00:04
This is America on the Road named best radio show by the International Automotive Media
00:08
Conference and now in its 34th year on the air. Thanks for being with us as we bring
00:13
you the latest automotive information from around the world. I'm Jack Nehrad with me
00:19
is co-host Chris Teigen. Chris, are your kids out of school yet?
00:23
They've got one more full week and then one part day or half day and they're out. They
00:28
are very excited. I bet they're excited. So many kids are out of school already. My wife
00:33
works in a school and I think this is their last week, so that's cool. Plenty happening
00:40
in the automotive world this week. Ford has just unveiled a sinister, quote-unquote, addition
00:45
of the Explorer SUV. It's also teaming up with legendary outdoor fitter Philson for
00:51
a new premium Bronco, so we'll talk about both of those.
00:54
Lucid is adding hands-free highway driving, smarter navigation, adaptive headlights and
01:00
new charging tools to its gravity SUV, so we'll talk about that. Subaru is going to
01:06
have a new 2027 BRZ, at least somewhat revised BRZ, kind of similar to the Toyota GR86 we
01:15
talked about last week. We'll talk about that. And here's an interesting one to me, Chris.
01:19
Audi has unveiled the 1,000 horsepower Nuvolari, a Formula One-inspired hybrid supercar, 217
01:27
miles an hour among other things. Are you surprised that Audi has announced a supercar?
01:31
Yeah, especially one that retains some gas power behind it.
01:35
Yeah, it just strikes me as strange, but we'll talk about that. American on the Road is brought
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to you by drivingtoday.com, emlancy.com, the publisher of my latest book, Only One Thing
01:44
Stays the Same and Mercury Insurance. If you're looking to save some money, you should switch
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to Mercury for your auto and home insurance. Californians save an average of $670 with
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Mercury, so imagine how much you could save. Let's quote today at drivingtoday.com slash auto
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insurance. That's drivingtoday.com slash auto hyphen insurance. Chris, what is your test vehicle
02:05
for this week? I have the 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9. Can't wait to tell you all about it.
02:11
I have a Hyundai as well, the 2026 Hyundai Tucson XRT all-wheel drive, so we have a gas-powered
02:18
Hyundai and an electric Hyundai, so we'll tell you all about that in the road test segment.
02:22
Our special guest this week is BJ Burtwell. He is the founder of Electrify Expo, which has now
02:29
been morphed into demo days. He's got a lot to talk about, both in what's going on with the
02:35
electric vehicle market and how people can try out cars. He's got a lot of events coming up over
02:40
the summer that are very, very cool, so stay with us and we'll talk about all that and we'll
02:45
talk about our road tests and talk about driving news. We're glad you're with us and stay with us.
02:50
We'll be right back right here on America on the Road. Welcome back to America on the Road with
02:57
Chris T. Jackie right back with you and we're so glad you're with us. It's news time and a lot of
03:03
product news this week. Ford is adding a darker, more aggressive look to its performance SUV lineup,
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the introduction of the 2027 Ford Explorer ST Sinister package. Chris, I gotta believe,
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this is something that you are dying to get into. You just love these blackout packages.
03:22
Talk about that a little bit, what you're taking. Yeah, you know, I like the Ford Explorer ST. I
03:27
like the ST brand. Again, this could be an appearance package. It doesn't need to be a standalone
03:33
trim. I mean, it may be just a package. I could be wrong about that, but
03:36
you know, I wish they could bump the performance up with the appearance. I guess that would be my
03:41
only complaint here. Yeah, there's none of that happens. It has a fully blacked out exterior.
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People seem to love that. I don't quite get it, but God bless them. It has exclusive amber LED
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daytime running lamps, 21 inch gloss black aluminum wheels and black accented ST Sinister badging.
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I'm not sure I want to be sinister, but maybe I'm a different type than others out there. How do
04:07
you feel about being sinister? Well, I watch a lot of videos on the internet and almost all the
04:11
ones I've seen on the Explorer ST have been of black ones. So I think maybe they know they're
04:16
customer based. I don't really know if I want to be sinister either. You know, I'm a father now,
04:21
so those days are past me. Yeah, yeah, if I ever had them. This does have the ST engine,
04:27
the three liter twin turbocharged V six 385 horsepower. I like the Explorer ST. It's certainly
04:34
my favorite Explorer model and one of my favorite mid size SUVs. So that's cool. It's interesting
04:40
that they have that. Then Ford also has a Philson model of the Bronco. Maybe I'm been living in a
04:50
cave. I haven't been aware of the Philson brand. Are you acquainted with that? Not as familiar as
04:57
I am with LL bean. That's for sure. Yeah, well, you live near LL bean, I think the Bronco Philson
05:03
combines off road capability with some other materials, you know, the outdoor focused utility
05:09
features. I think most of these vehicles are outdoor focused, right? It has a three liter eco
05:15
boost V six engine that it shares with the Bronco Raptor. So that's pretty cool. It has the sauce
05:21
Sasquatch package with 35 inch tires front and rear locking differentials off road shocks,
05:27
Fox off road shocks and seven selectable goat mode. So certainly this has the goods. I just
05:36
wasn't that aware of Philson for some reason. Yeah, you know, they did the Eddie Bauer Broncos
05:40
back in the day. I think that was what the 90s 80s when they did that. So this kind of fits with
05:45
their their branding. I'm not a huge fan of these packages either to be honest with you,
05:51
but I think you know, at least this one gets some some performance upgrades. It's got the Sasquatch
05:55
package. And they've done some unique things with the interior other than just slapping some
05:59
some black carbon fiber on it. Yeah, it sounds the interior sounds cool quilted leather interior
06:05
woven fabric. So I like that inspired by Philson. Blast not blast brass trim accents,
06:15
removable storage bags designed to hold stuff. So I guess that's that's kind of cool. I think
06:21
it's not going to be inexpensive. In fact, mid $70,000 is what they're thinking of asking for
06:29
this particular Bronco. So you pay your money and you get cool cooler stuff. Yeah, it's not, you
06:34
know, the Bronco itself is not that affordable to begin with. I mean, not a knock against Bronco,
06:39
but yeah, 70,000 not that surprising for this. Right. Here's news from Lucid Motors, you know,
06:45
the maker of the gravity battery electric SUV and some other vehicles. And I think kind of a
06:52
lifeline to them. I mean, they have kind of been behind the curve in in terms of hands free driving.
