#86 - 2027 BMW X5 Hit or Miss? 200MPH In The 2027 Stingray, REO Trucks For $21,500? & More
Clutch Culture Podcast
#86 - 2027 BMW X5 Hit or Miss? 200MPH In The 2027 Stingray, REO Trucks For $21,500? & More
Clutch Culture Podcast · Jul 6, 2026
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Term
four wheel drive
Four-wheel drive sends engine power to all four wheels instead of just two. That usually helps the truck grip better on snow, mud, or rough roads.
Term
six speed manual
A six-speed manual is a car/truck where you shift gears yourself using a clutch pedal and a stick. It can feel more connected to driving because you control which gear you’re in.
Car
Nissan XTerra
The Nissan Xterra is a rugged SUV made for rough roads and trails. Here, they mention it to say that the early specs can look promising, but the real results may not match what companies promise.
Car
Ford Maverick
The Ford Maverick is a small pickup truck. They’re using it as an example of how the price you hear at first can end up feeling like more after everything is added.
Term
reservations
A reservation is basically a way to put your name down (often with a deposit) for a car that isn’t available yet. They’re saying you can reserve it now, even while the timeline is still being worked out.
Term
Q4 of 26
“Q4 of 26” means late 2026—around October to December. They’re talking about when the models are expected to be revealed or delivered, and whether that lines up with what companies say.
Brand
Lamborghini
Lamborghini is a famous Italian car brand that usually makes expensive, limited-run supercars. Here, they’re talking about how Lamborghini is trying to sell more cars to more people.
Brand
Ferrari
Ferrari is a well-known Italian brand that makes high-end sports cars. In this segment, they’re saying Ferrari is trying to sell more cars than it traditionally has.
Term
volume game
“Volume game” means trying to sell a lot more cars, not just a small number of super-exclusive ones. It’s about reaching more buyers and moving more units.
Car
Porsche Cayenne
The Porsche Cayenne is Porsche’s SUV. The hosts mention it as an example of how Porsche managed to sell more cars by expanding beyond just sports cars.
Concept
shopping nationwide
“Shopping nationwide” means looking at cars for sale at dealerships in other areas, not only near your home. The idea is you can often find better pricing when you compare more options.
Term
out the door
“Out the door” means the final price you pay to get the car ready to drive—usually including taxes and fees. Two offers can look close on the sticker, but the out-the-door price shows which one is actually cheaper.
Term
Tahoe payments
“Tahoe payments” means the monthly cost to finance a Chevrolet Tahoe. The idea is that some people focus on what they pay each month, not just the total price of the vehicle.
Brand
Tesla
Tesla is a car brand that sells many of its vehicles in a more direct way than typical dealerships. Here, it’s mentioned because buying is portrayed as simpler—more like ordering online than negotiating at a store.
Term
seat package
A “seat package” is a bundled set of seat-related options (like upgraded upholstery, heating/ventilation, power adjustments, or sometimes memory settings) sold as part of a trim or options bundle. Buyers may pay more to get the specific comfort features they want.
Concept
ease of purchase
It means how easy it is to actually buy the car. If the process feels straightforward and the deal is clear, more people will want to buy.
Company
Rivian
Rivian is an electric-vehicle company. The point being made is that Rivian is adjusting its lineup and pricing, which affects what buyers can get.
Term
EBS
EBS here is shorthand tied to EVs and whether people will switch from gas cars to electric cars. The point is that gas prices alone don’t automatically make people change—they need a better deal overall.
Term
EV
EV means electric vehicle. It’s a car that runs on electricity from a battery, and the host is saying people won’t switch in big numbers unless the price makes sense.
Concept
price barriers
“Price barriers” means the EV is still too expensive compared with similar gas cars. If the price doesn’t feel right, most people won’t switch no matter what happens to gas prices.
Concept
mass adoption
“Mass adoption” means lots of regular people start buying EVs. The host says it happens when the EV price is close enough to the gas version that people feel it’s worth switching.
Term
conquest cost
“Conquest cost” means the extra money companies spend to persuade people to switch from what they already drive to an EV. The host says better upfront pricing can reduce how much you have to spend to convince buyers.
Term
alternator
The alternator is the part that makes electricity while the engine is running. It also charges the battery so the car’s electronics keep working.
Term
pulley
A pulley is a small wheel the belt runs over to move power around the engine. If it wears out, the belt can start making noise or stop working properly.
Term
transmission
The transmission is what helps the car use the engine’s power effectively at different speeds. When it has problems, repairs can be expensive.
Term
battery pack
A battery pack is the big battery system that powers an EV. If it wears out over many years, it can eventually need replacement.
Concept
parts department
The parts department is where a dealership sells replacement parts for repairs. The point here is that older gas cars tend to need more replacement parts over time, which can be a big profit source.
Concept
legacy parts business
“Legacy parts business” means the long-standing business of selling replacement parts for older, gas-powered cars. The idea is that EVs may not need the same kinds of parts, so the profit mix could change.
Term
EVs
“EVs” means electric vehicles. They run on electricity stored in a battery, not gasoline. The point here is that EVs can be harder to profit from through selling lots of replacement parts.
