

The Michigan Department of State had said Carvana violated the Michigan Vehicle Code by: 

In one of it’s first pieces of intriguing news since going public late last year, Porsche is in talks with Google to fully integrate its operating system into its vehicles according to a source close to the matter

In a follow up story from yesterday's conversation with Todd Caputo regarding S&P Global Mobilities report on the number of chargers the US will need to sustain EV growth by the year 2030, the largest power grid in the US reported that they saw 25% of their grid fail during the Christmas break

ChatGPT, the AI powered chat generator that has been making headlines is the star in a new commercial created by actor Ryan Reynolds for his mobile service company Mint Mobile. In the ad he gives GPT some direction and then reads the copy out loud

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast  as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

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Welcome to a wild Wednesday as a full ground stop of all flights in the US is upon us. We also answer the question of how many EV chargers to we really need by 2030, as well as a few quick hit updates across the wild world of electrification. 

All US Flights were grounded this morning as the FAA ordered all fights to be stopped due to a  failure of the NOTAM system which alerts pilots and crew to safety advisories and other information for flights

How many EV chargers will it take to keep things rolling in the year 2030? That’s the question a new report from S&P Global Mobility tries to answer.

Estimating a 40% adoption by 2030 the US will need to quadruple the number of chargers by 2025 and more than 8x by 2030, this takes home charging into account

While were talking about EVs, here is a quick overview of the wild world of electrification

According to a WSJ exclusive, several more Rivian top executives have recently left the company including its vice president overseeing body engineering, Randy Frank who came over from Ford, and its head of supply chain, Steve Gawronski. Both were longer tenured execs

• Late last year,  Patrick Hunt, a senior director in the strategy team, left the company. He had been with them since 2015

Tesla has filed to begin a $775M expansion at its new Austin Gigafactory which cost $5.5B to build. 

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast  as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

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Tuesday is upon us as we are in Phoenix to speak at a Marketing NCM 20 Group moderated by David Kain We talk about a new tool taking the mystery out of the new EV tax credits for used car buyers. We also talk about the meme-stock comeback of Bed Bath and Beyond, and of course…a little marketing talk is in order. 

Re-watch the Year End Extravaganza here: https://www.asotu.com/yee

Startup EV analytics company, Recurrent has created a free tool to help EV buyers determine whether or not their desired vehicle is eligible for for one of the new tax credits

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast  as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

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We’re one full week into the new year, and we got Steve Greenfield of Automotive Ventures joining the show to talk about the predictions he made for 2022 and how things actually turned out. Then, we’ll look ahead to 2023 with 10 bold predictions for the coming year.

Re-watch the Year End Extravaganza here: https://www.asotu.com/yee

The Automotive Ventures Intel Report for January was released last week, and Steve Greenfield graded his predictions for 2022.

The Intel Report also included predictions for 2023

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast  as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

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We’re burning around the corner on Thursday as we review Ram’s entry into the EV Truck market. We also cover dramatic pricing changes for Tesla, as well as Delta’s plan to (finally) give free wi-fi to all passengers. 

As Ford continues to make as many Lightnings as they can, and GM is getting ready to start making pumping out Silverado EVs, Ram has finally called their shot at CES yesterday with the reveal of their EV pickup, the Revolution 1500

It their first major move by Tesla since appointing Tom Zhu, to oversee global output and deliveries, Tesla has cut prices for its Model Y and Model 3 cars in China, Japan, South Korea, and Australia in an effort to boost demand for output from its Shanghai factory, which is the company's single largest production hub.

Delta Airlines is leaning into their CX by offering FREE wi-fi to all passengers starting on Feb 1st. 

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast  as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

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It’s Thursday, folks and we have quite a lot to talk about when it comes to auto related announcements at CES yesterday. We also talk about Amazon’s big layoffs as well as their big borrowing this week. 

The first day of CES in LasVegas included several concepts and reveals from legacy automakers as well as new partnerships, here’s the rundown:

Sony Honda Mobility joint venture reveals brand AFFELA, a vehicle that looks like a mix between a Porsche and Lucid Air and features

BMW i Vision Dee (Digital Emotional Experience) gives a nod to the hard lines of older BMW’s but adds quite a few curves to make it look sleek at the same time. It pushes the boundaries of integrated tech featuring a full windshield display where the user can slide between an AR experience and full virtual experience. 