06:59
And so they've introduced over the and over the air software update that brings hand free drive
07:05
assist to the gravity models that have the dream drive to pro system. Boy, I'm having trouble
07:12
pronouncing words today. Maybe because they're hard to pronounce. I think this is important for
07:18
Lucid to have this. Don't you think so, Chris? I agree. They're going head to head with Tesla,
07:22
they're going head to head with Rivian who has, you know, their own flavor of this.
07:26
And the gravity is a road trip machine, right? It's basically a mini or at least it looks like
07:31
a minivan. So this is a great thing for them. And, you know, they've got fast charging and
07:35
incredible range. So this only adds to that. They don't want to hear you call it a minivan.
07:42
However, they would say this is an SUV through and through. It does have mini van like interior
07:49
spacing. I have to admit, Chris, it does look kind of like a minivan. That's a hill I'm willing to
07:54
die on, Jack. Yeah, exactly. I guess. So this dream drive system has driver monitoring. It does
08:03
steering and acceleration and braking. So kind of self driving. Maybe not full self driving,
08:10
but it's Tesla full self driving. We have to ask that question too.
08:14
Nighttime driving gets an upgrade with adaptive driving beam headlights. So that's something
08:19
we both like, right, Chris? Yeah, and I'm surprised and both happy and surprised,
08:24
I should say that they're able to do this via software update. Yeah, that's interesting,
08:28
isn't it? Yeah. Well, Subaru is out with the revised BRZ for 2027. We could have expected
08:35
this talking about the GR86 from Toyota last week. It has more safety technologies. That
08:41
seems like the big enhancement, actually, some updated convenience features, but the driving
08:47
experience is largely the same. I mean, it has the same four cylinder engine producing 228 horsepower,
08:53
a six speed manual transmission is standard. So that's kind of cool. Although I'm not sure how
08:59
many people are actually stepping up to that. More eyesight driver assistance stuff, I think,
09:05
is the big, big news here. Your thoughts on that? Yeah, I'm glad to see that they've expanded those
09:10
features out to the manual transmission model. Subaru and other brands too have been those that
09:15
kind of lead the manual versions out of some of those features. So I'm glad that they're putting
09:19
it in. Yeah, I think it's been very hard for them to engineer those systems, or if not hard to engineer,
09:26
maybe not cost effective to engineer those systems into the manual transmission vehicles.
09:33
So I'm glad those are there. I'm wondering what the lifespan of the manual transmission versions
09:38
of this are. But I guess I have to say, I'm glad they're out there. And, you know, this is
09:44
like the GR86, fun to drive car and not very expensive, just over $36,000 for a base model.
09:55
It's kind of cool. Yeah, like I said, about the GR86, I'm happy that a rear wheel drive car with
10:00
two doors and an available manual transmission still exists. And the price is not outrageous,
10:04
even though they're probably not making a ton of money on each of them.
10:07
Yeah. Well, here's a story that frankly struck me dumb, which isn't hard, I guess,
10:13
because sometimes I am dumb. But Audi coming out now with another supercar, it seems like they,
10:20
we've sung this song before with Audi, and then they go away. And, you know, everybody's sad,
10:24
but when they had the various supercars, they haven't sold all that well. This is the new
10:30
Velary, of course, named after a famous race driver, a thousand horsepower, a thousand and one
10:35
horsepower. And so that's cool. It's a good looking vehicle. It is Formula One inspired.
10:41
There's hybrid technology in here. Certainly a thousand horsepower gets anybody's attention.