Person
Elon Musk
Elon Musk is the well-known founder/leader behind Tesla. In this discussion, the host is quoting his view that EVs don’t create as much demand for replacement parts as gas cars do.
Concept
parts to sell
This is about how car companies make money. Gas cars often need lots of replacement parts over time, but EVs can have fewer of those parts, which can make profit planning harder.
Concept
enterprise value
Enterprise value is a way to estimate what a company is worth overall, not just its stock price. The host is saying that being first in the EV market can make a company more valuable.
Term
home charging
Home charging is plugging your EV in at your house so it’s ready when you wake up. It matters because it’s usually easier than finding public chargers every time.
Concept
rich people car
They’re saying EVs can feel like they’re mostly for wealthier people. That’s because owning one often depends on having easy charging at home and convenient charging options nearby.
Term
infrastructure
Here, “infrastructure” means the charging network—where you can plug in your EV. If it’s not convenient or easy to find chargers, EVs are harder to live with.
Car
G-Class G Wagon
They’re talking about an electric version of the Mercedes G-Wagon. The idea is that it still looked and drove like a G-Wagon, so people thought it would sell, but it didn’t.
Car
Ford Rangers
The Ford Ranger is a pickup truck, meaning it has a cargo bed for hauling things. People talk about it a lot because it’s a common truck that’s used for work and regular driving. It’s mentioned here as part of the lineup of trucks people have experience with.
Concept
peak car culture
“Peak car culture” means the moment when car enthusiasm is at its biggest. The host’s point is that if interest and supply change, the cars people want could become harder to find, so keeping them in good shape matters.
Car
F-150 Raptor
The Raptor is a special Ford truck meant for off-road driving. The host is saying that if you have one, you need to take care of it so it stays enjoyable later.
Car
Volkswagen Gtis
The Golf is Volkswagen’s compact hatchback. They’re mentioning it as another car type that you should maintain well if you want to keep it for the long run.
Term
30 day plates
“30 day plates” refers to temporary license plates issued for a short period, typically while the vehicle is newly purchased and paperwork/registration is still being processed. They’re a common real-world detail in crash stories because the car is often very new.
Concept
car was totaled
“Totaled” means the car was so badly damaged that it wasn’t worth fixing. They’re bringing it up to say they still felt safe in the crash.
Term
German tank
“German tank” is slang for a car that feels really tough and well-built. Here, they mean the X5 felt solid and safe when they were in a serious crash.
Car
2008 BMW X5
This is a 2008 BMW X5, a midsize luxury SUV. The speaker is saying that after a crash, it seemed very solid and protective—like the car’s body held up well and helped keep them safe.
Term
kidney grills
BMW’s “kidney grilles” are the two grille openings on the front of the car that BMW is known for. The speaker is saying the design is moving back toward an older style.
Term
LEDs in the kidney grill
This refers to BMW-style lighting elements integrated into the grille area, using LED technology. The speaker is criticizing the look of having the lights “in” the grille, arguing it draws attention away from the overall front-end design.
Term
LED strips
“LED strips” here means continuous or long light elements spanning across the front of the vehicle—specifically mentioned as running across the hood area. This is a styling choice that can make the front end look more “techy,” but the speaker says they’re not a fan of the effect.
Car
M cars
“M cars” are BMW’s performance models. They’re tuned to drive more aggressively than regular BMWs, with upgrades to things like the engine and suspension.
Car
G80s
“G80” is the code BMW uses for a specific generation of the M3. It’s the newer M3 era, and people often debate how it drives compared to older M3s.
Concept
abominations
“Abominations” is just a harsh way of saying “this is totally wrong” or “I hate this.” In car talk, it usually means someone thinks a new design or model crossed a line.
Brand
Audi
Audi is a luxury car brand. In this part, they’re talking about how Audi’s China-focused lineup is designed around what Chinese buyers tend to want.
Term
longer wheelbases
A wheelbase is the distance between a car’s front and rear axles. A longer wheelbase generally improves rear-seat space and can make the ride feel smoother, which is why it’s often used for comfort-focused markets.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Corvette is Chevrolet’s high-performance sports car. Here, they’re specifically talking about the Stingray version and how fast it can go with a big V8 engine.
Term
6.7 V8
“6.7 V8” means the engine is a V8 (eight cylinders) and it’s about 6.7 liters total. A larger V8 usually has a lot of power, which helps the car accelerate and go fast.
Term
base Stingray
“Base Stingray” is the Corvette Stingray’s entry-level version—the one that starts at the lowest price. The point here is that even the cheapest Stingray is still very quick.
Term
200 miles an hour
“200 miles an hour” is a very high top speed. They’re pointing out that this Corvette can supposedly reach that speed.
Term
C8 Corvette
“C8 Corvette” refers to a specific generation of the Corvette. It’s the one with the engine moved to a mid-engine position, and the host is saying the early cars may lose value as more of them show up.
Term
535 horsepower
Horsepower is a number that describes how much power the engine makes. Here they’re saying the entry-level Stingray is rated at 535 horsepower.
Term
double century mark
“Double century mark” just means 200 mph. They’re using it as a quick way to say the car can hit that kind of top speed.