Stephan Durach, BMW Group's senior vice president of its connected company development unit commented:

• "When integrating technology in the car, we think about the customer experience it creates and the problem we want to solve. We want to deliver the information you need at the right time to give you the perfect experience. That's what people are asking for."

VW iD.7 with fully lit exterior is revealed as their intended competitor to the Tesla Model 3. 

Smart climate control that heats/cools cabin as driver approaches

• Smart direction of airflow and other heated cooled systems

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast  as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

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Welcome to Wednesday as we talk about some new Automotive partnerships being announced at CES. We also talk about a surprise new CEO for Under Armor and how it applies to Auto. We also talk about a bold move from Shopify to stop wasting time. 

Re-watch the Year End Extravaganza here: https://www.asotu.com/yee

Show Notes with links:

As day one of CES heats up in LasVegas, gaming/chip maker/AI company Nvidia announced several partnerships as it deepens its connection with the Automotive Industry

Surprising many in the athletic wear industry, Under Armor has named current president of Marriott International, Stephanie Linnartz, as its new CEO

Ecommerce platform Shopify is kicking off the new year by kicking most meetings to the curb. the company has implemented a "calendar purge", which aims to cut down on the number of meetings held

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast  as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

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It’s Tuesday already as Automotive welcomes everyone else back to work. Today we’re talking about Tesla’s new US Chief. We’re also covering the end of ICE sales for Hyunday in Norway, as well as the autonomous tech company now exclusively owned by Volvo

In the latest news from Tesla headquarters China Chief Tom Zhu has been promoted to oversee the electric car maker's US Assembly plants as well as sales operations in the US, Europe, and North America making him the highest-profile executive at Tesla, second only to CEO Elon Musk. 

Zhu was hired by Tesla last year to troubleshoot production issues in the US, and under his leadership, the Shanghai plant rebounded strongly from COVID lockdowns in China.

As of yesterday, Hyundai has completely stopped selling ICE vehicles in the country of Norway

After buying out the last 13.5% of shares from ECARX, Volvo is now the proud owner of Zenseact, an autonomous driving software development company. The software company will remain a stand-alone subsidiary of the Swedish automaker

From the company’s site:

• We’re a software company dedicated to revolutionizing car safety. By designing the complete software stack for autonomous driving and advanced driver-assistance systems, we’re fighting to end car accidents and make roads safe for e

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast  as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

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It’s ‘go time’ for 2023 as we talk about the all-time boom in factory builds and say hello to the new NADA Chair. We also review the Automotive Ventures top 10 predictions of 2022 and 2023, as well as talk about a newly launched text-to-shop feature from Walmart. 

Manufacturing Boom The USA industry has seen the biggest boom in auto-factory building in decades and is being driven by car makers' shift towards EVs, with $70 billion earmarked for such projects. 

Geoffrey Pohanka, 65, who currently serves as NADA vice chairman, will succeed Mike Alford to be the 2023 NADA Chair. Pohanka is a third-generation dealer who serves as chairman of the Pohanka Automotive Group in Capitol Heights, Md.

• “As someone who grew up in the car business and with my family’s involvement with NADA for generations, I am honored to take the reins as the next NADA chairman,” said Pohanka. “The auto industry is a rewarding and exciting business, and I’m fortunate to be a part of it. NADA has an amazing board and an amazing staff. Together, we can create a stronger environment for the industry, to help create a vibrant economy and stronger communities.”

Auto Ventures top 10 predictions 2022 and 2023

This years list includes:

After a year of beta testing, Walmart is launching a feature called "Text to Shop", which allows customers to add items to their online shopping basket via text message. 

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast  as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

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Rockin into the new year with our last show of this year. We cover some important EV tax credit updates, talk about hiring getting easier, and we give our top 5 ‘all gas no brake’ moments of 2022. 

IRA Tax Credits

Starting Jan 1, there will be a first-ever EV tax credit for commercial vehicles from $7500-40k letting small and large businesses take advantage of the incentive

According to a survey conducted by Vistage Worldwide for The Wall Street Journal in December a higher percentage of small business owners reported that it was easier to hire workers.

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast  as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/