10:47
And then just the driver assistance features are mind blowing. I mean, it's hard to run through all
10:55
the list of the things that this four wheel drive system does in terms of reading various inputs,
11:03
like, you know, transferring torque, all of that kind. So it's kind of an amazing technical
11:08
piece. It looks like it's going to be that, right? Yeah, it is. It's very interesting. I was reading
11:14
about it the other day, but, you know, Audi's in Formula One now. So they've got all the
11:18
engineering juice behind this car. I'm also very excited to see that they've announced the car and
11:25
they're also going to say they're putting into production, even though it's going to be very
11:28
limited. Yeah. Four liter twin turbocharged V8 is the power train. And then there are three
11:34
electric motors, one front, one rear, and one in the transmission, essentially.
11:39
Zero to 60 in 2.6 seconds. And top speed, something like 217 miles per hour. I mean,
11:50
those are mind blowing numbers. That's, you know, incredible performance. And yet,
11:54
this wears an Audi badge. And I think that might be the thing that, you know, prevents it from
12:01
selling as well as maybe some would think. On the other hand, as you say, it's a limited
12:07
production vehicle. So maybe they don't care. Yeah. And we haven't heard anything about this yet.
12:12
But, you know, when Lamborghini, Audi's sister company announces a really cool,
12:16
new, limited car, they're generally sold out before the car is even, you know, shown to people. So
12:21
I don't know where this one's going to fall. And I guess it depends on the price. But the
12:24
R8 was a popular car. It's still, people still like it. Yeah. Yeah. It was popular. I don't
12:29
know how many it sold, but it was popular. Torque factor in carbon fiber construction,
12:33
a deployable rear wing. It's got crazy stuff. So very, very cool. And we'll just have to see
12:42
how that goes. And when we come back, we'll have a couple of Hyundai road tests. So stay with us
12:46
for that. And we'll be right back right here on America On The Road. Welcome back to America On
12:54
The Road with Chris Teague. Back with you at his road test time. And we have twin Hyundai's this
12:59
time around. Chris, you were driving a all electric from Hyundai. Tell us about that.
13:07
Yeah, this is the first time I've seen a Hyundai Ioniq 9 in person. Although while I had it,
13:12
I did see two others on the road. So maybe it's one of those law of averages type things. But
13:17
this is Hyundai's newest fully electric vehicle. It just came out, I think, late last year.
13:23
You can get into this vehicle for around $61,000, just over $61,000 to start.
13:28
My calligraphy test trim, which is not the highest trim, but the next highest trim,
13:32
was just over $78,000 as tested. So not super affordable for a Hyundai.
13:38
Jack, have you driven the Ioniq 9? And what did you think about it?
13:41
I have. I have driven the Ioniq 9. And I think it's one electric that is almost a pretty decent
13:49
heads up substitute for the internal combustion engine three row vehicle, three row SUV.
13:55
I'm curious as to your take on that. I agree. But when you look at the $25,000
14:01
price difference between it and the fully loaded Palisade, it becomes a little bit less exciting.
14:05
But going back, you can get in. So the rear wheel drive entry level model of this vehicle has 335
14:12
miles of range. The mid range trims, they have smaller wheels. You get 320 miles of range.
14:18
And then my top trim had the larger wheels and all wheel drive, which pushed it down to 311
14:22
miles of range. So still a pretty good amount of range for this vehicle for a three row SUV.
14:28
The all wheel drive powertrain has 422 horsepower, 516 pound feet of torque.
14:33
You get an 800 volt electrical system with 350 kilowatt fast charging,
14:37
and you can tow up to 5,000 pounds. So pretty stout for a three row SUV, mid size SUV.
14:45
I will say with 422 horsepower on tap jack, this vehicle feels pretty darn quick,
14:49
especially with that much torque. It's quick off the line. It's refined on the highway.
14:54
I drove it from my house, which is up in the middle of Maine down to Portland,
14:58
which is in southern Maine a couple of times, and had no troubles on the highway. It's very quiet,
15:03
very refined, easy to drive. And then around town, it doesn't feel too large. It's got a nice ride
15:08
quality. Though you do feel the weight in this vehicle. I've mentioned that a few times with other
15:13
EVs over potholes and speed bumps and things. You will kind of notice that over something
15:19
like a palisade. Inside you get synthetic leather upholstery. So no real leather in this vehicle,
15:25
but the synthetic leather feels nice. Jack, what do you think of Hyundai's cabin ergonomics,
15:30
and not only in this vehicle, but just in similar models? I think in this vehicle in particular,
15:35
the ergonomics are quite good. It's fairly easy to understand all the stuff that has to do with
15:42
electric vehicle operation is pretty easy to understand as well. So it largely functions
15:48
like an internal combustion engine vehicle. And I think that's the wise way to go, not make
15:53
these things terribly different. Yeah, it does feel a lot like a palisade or a Santa Fe inside.
15:59
One thing that's a difference for me, at least with the ergonomics is that this has a gear shift
16:05
selector stock mounted to the steering column. And if you're not careful, you'll end up with
16:09
some bruises on your right knee. Ask me how I know about that for people who are a little bit
16:14
taller. I'm not that tall. But so in any case, you get heated ventilated front seats in the
16:19
calligraphy trim, heated ventilated second row seats, and then power folding third row seats.