Term
platform dependent
“Platform dependent” means the result depends on the car’s underlying design/architecture. Two cars that look similar can still have different resale prices because their basic engineering is different.
Car
Ferrari F430
The Ferrari F430 is a high-performance supercar from Ferrari. It’s the kind of car many people dream about, but the podcast is also talking about what it might cost in real life. That’s why it comes up in a discussion about buying expectations.
Term
Plug and Hybrid powertrain
A plug-in hybrid uses both gas and electricity. You can charge the battery by plugging it in, and then the car can sometimes drive on electricity alone for shorter trips.
Term
four liter V8
A “four liter V8” is a gas engine with eight cylinders. The “V” shape is how the cylinders are arranged, and “four liter” is the engine’s size.
Car
SL 500
The Mercedes-Benz SL 500 is a luxury-focused SL roadster model known for a more classic, comfort-oriented approach compared with AMG performance variants. Mentioning it “from back in the day” frames it as the speaker’s preferred style of SL rather than the newer plug-in hybrid AMG direction.
Term
electric powertrain
An electric powertrain is what makes an EV move—basically the motor and battery system. It’s different from a gas car, and it can include lots of electronics that have to work reliably.
Car
S-Class
The S-Class is Mercedes-Benz’s top luxury car line. It’s the “most tech and most comfort” model, so problems with electronics stand out more.
Term
infotainment
Infotainment is the car’s screen-based tech—things like music, navigation, and phone features. If it won’t work, the car can feel unusable even if the engine is running.
Term
lemon law
Lemon law is a rule that helps buyers if a new car keeps having major problems that the dealer can’t fix. It can lead to the manufacturer buying the car back or replacing it.
Car
Genesis GV60 Magma
Genesis makes the GV60, and the “Magma” version is the more performance-oriented electric model. It’s meant to be quicker and more exciting than the regular GV60.
Car
Hyundai Kona
The Hyundai Kona is a small SUV that’s meant for normal daily driving. It’s popular enough that people recognize its shape. The podcast mentions it because another car is being compared to how the Kona looks.
Car
Honda Crv
The Honda CR-V is a popular SUV that many people buy because it’s practical and comfortable for everyday driving. Here, the host is saying it’s hard to find right now because lots of people want them.
Term
America's best-selling car
This phrase means the vehicle that sold the most in the U.S. during a certain time period. It’s basically a “most popular by sales” ranking.
Car
Ford F150S
The Ford F-150 is a very popular big pickup truck in the U.S. The host is using it as a comparison point to show how high demand for the CR-V has gotten.
Term
badging
Badging is the little logos and model name stickers/badges on the car. The host is saying the CR-V probably has its name and branding on the back.
Car
Rivian R2
The Rivian R2 is an electric vehicle, meaning it runs on electricity instead of gasoline. The podcast is talking about it because people have been reviewing it and sharing positive impressions. It’s mentioned as a new model worth paying attention to.
Term
small pocket rockets
“Pocket rockets” is slang for small cars that are surprisingly fast or exciting. They’re compact, but the engine makes them feel lively.
Term
big V8s
A “V8” is an engine with eight cylinders arranged in a V shape. People often like V8s because they tend to feel powerful and they sound great.
Term
small hatchback
A hatchback is a car where the back door lifts up to open the trunk and cargo area. “Small hatchback” just means it’s a compact version of that body style.
Concept
driving experience
“Driving experience” means how enjoyable and engaging the car feels when you’re actually driving it. The host is saying the price in the market doesn’t always match how good it is to drive.
Concept
low mileage
Low mileage means the car has been driven fewer miles than average. The host is saying that low mileage can help justify a collector price, but it doesn’t automatically mean the car is more fun to drive.
Concept
collection
A “collection” means the car is being bought to keep and preserve, not necessarily to drive every day. The host is saying collectors will pay more when there are only a few cars left in great condition.
Car
Honda NSX
The Honda NSX is a sports car made by Honda. It’s known for being fun to drive and for having a strong reputation among car enthusiasts. The podcast is talking about which years people think are especially good.
Car
Bmw I8
The BMW i8 is a BMW sports car that uses a mix of electric power and a gas engine. Here it’s mentioned as an example of a car that feels like a “big deal” because of how you physically get into it and experience it.
LIVE
Just say it's horrible what's going on everybody if you're listening to this
on the Monday, the day that it drops, which you should happy 4th of July.
Hope you guys had a great weekend, Nick.
I hope you blew all kinds of big fireworks out there in the Nevada desert.
Yeah, we have guns here.
So I don't I mean fire, fireworks or whatever we have actual.
We have cannons and tanks.
We have we full autos out here.
We have everything that George Washington only dreamt of having
when he took over to Candoroga and just snuck up.
I think we had somebody with they got pulled over with a grenade launcher.
Oh, you also you saw Strickland got pulled over with that.
Oh, no, no, here.
We had a we had a woman like, you know, with a grenade launcher, something like that.
Was she fighting over a parking spot?
I didn't get the whole story.
I didn't get the whole story.
Don't allegedly allegedly must say, hey, you're a professional.
You know, we need to say allegedly because people will get up in arms.
Yeah, I hope everybody had a good 4th, man.
It's a this a holiday for me.
That's a backyard and pool.
Yeah, that's that's kind of what I've been relegated to.
I enjoy the backyard and pool for the July.
I want to give a suggestion on what you grill real quick.
But if you are listening on the day it drops, it is the last day
to say 15 percent at the hyper clean store.com website with code July 4.
Pick up the complete detail kit if you like culture and you appreciate what we do
and also appreciate American manufacturing.
That's just a message for me.
Nick didn't force me.
There's no gun in the corner of the room that says there's no grenade launch.
A launcher forcing me to say that I tried out.
So when you grill, do you have go to seasonings that you like, like a particular brand?
I'm more of.
I think it's about the quality of the meat by and then.
For everybody that we never talked about on here, I eat steak like seven nights a week.
Yeah, I pretty much only read me as an aristocrat should.
I mean, I did, by the way, long before I was an aristocrat,
I had to buy the cheap cuts of steak to be able to eat steak.
But yeah, I don't really have go tos.
There's some stuff if I do, like if I if I smoke a brisket or if I smoke,
you know, a pork butt or something like that.
But I'm a big like, let's let's get the salt on this thing.
Like, let's, you know, maybe salt, you know, garlic powder, onion powder,
that kind of thing.
I find that a lot of like the pre packaged seasonings, I've never liked all that much.
OK, I just tried a technique that for the first time where and maybe you might think
this is like does no brainer, but salting the steak before like not drying it,
but just salting it, letting it, you know, sit in the fridge for,
I think it was a couple of hours.
I don't think we did overnight for this one and letting it really soak into the meat
and then just kind of patting it and putting on the grill.
Dude, dude, dude, it made the it made a crazy difference on the state.
Yeah. So my whole thing is I salt the day.
So I have the rotation.
Uh huh.
So whatever I'm cooking, I'm replacing it with something that I've salted 24 hours.
Do you have a preference on flaky salt, sea salt,
Himalayan or just doesn't matter.
I.
I really like the I think it's called diamond, which is what they use in like
professional kitchens and they've tested salts and, you know, this is the one,
you know, that's kind of where I've landed.
But I like Maldon and stuff like that too.
I mean, that stuff's cool and I have some of that, but I have the rotation.
So I have a steak in the fridge that's been had salt on it for 24 hours.
I pull that out and it gets replaced.
You know, I do eat a lot of, I do eat a lot of ground beef too.
Yeah.
No, the ground beef is like a staple for sure.
Yeah.
I do eat a lot of ground beef too.
But yeah, if I'm going to, to do steak, I kind of, I'm like you,
if I can just do it the day before or like, even if it's two to four hours,
12 hours, whatever I can get, I'm good.
Even though we, yeah.
Even though like you get stuff from, from an actual farm, you know,
that's good quality as do we, I will say, if you're an OG, you remember this.
If you want to skimp out a little bit, which I wouldn't even say skimp out,
but if you want to go to Costco, get the bulltube, you remember the
Missouri adventure bulltube video.
That is a good way to get a ton of ground beef.
You can just put in the freezer.
Yeah, I, I, we just had, I mean, it's a cool thing about living in Vegas is
we just had this really, really high end butcher shop that like makes
sandwiches and stuff.
It literally can throw a rock to it from my house.
These guys were like executive chefs on the strip and now they want,
now they're like attached to some ranch or two ranches.
I don't know if they bought into those ranches and whatever.
So I might, I might do a post 4th of July purchase of, of some steaks for,
cause I find the, the, the day after, you know, once, once you have the
hot dogs and the hamburgers, I sort of, I enjoy that on the fourth.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like, it's like Sunday.
I want to do something else.
It's a ceremonial thing.
You got to do it on the fourth, right?
Like a hundred percent.
Um, oh, hardcore carnival.
I was going to say the, her name, Jesse, I think most people have probably seen
her on, on Instagram, if you like meat and stuff.
She's like a meat scientist or whatever.
She actually has some shows coming out on like discovery or something like that,
her food network, but she has a whole brand hardcore carnivore.
They're black and like her black and seasoning.
And there was, there's another one that it's just, it's really good.
It just, yeah, I gotta try that.
Usually better than most that I've ever tried out of the package.
And even have like pack, they have like branded meats too.
So for the first time I got like the hardcore carnivore sausage, like
links that was like jalapeno cheddar.
Dude, it blew me away.
It was really good.
It was like stuff I'd get from like a ranch.
Yeah, I like that.
I look, I, for everybody that doesn't know, I just like when people are doing
cool shit.
So, uh, like, uh, I was listening, I couldn't listen to all of it.
I just tried to catch the pieces that were about ranching when Taylor Sheridan
was talking about his big ranch down there and how they manage it and stuff
like that, the rest of the stuff.
I don't really care much about it.
I don't care about the book or, you know, what shows you're not watching.
Any soap operas that he's making right now, I, I didn't like Yellowstone.
Oh, wow.
That's going to get some hate emails.
Yeah, sure.
I mean, first of all, I thought the sound engineer was off.
It was always low.