16:23
This vehicle was not included in the recall for the palisade that was a few weeks ago or a few
16:28
months ago now, with the danger of the third row folding seats. This vehicle has plenty of space
16:33
in the first and second rows, my children and myself, my dog. We had captain's chairs in the
16:38
second row. And then my nine year old daughter loves to ride in the third row. So we stuck her
16:42
back there. She had plenty of space. The vehicle is easy to climb into and out of. It's not too tall.
16:47
You've got a good amount of space width in the front seats. So if you're a little bit wider,
16:51
like myself, you can fit in with no problems. And the interesting thing here is once you
16:55
reach higher speeds, the seats have a setting where the bolsters automatically tighten. So on
16:59
the highway, it was a little surprising the first time I experienced it, but it is kind of cool
17:04
when you hit like 80, the seat bolsters tighten on your rib cage and keep you in place in case
17:09
you're going to do some spirited driving in your IONIQ 9, which I doubt many people will.
17:14
You get a 12.3 inch touchscreen with this vehicle, a 12.3 inch digital gauge cluster.
17:19
The calligraphy trim also has a heads up display and a Bose audio system. All those things work
17:24
very, very well. Hyundai's infotainment is not the fanciest on the market. It's not very flashy.
17:30
It doesn't have a lot of animations and things like that, which makes it easier to use while
17:33
you're driving. And you do have some physical controls here for some things. But this vehicle,
17:38
unlike a lot of others, does have more virtual on screen controls for things like
17:43
the heated and ventilated seats and stuff like that. So that's something to think about.
17:46
And then you also get a full suite of safety gear here too. So you get blind spot monitoring with
17:50
rear cross traffic alerts for collision warnings and Hyundai's highway driving assistance to system,
17:56
which is a hands on system, but it does do lane keeping. And it has some lane change assists
18:01
and traffic jam assist. So no fully automated hands off driving here, like you get in a
18:06
Cadillac Escalade or something like that, but plenty of tech. And this vehicle also has a
18:11
blind spot camera system, which is very helpful on the highway, especially when you're in tight
18:16
traffic like in the Boston and New England area where there's a lot of traffic, maybe your area
18:20
to Jack where there's traffic all the time. But for me, I think, you know, if I were going for
18:24
this vehicle, I would opt for a mid trim. I say this for a lot of vehicles. You get a lot of the
18:29
good stuff. You get a sunroof, you can get all wheel drive, you get a higher range with the
18:32
smaller wheels for a smaller price tag. I think $78,000 is great for an EV that offers these
18:38
things. It's not outrageous for some of the prices we've seen, but I'd opt for a lower price tag.
18:44
Yeah. And I think the only major knock I have against it, and it's not only for this vehicle
18:50
for the Ioniq 9, but there's a lot of three rows that suffer from the same thing, is when you use
18:55
all three rows, there's very little cargo space behind the third row. And thus, if you're going
19:00
to use this vehicle for a family vacation, I think you're kind of hard-pressed to do it if you're
19:06
planning to use all three rows. And like I say, that isn't unique to the Ioniq 9.
19:11
Yeah, I would agree there. You're not going to fit a huge suitcase, a stack of suitcases back
19:16
there with six or seven people on board. Yeah. And when you stack it up against the Palisade in
19:22
terms of cost effectiveness, well, I think you have to really want to have an EV to have the
19:27
Ioniq 9, and some people do. So I agree. Good for them. Well, I was driving
19:33
another Hyundai vehicle, a much more mainstream, actually, I was in the Hyundai Tucson, which
19:38
typically is their best-selling vehicle, I think. I had it in XRT trim, which is a prime example of
19:45
the current soft rotor craze. This is sweeping the nation somehow. I guess there's no reason
19:51
that it shouldn't. It delivers the practicality, efficiency, and technology that buyers expect,
19:56
so that's good. This is a modern, compact crossover. It's good. It adds a somewhat rugged
20:02
appearance package, I say somewhat, maybe giving it a more adventurous personality. I think in
20:09
this instance, it's fairly low-key. And I'm not sure whether that's the right take, actually,
20:16
whether it should be a more overtly kind of off-road or not. I kind of like it. And especially in
20:22
the dark color that I had this vehicle, it's not obtrusive, so that's one of them. Certainly,
20:27
the Tucson is one of the brand's biggest success stories. It has good-looking styling, I think.
20:34
It's distinctive, spacious interior, good value proposition, and there's a lot of good vehicles,
20:39
including the Honda CR-V and, of course, the Toyota RAV4 in this. But what's your take on the
20:47
Tucson as it confronts that kind of competition, Chris?
20:51
I don't know that it's going to overcome the RAV4 or the CR-V, even though it's a solid SUV. But
20:57
as you say, the XRT trim is kind of a soft-roader. People love looking like they can go off-road,
21:02
but this vehicle doesn't go so far that it's uncomfortable on the road, which is where it's
21:05
going to be used most often. Right. It's major bow to off-roading, I think. Well, two of them.