I buy that.
I never saw it, by the way.
So I'm not just talking shit.
And then I was like, it's a lot of shit going on.
I mean, I grew up around farms where I grew up was nothing but farm.
It's like a lot of shit going on at a farm, right?
You know, ranch, farm, whatever people, I'm like, man, a lot of stuff going on.
So it just, it just, I got through a couple of seasons and I was like,
yeah, you know, I think, I think I got my fill here.
Nothing's better than the accounts that'll make fun of the land man characters.
Usually it's like the wife and the daughter.
I just saw one this morning where it's like, she's just running around
like long blonde hair, obviously, like daddy, but it sounds like she's
saying daddy and it's like, it's so annoying, but it's so funny.
And it's very, I mean, how can you hate on Ali Larder?
How could you?
I mean, come on.
That's that's prime time.
Prime time.
All right, speaking of people, they're doing cool things.
I meant to bring this up last week, but, you know, we talked about sleight of
town, obviously, because of their pricing.
Has anybody sent you?
Have you seen these Rio trucks, this potential Rio concept?
Yeah, they are popping up a lot.
Haven't I've had some people send them to me.
Let's pull it up.
I want to, I want to look, look a little further into it.
So for those that don't know, it's essentially, so the name came from
what was originally Oldsmobile is the best way to sum it up.
And now the individual, I believe, or the group that owns just be way cooler.
If they said I was a fan of REO Speedwagon, like to me, I just think
that would be a cooler story.
Wow, what a deep cut for a lot of people.
I'm not going to lie.
Deep cut.
This is like now a group or maybe an individual that's like a real estate
entrepreneur or mogul in Dallas.
And this is kind of who's spearheading all of this.
Where's it being built?
I mean, like where did they build a factory?
Did they buy a factory?
Well, they're leaning on American manufacturing.
And I don't know if it's going to be in Dallas, but that's all I had read
was that it's it's all taking place from Dallas.
They want to come out with three vehicles, by the way, like a truck
and a larger one and maybe an SUV and the truck starting around 21 five.
And gas four wheel drive, taking it back to like the original small pickup
truck. They have a six speed manual.
Yeah.
What? What if they pull this off?
This is what I thought Slate would pull off.
I know I'm not, you know what I mean?
I'm not trying to kick them while they're kind of seems like down.
Well, not let's say something about Slate.
And I want to revisit this.
OK.
For anybody that didn't watch the Jay Leno garage Slate video, I think
you need to go watch it to kind of get this thing that I'm saying.
Slate hasn't figured out to get the right people talking inside their company.
It's no offense to the designers and the people that were involved.
They're not charismatic.
And those are like the people I still see like on influencers
that are getting access to Slate.
They still have these people.
And I'm like, this doesn't work, guys.
Like you've already had, I think it was a man and a woman in the Jay Leno video.
And you go, you guys have already stated your case.
Can we get somebody with a personality?
Yeah, yeah.
Like, are you feeling that too?
100% like, guys, this isn't.
It seems you thought about a lot and I'll give you the credit on that.
You didn't think about the messaging very well.
Yeah, that kind of was left out of the corporate meetings.
And it's no offense to these people.
It's hard to be on camera.
It's hard to be, you know, to have that skill set.
I just think you could have probably hired somebody to do sort of this rollout.
Yeah. And you know what, Rio?
I will drive up 35 to Dallas.
If you want to do a live podcast somewhere, wherever you want to, you know,
talk about this and veil some things, we're supposed to see something
at the end of this year, 2026 that we're so they have.
So essentially now they have nothing to visually see.
Not only these, these like kind of shadowy kind of concepts.
So I haven't seen anything yet.
I give me your thoughts.
So like this is this is what sucks.
And it's not really REO Speedwagon's fault here.
Is that we're all conditioned because you see the 21 five plus
right there on the pricing and 25 dollar, you know, reservation.
Yeah, that that gets me a bit worried.
That gets me a bit worried because.
As all of the people that follow us know that we always qualify everything with this,
you know, what was it?
The the XTERRA as an example, all the numbers look great.
Everyone watching this knows landed finally in production.
We just have been burnt and from the consumer side
by every company.
Nobody is immune to this, right?
I mean, can we agree on that?
No company has ever just seemingly time after time kept their word.
Maverick could be a very, you know, very big point in this that, you know,
roughly it was $20,000 and within minutes it felt like it was $30,000, right?
I would say this that number one is this company going to learn.
Stop with the T's.
You better get this out.
OK, you better because it seems like what they're trying to say is we're not the establishment.
Are you going to correct all the mistakes of the establishment?
You say there's trucks that are good at 215
You better have trucks that are good at 215
So I was showing you by the way, it better not be two years from now.
Well, that's what I'm saying.
I didn't finish.
We didn't go through the entire timeline of their anticipated, you know,
where we're going, but it's reservations are open now, right?
Models revealed Q4 of 26
The pilot builds will be validated in 27
The configurator would be open in 28 and then the first deliveries
would be 2829
That's it's not going to work.
It's not going to work.
I root for you guys.
Oh, yeah, but but it seems like you're trying to be anti establishment
while figuring out that all this stuff takes so much time.