21:10
One is all-wheel drive. I also think you can get it with off-road tires. What was nice about this
21:18
is it isn't the super top, top, top of the line. You know, not super expensive. The MSRP of the
21:24
test vehicle I had was close to $37,000, including destination charge, $36,815. It had this Rockwood
21:34
green and exterior, which I think is pretty good looking. You can check on drivingtoday.com to
21:40
see a picture of it soon. And then it has this kind of rugged off-road look to it.
21:48
One of the things I particularly appreciated was the fact that this is powered by a naturally
21:53
aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine with an eight-speed automatic transmission
21:58
and this all-wheel drive system. I mean, this is very conventional and I applaud that.
22:04
How do you feel about that, Chris? Yeah, I agree. And Hyundai's done a great job of avoiding CVTs in
22:09
a lot of vehicles, so I'm very happy to see that continue. Yeah, eight-speed automatic transmission.
22:13
Not a ton of horsepower, 187 horsepower, 178 pound-feet of torque. So it's not super powerful,
22:19
but I think most people buying this type of vehicle will find this just fine. And you don't have the,
22:25
you know, potential problems of a small turbocharged engine that is, you know, filling
22:30
this segment right now. So many people or so many brands are doing that. And I think acceleration
22:37
is just fine for commuting, for highway merging. I had no problem with the acceleration. It's not
22:43
as fun to drive as, say, the Mazda CX-50, but okay. It doesn't need to be, does it?
22:51
No. And the warranty is far greater than Mazda's. Yeah. Fuel economy, fairly okay. You know, 26
22:58
miles per gallon combined. I think a lot of people are kind of surprised by the relative
23:03
lowness of fuel economy in these kind of fairly small vehicles. It does have a great interior,
23:09
though. A comfort and refinement are what it's all about, both inside and out. And I think they do
23:14
a nice job with the interior without, you know, being so in your face that this is an off-roader.
23:19
I think it looks kind of cool and it looks pretty upscale. I think they've done a nice
23:23
job with that. Your thoughts on that, Chris? I agree. The styling fits very well. Like I said,
23:28
it doesn't, it's not so rugged that it looks silly. I mean, the two, I mean, it's always been kind of
23:32
an on-road, family-friendly vehicle. So it fits with that. Yeah. Good cargo space. You know,
23:38
there's a five-passenger vehicle with a reasonable cargo space behind the rear seat. So I like that.
23:44
It's got a lot of, in this trim has a lot of power stuff without going overboard with it.
23:49
I just think this is a good overall value. And one of the best, I haven't mentioned the infotainment
23:54
system, but it's virtually the same that you talked about with the Ioniq 9. So very, very good.
24:00
I think at this price, the Hyundai Tucson and XRT trim is a very good buy. I totally agree.
24:09
And when we come back, we will have a terrific guest. His name is BJ Burtwell,
24:15
and he is the founder of Electrify Expo, which is now morphed into demo days. So stay with us for
24:21
that. And we'll be right back right here on America on the Road with more with BJ Burtwell.
24:26
Let's see. You can drive electric cars at demo days. You can drive gas cars at demo days.
24:32
Should be a fun thing. So we'll talk with him about that when we come back. Stay with us and
24:36
we'll be right back right here on America on the Road.
24:44
I received a letter from Reader this week and I thought I'd share it with you. Here's what he wrote.
24:49
I just got around to reading Dance in the Dark and wanted to say how much I enjoyed it. I'm a
24:54
compulsive reader and this one was right up my alley. An unlikely hero. A lot of twists and turns,
25:00
some adult content and humor that rose naturally from the action. Keep on writing and I'll keep
25:06
on reading. Of course, that's just the kind of letter any author would love to get. I hope that
25:11
others get the same enjoyment from reading Dance in the Dark and my newest crime novel, Only One
25:16
Thing Stays the Same. Both are available exclusively at Amazon.com. That's Dance in the Dark and Only
25:23
One Thing Stays the Same. Both written by me, Jack R. Neyred. Thanks for looking for them today.
25:36
Welcome back to America on the Road Jack Neyred back with you. We have a terrific guest for you.
25:40
He's been on the show before under different circumstances. Circumstances seem to change
25:45
a lot but B.J. Birtwell is with us. Formerly the Grand Puba of Electrify Expo. Now doing
25:51
the thing called Demo Days, I think. Number one, thanks for being with us, B.J. We appreciate it.
25:56
Thanks, Jack. Yeah, good to see you again. Looking forward to talking a little bit about
26:00
anything with a motor this time. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, Electrify Expo, we have been
26:07
producing for the past four and a half years. It's North America's largest EV festival. We've
26:12
done 32 of those across the country. 600,000 attendees, about a million demos we've created and
26:19
now we've expanded the idea of Electrify Expo into a broader festival called Demo Days.
26:26
Very cool. Very cool. Well, you have to pivot, I think. Things have changed a little bit in
26:31
terms of electric vehicle demand or maybe electric demand overall. But is that true or not? I mean,
26:36
am I coming from the wrong premise there? Well, I think EVs is following the same sort of trajectory
26:42
as any new technology. I mean, there's an S-curve for a reason. The S-curve exists because it's
26:49
kind of the bell, whether for how things get adopted, how new technology gets adopted. So,
26:54
whether we're talking solar, smartphones, there is an S-curve to it.