And now you're going to have what looks like what, a three year buildup?
Yeah.
To this being released.
What is a 21000 dollar truck cost in three years, Nick?
If inflation stays at this, you can go about 10 percent a year.
So you're looking at about 275 starting price.
And then we're back to where we were at Maverick.
Still Maverick just keeps the same price for three years.
Yeah. And you know, this is we did have some reaction to this slate thing
that I want to, you know, I want to address, you know,
getting this close to Maverick's a mistake.
Maverick has paint.
Slate doesn't Maverick comes with the radio.
Maverick comes with four doors, you know, getting within a couple grand
of starting price of Maverick is not a positive.
But I know what everybody's going to say.
Well, one's gas and one's electric.
I hear you, man, but the price is the sale here is not the drive train
of any of these smaller trucks.
Speaking of like establishment and anti establishment, it's funny
because I stumbled upon a slate group.
I didn't join it, but it was on Facebook and they were posting about
how there's already an aftermarket company making like a little lift kit
for the slate and it's like 500 bucks, right?
Which is kind of crazy because it was a very simple, you know, set of parts.
So whatever, you know, it's 500 bucks.
And then the conversation was going on in that thread.
It made me think like these are the people that really want anything
to work outside of a big legacy brand like Ford.
So and them saying like, God, do we have to have four doors?
Like, why is everybody wanting four doors?
Like they're really rooting for the simple, almost nothing, but I'm still
going to pay you an arm and a leg for it and be happy.
I did it to show that something else can work.
And it's just a really bizarre way to frame.
And that's just going to be so few people.
Yeah.
Like I think slate, they've always, anybody doing this,
REO or, you know, whatever they want to be called is the same thing.
Everything in this world is an uphill battle.
You know, selling a car is not and building cars is not a highly
profitable, easy business.
Okay.
Doesn't matter what anybody thinks.
Like there's so many moving parts, suppliers, so many
regulations, all this kind of stuff.
I'm with everybody.
The issue is, is if there's a four door option within striking distance,
the consumer is going to pick the four door option.
Everybody thinks, and this is probably what you're seeing in a slate group,
that everybody wants simpler.
I'm with you.
That's not what the customer buys.
The customer largely doesn't buy base of almost any brand.
Okay.
That's why they're making these and people go, well, it's
because they make only the middle and higher trims.
It's like, no, they have the data.
You guys just let base models sit around.
You know, if it doesn't have the wheels you like, if it doesn't have this,
if it doesn't have leather, if it doesn't have whatever, the customer has
just wanted more and more and more.
And by the way, you see this in home building too.
Right.
Like you see this in everything.
There are companies that can produce a $200,000 home.
The issue becomes that people want to upgrade the countertops and people want
to upgrade the flooring and people want to upgrade.
You know, I have people that are deep in that field that go like, dude,
we have houses in this neighborhood.
They could put up for $325,000.
By the time they do all the upgrades that these people went and picked at the
design center, they're at $550,000.
Like they didn't have to do those upgrades.
And we, I have a guy who's involved with the builder.
He goes, you know how actively we tell them this flooring isn't worth it.
So I have actually had people that were savvy, uh, you know, real estate people
that they'll go into neighborhoods and new builds and they'll buy the base and
then they'll take their crews in there and rip all, all that stuff out and put
all the nice stuff in and get the house reappraised.
And it's way less than what the builder would charge.
That's, if you know what you're doing, that's the way to do it.
Right.
But this is what people don't understand.
It's like, well, I want base.
I want simple.
It's like, cool.
I think there's a tiny percentage of people that's absolutely true for.
No money is made in a tiny percentage of people.
Toyota makes $26 billion a year because they sell cars to everybody.
The car business is, unless you're in the high end of the high end, Rolls Royce,
something like that, everybody below that, and you're seeing this now with
Lamborghini and Ferrari, they're in a volume game and they're trying to
transition into the volume game.
Now, they aren't there yet.
Eurus is probably the first time.
McCann and Cayenne kind of prove this.
Like there's a real conversation.
Yes, there's a tiny percentage of people that want to buy simple.
The way that we talked about Slate is if you start talking about $20,000 and
not all in 27, that seven grand will be, will get people to, to give up some stuff.
But if it's 25, 26, five when it lands, right?
And I can go to the Ford dealership and pick up a Maverick starting price
27, five, you haven't built the spread in.
And I, and so I think this all sounds good in theory.
I thought $20,000 is where they had to be.
And I think you and I both said that.
Yeah.
And that, that volume example can also be served to dealerships franchise
dealerships as a whole.
That's why shopping nationwide and just shopping outside of your community is
really helpful because we know some dealers that are just vault like volume
first, they will lose a little bit of money even on a vehicle.
Whereas you're not going to find that maybe in your local, you know,
dealership group or whatever.
So just want to throw that in there because I don't think we're very even
tied that together.
Like some people work on the volume model specifically because they are so big
and they have that ability that you're just going to get better deals.
And you see this from people that try to broker deals online on videos and what
not.
Yeah.
I mean, there's a big difference in dealerships that are moving five or
600 cars a month and the guys that are moving a hundred.
Exactly.
They could, they could be selling the same brand, right?
So you're, you're going to see a different, we need, we're, we're here to
get the cars off the lot, right?
Cause they're going to get all the incentives from the manufacturer of
being a big producer.
There's all these backend deals and, you know, how much of plan did you hit?
And did you go over this number and every hundred cars, you get this
bonus back and stuff like that.
And so when I look at these small companies, Slate, you know, this truck
company out of Dallas, I think when you start talking about being two and
three years out, I don't think this has all played out very well for Slate.
I think this company is going to probably find the same.
What do you think is more important to the average consumer?
Like all, let's just pretend that Bonnie and Nicole are listening right now.
Our two female listeners, all the guys are looking to buy something for the
family.
Do you think the dudes more, more so care about, and it's new, we're talking
about a new vehicle here.
They care about the price as a whole or the ease of the purchase of what they
think is fair, meaning if they have a listed price and they're not going to
budge or somebody that's willing to work with them and just get them in and
out the door, it's something reasonable.
It would want the speed and reasonableness, right?
And necessarily over the price as a whole.
Yeah, I think that's probably accurate, but, but also I think everybody at
some level, even if you aren't the one daily driving it, you know, which is
you're buying it for your wife to drive around or your husband to drive around
or whoever's making the purchase, I think everybody wants to like it.
I think that's what, you know, why we see $1,200 Tahoe payments, right?
Because people just want to like it, you know, they want to like what they
drive and that's kind of how everybody that's listening to us probably feels
the same.
Yeah, I think you get into this thing like ease of purchase, then yeah, man,
I mean, you're going to go to somebody like Tesla.
Right?
It's that's the easiest purchase you can make.
You basically click a couple of buttons and they tell you when it's going
to be delivered, right?
But I think there's just a mixture and when you talk to people that have
been in the dealer world a long time, it's amazing how many people go there
with a price range and then see what's in that price range, don't like it and
upgrade $10,000, $20,000 because they want this seat package.
They want this technology package.
They want these wheels.
They want these accents on the outside.
They want.
So I think it's it's easy to say that people want the ease of purchase.
I still think at the core of it, even if somebody's not a car person, I think
everybody inherently wants to like what they drive.
They want it to look a certain way.
They have something in their head that says this is this speaks to me.
You know, people already think that we're shills for dealerships for whatever
reason, or that we're car salesmen as a as a professional or something that
we've ever been, which neither of us have.
Neither of us have.
What if we partnered up with dealerships and created like the Costco equivalent
of like this is it's the clutch culture stamp of approval.
You go to this group or this dealership and you're going to get the best, you
know, price.
Yeah, I'll start driving up and down the major highways.
Me like, guys, do you want in on a deal of a lifetime here?
Yeah, I think.
I think we could see a very big shift in the next five years.
And I don't know what's going to cause it, right?
With Tesla kind of getting out of two of their most, you know, longest lasting
models, those are gone with Rivian now coming down in price and building smaller
stuff.
This was always my argument to the the the religious fanatics about EBS, which
is you have to give people a reason to flip.
And if you think it's just a gas, that's always been the wrong theory.
It's and by the way, I've been proven right about that, because if it was all
just about gas, everybody would have flipped the EBS immediately, right?
So it proves that that's not the case.
I mean, many of these companies have lost billions of dollars on their EBS all
across the globe.
It doesn't matter.
I mean, there's higher adoption in Europe and Porsche still can't, you know,
make it work, right?
So EVs, as we sit here in 2026, the gas conversation, even though we've had
volatile gas for what the last 10, 12, 15 years, was not enough to get people.
So I always talk about this.
The issue was and still is they're not breaking through the price barriers.
So let's say I'm looking at a 55000 dollar SUV, OK?
Could be from Honda, could be from Toyota, could be for whatever.
I need the equivalent of that car in EV to be like 45 to 40.
Right. And all of a sudden now you would see mass adoption because people would
be like, well, I mean, it's 15 grand less.
Yeah. But if it's this is 55 grand and it's this comparable SUV of electric
over here is 65 grand, nobody's going to adopt it at a high level.
And to think of the conquest cost that it takes to do the flip, just give the
consumer the better price out the box and you will make it up on all the
conquest marketing and cost that you would have to try to put into it.
But you also have to remember that there's a part side to the car business,
which is the side, most profitable side.
You know, people don't love hearing this, but there's not a ton of money
made on new car sales in the ecosystem as a whole.
OK, it's all about you got to buy another alternator.
You got to buy another, you know, pulley.
You got to buy another transmission.
You got to buy another whatever. OK, name the part.
EVs, they better make it all because there's not a ton of parts that they're
going to make money off of from a legacy perspective, right?
So we all have to understand that the reason that they haven't really broken
through on the bottom side price wise is because there is no more money to make.
I mean, other than somebody 15 years down the road, maybe buying another battery pack.
What are they really selling in the parts department and and Ford and Chevy
and all these companies make a shit ton of money on parts, man.
And that's where they've been able to pull profit.
That's where they've been able to keep factories running and keep things going.
And there's all of this legacy parts business.