26:58
And I think what the industry has experienced is that when you look at the S-curve, the first wave
27:03
of buyers that come into new tech are called early adopters. And early adopters have come
27:11
through the purchase funnel for EVs. And then as you move out of early adopters and into the next
27:16
phase, which is called early majority, there's a little bit of a lull. There's a little bit of a
27:20
kind of getting used to letting this next volume of people, which is much bigger in terms of size
27:27
of audience than early adopters. Early majority are kind of waking up to EVs and the practicality
27:33
around EVs. So, that's where the industry finds itself. And I think that auto manufacturers and
27:40
others are adapting to getting ready for the next wave of buyers for EVs, which is coming.
27:50
Well, certainly one of the game-changers was the loss of the $7,500 federal tax credit and
27:55
that kind of thing. I think also maybe less obvious to people was the change in fuel economy and
28:01
emissions regulations, which were really also driving electrification from the manufacturers.
28:07
Are you seeing more or less enthusiasm from manufacturers in terms of promoting electric
28:14
vehicles right now? I think what people have less enthusiasm for is politics steering their life.
28:21
And I think as you, you know, if you have an industry that is volatile based upon politics,
28:27
you know, you're going to have a bumpy run. And that's what has, at least in this country,
28:33
that's what's happened with EVs is that, you know, one side really supports it. The other side
28:38
may not. And then you have this unfortunate ebb and flow of how the industry is supported. So,
28:45
as that EV rebate went away, that absolutely had an impact on people who were lower in the
28:52
purchase funnel making a decision on whether or not they want to go electric. So, but you know
28:56
what? At the end of the day, like if you think about, by the way, I'm a car guy. I'm not an EV guy.
29:00
Exactly. I want to talk about that. And you know, that's what demo days is really all about,
29:05
right? I mean, it's not just an electrical plug-in kind of guy.
29:09
Well, I haven't been. You know, I, I definitely had misconceptions about EVs
29:15
before I had ever driven one. And it wasn't until I actually drove an EV where I had my
29:20
lifehold moment, I'm like, Hey, you know, these vehicles are a lot more fun than I expected.
29:25
They're a lot more thrilling. They have really cool tech. They're a lot more practical than I
29:29
thought. But that would have never crossed my mind unless I got behind the wheel of one, which
29:33
was really, you know, the idea starter for Electrify Expo. It's like, Hey, you know,
29:38
there's a lot of misconceptions around EVs. Let's put people behind the wheel of it and allow them
29:42
to make their own decision on whether or not it's a fit for them. And Electrify Expo became very
29:47
popular. So, you know, as we move into the expansion of Electrify Expo, which is demo days,
29:52
Electrify Expo is not going anywhere. Electrify Expo is embedded within our footprint at demo
29:58
days. So a lot of the electric experiences are branded around the Electrify Expo zone.
30:05
But demo days certainly is a much broader festival for anything with a motor. So obviously, there's
30:10
a larger total addressable market, both for the types of manufacturers that come in to participate,
30:17
but also the types of attendees that would be interested in going to an event like this. And
30:22
really, there is a science and a strategy behind why we did what we did. And it's not because
30:27
we're walking away from EVs. We're absolutely not. In fact, demo days will help put more people
30:33
behind the wheel of an EV than Electrify Expo ever did. And, you know, we can get into the
30:37
strategy behind that. But, you know, well, you're going to have crossover from people who are coming
30:41
in and their internal combustion engine folks and maybe never consider an EV and might have that
30:46
same light bulb moment that you had, right? When they get behind the wheel and they go, Hey,
30:49
there's no cost to me to get into this vehicle and try it out. And I think getting behind the
30:56
wheel is a great sales tool no matter what you're selling, right? Yeah. I mean, you hit it. That's
31:01
bingo. That's bullseye. That's that's spot on around what's going to happen. So those people
31:07
that you're talking about, they likely would have never had bought a ticket to come to Electrify
31:12
Expo because they're not all in on EVs. So but when you see an event like demo days, it has
31:18
all powertrains. It has pavement. It has off-road courses, you know, dirt bikes, power sports,
31:23
can't, you know, side by side, everything is there to demo. It's like, okay, now we're appealing in
31:29
this event is appealing to everyone. And what's going to happen is people that may have misconceptions
31:33
around EVs or may not have been cross shopping EVs are suddenly going to find themselves behind the
31:39
wheel of one. And then they're going to have their light bulb moment because a lot of these
31:43
misconceptions that people have around EVs start to go away when you get behind the wheel. So I
31:48
really expect, interestingly, the first three or four manufacturers to commit auto manufacturers
31:56
to commit to coming to demo days for the pure EV makers, they see the same data that we do.
32:01
And they have to get butts in seats. They have to have people try their product or they have no
32:05
future really, right? They do. So they see the same data that we do and and they know that this
32:11
next wave of early majority are very key to driving larger volume sales for them.
32:17
So it's, you know, we really feel like we're in a position now to almost be the antipasist to the
32:23
traditional auto show. You know, we are an outdoor festival. So, you know, when you come to our event,
32:28
it doesn't feel like an auto show. It feels like a festival. And there's something for everyone,
32:32
whether it's dirt or or or pavement, whether it's for kids or for adults, whether you're shopping
32:38
four wheels, three wheels, two wheels or one, like everything is there for you to try out and rip
32:43
around. So it's really going to be a great opportunity for people to, you know, try everything
32:48
before they buy it. Well, and give us a nitty gritty about that. I think you're going to do the
32:53
inaugural one fairly soon. Tell us about that. We take over a million square feet at the Rose Bowl
32:58
in Pasadena, which is an iconic football stadium. And I think a lot of people have probably heard
33:05
of the Rose Bowl. Yeah. Well, for those that have not, June 27th to 28th, we will be there and we'll
33:12
be taking over that footprint and, you know, producing a very large event. Likely the largest
33:17
test drive event in the LA market will happen at demo days there on June 27th to 28th. Yeah.
33:23
Very, very cool. And describe the event a little bit so people can get a sense of what they're
33:28
going to see when they attend. Yeah. I mean, the best way to describe it, and even if you haven't
33:32
been to these types of events before, you've probably heard of them. You know, it's kind of
33:36
like combining South by Southwest with CES. You know, it's like there's an outdoor festival
33:41
feel, but it has a lot of cool tech. A lot of the world's leading manufacturers are there not
33:47
just showing stuff off, but you're actually being able to get behind the wheel of it or get on the
33:52
seat of it. And then, you know, there's a lot of new technology. You know, I mean, there's humanoids
33:57
and robotics at our event. So you're seeing how these humanoids are interacting with people
34:01
and what they can do. You know, we've had flying cars at our events before. So it's really an event
34:08
where, you know, whether you're into, you know, cars or trucks off-road or on-road or motorcycles
34:13
or side-by-sides or dirt bikes, you know, or skateboards or scooters or e-bikes or these other
34:20
categories, like I mentioned, there's something for you to check out and try out. So yeah. And
34:24
demo days implies your experience, right? I mean, you don't just look at you're actually doing,
34:31
right? That's no fun. Yeah. I mean, you know, like auto shows, there's definitely a fit for auto
34:36
shows. What auto shows struggle with is that they become kind of a generational audience. So
34:43
if your parents went to auto shows, you'd likely go to auto shows. We don't get a lot of the auto
34:47
show crowd, which is fine, although we probably, you know, we'll get some of it now with demo days.
34:52
But, you know, I don't like looking at stuff behind a velvet robe. Like, I want to rip it around,
34:58
you know? And demo days gives people the opportunity to do that. So we really try to focus on people
35:04
who are in, you know, in market to buy something. So, you know, people there are actually shopping
35:09
and cross shopping. One of the really cool things that's happening, if you've been following the
35:13
auto industry at all, that we don't follow that on this show. Well, I know you do. But there's a,
35:22
you know, there's a lot of disruption happening with how cars are sold these days.
35:27
And Amazon autos is doing quite a bit of that disruption. You know, they work
35:34
hand in hand with dealers. And dealers are supported through Amazon autos. But, you know,
35:39
Amazon autos is going to be at our event at the Rose Bowl. And for people that are shopping for
35:45
a Hyundai or a Ford or a Kia, let's say they take a test drive at our event and they love it,
35:50
they'll literally be able to add our event, go on Amazon autos and transact and have that vehicle
35:56
dropship to them. Yeah, that should be fascinating. Are you going to do
36:00
an additional events after this event? You know, we're a national show. So maybe people in other
36:05
locales would like to attend going forward. We do. We take this tour around the country. We go to
36:11
Portland, San Francisco. We head over to Philly, Atlanta. And then we head to Dallas. And then
36:17
we finish off our year in San Diego. So we really just have an event every month from here on out
36:22
to the end of the year. Very cool. What's the next one after the Rose Bowl? The next one after
36:26
the Rose Bowl is we head to the Portland International Raceway, which is a lot of fun because we get
36:30
to do demos on the racetrack. Same thing with Atlanta and Texas. We're on the speedways there.
36:38
And then following Portland is San Francisco in August, which has been a staple event of ours.
36:42
We've been in that market for four years. You know, 30,000 plus people show up to that event.
36:46
And it's a great venue because we take over two airstrips on the water there. So it's a really
36:52
cool vibe. And we just pump it full of music, great food, great demo experiences. You know,
36:57
it's fun for all ages. Yeah, family entertainment. A very nice kind of family entertainment these
37:02
days. And I think a lot of people are probably going to fall in love with cars. A lot of kids
37:06
are going to fall in love with cars for the first time at something like this, seeing just how
37:10
kinetic and fun they are, right? That's the idea. You know, there's been a little lull with car
37:17
fanaticism around, you know, young adults. But we are seeing a trend in that coming back right now.
37:23
And we see car customization and the automotive aftermarket start to gain some momentum right
37:28
now with young adults like it did in the late 90s and early 2000s. So, you know, we really hope to
37:33
see that wave continue because, you know, we all want more auto enthusiasts, you know, in the
37:38
market talking about, you know, the cars they love to wheel around. Yeah. Well, I think we're
37:42
going to see, you know, kind of a revival of non-digital stuff, you know, analog things.
37:48
We see record players, right? We see people loving vinyl, that kind of thing. And I think cars with
37:55
manual transmissions are going to make a bit of a comeback with a lot of folks. I'd love that. I'd
38:00
love to see that. You know, it's weird because, you know, you have on the flip side, you have
38:04
brands like Tesla that introduce full self-driving technology. You know, we're at our events where
38:10
Tesla is. Every single test drive is full self-driving. Like, they don't even, you know,
38:15
they don't even do traditional test drives. Everything drives itself. So, you get in the car
38:19
and it drives itself. And then on the other side, you know, now we're talking about manual
38:23
transmissions coming back. I'd love to see that. I think I told you that I have an idea for you.
38:28
So, you can have this idea for free, BJ. And I will say it in one word. Carchella. Do your event
38:34
immediately following what's going on at Carchella and Stagecoach. Do the following weekend.
38:41
Maybe you have an event promoter in your future. Well, hopefully maybe in my past.
38:47
Like I say, that's a freebie, but I'd love to see you do it. So, remind us quickly of the
38:53
upcoming event. Yes, upcoming event, June 27th to 28th at the Rose Bowl. Our show hours are
38:59
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets start at 20 bucks plus fees. So, it's, you know, very manageable to get
39:05
in. DemoDaysFestival.com. You got it. BJ, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it. I wish
39:10
you a lot of luck on this new endeavor that incorporates the old endeavor. Very cool. Thank you,
39:15
Jack. Good talking to you. And stay with us, everybody. We'll be right back right here on
39:19
America on the Road. So, welcome back to America on the Road with Jodo Christie.
39:26
And it is listener question time. We love to answer questions for you based on our long experience
39:32
in providing car advice to those who need it. Send your questions to editoratdrivingday.com.
39:39
That's editoratdrivingday.com. Here's a great question from William in Lincoln, Nebraska.
39:45
I'm thinking of getting a new car and I'm wondering about all these new electronic features.
39:50
Which driver assistance features are genuinely useful and which are gimmicks? What do you think,
39:57
Chris? I think a lot of this is going to come down to personal opinion. You and I agreed on a few
40:01
of these in the past. I think they've all shown themselves to be useful in testing or else they
40:05
wouldn't be offered or equipped as standard. So, things like automatic emergency braking and
40:11
forward collision warnings are becoming standard on more and more vehicles. I think they're even
40:14
mandated in vehicles at least in the next couple of years here. I think those are truly useful,
40:19
especially even for people who are very attentive. But on a personal level, my favorite features are
40:25
blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic alerts. I think those are extremely helpful in
40:29
a bunch of different situations. Parking sensors are very useful, especially if you've got a larger
40:34
vehicle in your arsenal. The rear view camera is something that I think we've all been using for
40:39
a long time now. And adaptive cruise control is a favorite of mine too, especially for longer
40:44
trips, even without hands-free features. It's just extremely useful to be able to monitor and
40:50
keep your distance from other vehicles. Things that I don't love, lane keeping assist. I think
40:55
once you touch the line on the side of the road, the vehicle starts beeping at you or steers back
40:58
automatically. And I don't love reverse automatic braking either. There are just so many things
41:03
that trigger the system in so many different vehicles that it doesn't seem to be as refined
41:07
as I think they want it to be yet. But I think those are my opinions. And that wraps up our show
41:11
for this week. I'd like to mention that my crime novel, only one thing stays the same,
41:15
is available in both ebook and paperback form at Amazon. Look for that. If you like our show,
41:21
please pass it on. Listen on this radio station each week and let your friends know where you
41:25
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41:31
don't we Chris? That's exactly right. And you can do that with a quick Google search for the
41:34
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41:54
We love being on terrestrial radio. Most of all, thanks to you for listening. We know you have a
41:59
lot of choices, so we're honored by the fact you're listening to America on the Road. And please
42:04
join us again next time for another edition of America on the Road.
42:14
Hi, I'm Jack Arnie Redd, and I'd like to tell you about my newest crime novel,
42:18
Only One Thing Stays the Same. In a style reminiscent of James M. Kane and Jim Thompson,
42:24
two of my writing idols, the book chronicles of blue collar workers up and down love affairs
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with two modern Southern California women who continue to surprise, shock, and ultimately
42:35
confound him. As the story unfolds, an unemployed aeronautics worker named Bill McCurdy becomes
42:40
disillusioned with his wife and slips into an illicit affair with a teenager from down the street.
42:46
Before long, he begins to think of doing the unthinkable. But despite his desperate attempts
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to make things work, almost nothing goes as planned. His misguided quest for simple love
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doesn't turn out to be simple at all. And before the roller coaster ride stops,
43:01
he learns quite personally and very finely that only one thing stays the same.
43:07
Only One Thing Stays the Same is available in Kindle e-book and paperback form exclusively at
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Amazon.com. I'd appreciate it if you'd look for it today.