And so the reason that everybody looks at even guys like me, when we talk about this,
we probably haven't done a good job of realizing or stating, I should say,
not realizing that they got to make all the money on the front end,
which has never really been the new car business.
It's it's we're going to make money for decades on this car.
OK, so one car goes out, you assume it's going to be on the road for 20 years,
because that's, you know, pretty normal that all these old cars are driving around
in some form or fashion somewhere.
So somebody's going to need a part and we're going to just keep milking that same car.
Well, you can't really do that at a high level on EVs.
So the reason they haven't broke on the on the bottom side isn't just the battery cost.
It's the fact that they got to try to figure out how do we make this one time profit,
which is actually Elon Musk has been saying this to everybody about Tesla.
He goes, you know, it's a terrible business because we don't have any parts to sell.
And so for anybody thinks I'm giving an opinion here,
this is the guy that owns the company doing EVs on the highest level,
you know, throughout the United States, basically.
And for a long time globally, I'm here to tell you,
he's telling you not having a parts part of your business is the reason why this is also tough.
You know, and despite all the ups and downs of the Tesla, we'll call it brand,
and then also just Elon as a whole.
It's still fascinating to see all of the comments in any EV thread video comment section
where it's like, or it's always about whatever the video is about or the article is about,
or you could just buy the best EV ever made by the best company ever made, which is Tesla.
And I'm like, that fandom is still there, like in large amounts.
I mean, and you have to, there is, there is a lot of value in being the first heavy hitter through the door.
Yeah.
You know, everybody else had a chance at this, right?
He's the one that said, I'll build an EV company on a high level from from the get go.
I know people built other stuff along the way, Chevy and other people dip their toe in,
but he's the first one.
So there's a lot of enterprise value in being the first, right?
It's sort of like, I don't think we would all think Facebook is that great if it launched today.
True or false?
Oh, yeah.
Tom, I mean, Tom ran so that or Tom called so that market, you know, 100%.
So the first one to kind of run and get the massive amounts of users and stay on the path.
Facebook has a lot of baked in enterprise value.
But if any of us really looked at the user experience, what it's become,
if that launched today, it wouldn't even get off the ground.
What's funny is that the first movers advantage isn't typically it's just one entity in the first movers.
It's usually a couple within the like that whatever industry, not niche or whatever.
But Tesla, it's like they have the they are the first movers and that's who had the biggest advantage.
Yeah, I mean, you look, I mean, Lucid's now cut production.
They're sitting on a ton of inventory.
They've I don't know if they fired another CEO or put somebody else in charge.
You know, you got Rivian growing pains like this.
This stuff's not easy.
I know everybody likes to bang on EVs, but there's a real problem that there's no
legacy advantage of continuing to make money off these cars.
Yeah.
And as much as I'm an enthusiast to all the stuff that we talk about, I always go back to like,
I'm a business enthusiast.
I love to see how things operate and can you make it operate and, you know, to what degree
are you willing to risk it all to make it work?
And a lot of times they do end up risking it all, and it does not end up working.
And you still have to applaud the effort, you know?
No, and you have to say this.
I mean, you're kind of seeing this with Scout right now.
I mean, I was just going to say, but I want to put it put.
Yeah, put as put itself on hold by all accounts.
I mean, kind of paused everything because what it looks like is they're waiting for
the next administration to come in and hopefully that that's going to be more
EV friendly, because there's really no argument with all of their relationships
and all of their abilities globally as a huge auto group to not be already producing this car.
Yeah, and nothing says that if even if a new administration came in or things
changed that the Americans pocketbook would just open up wider for their cost
for whatever they're going to ask for it.
Just that's true.
That's true.
And EVs still have the bacon problem.
You guys have been listening to us since 2024.
The baked in problem is still there.
They're not affordable enough for what people want.
Yeah, right.
And I heard I'll give a shout out to Doug Demiro.
I think he had a great thing on EVs.
He's like, look, there's still a rich people car largely because you have to have at home charging.
You have to have all this infrastructure and I get it.
You can go out and charge other places, but people don't find that convenient.
Certainly not as convenient as a gas station for whatever anybody wants to say.
That's the facts.
So I think he's exactly right.
And it's also clouding the judgment of a lot of these companies
and they're like, well, rich people just keep buying it.
And I go back to electric G wagon.
It proves that's not the case.
Yeah, very true.
Like that's the one that should have hit of all the ones that should have hit.
That's the one that should have hit.
And honestly, it's the biggest shocker to me.
100% of all the vehicles.
By the way, that's probably the biggest shocker launch failure
since you and I have been doing this podcast.
100%.
Because it was around that time.
And to me, as somebody who is the complete opposite of Nick
and I'm usually not rational about the EV conversation, it checked every box.
It looked just like it a G wagon.
The things that they got rid of on the G wagon, it's like, this still looks good.
It was nobody who's buying a G wagon cares about the price point.
No, exactly.
You know what I mean?
So it's like, you just thought this was going to work.
And by all accounts, good driving experience, just like a G wagon,
everything felt like a G wagon reviews.
They had everything going in their direction.
And everybody was like, nah, I'm good.
I don't want that.
That's one of those, it must be studied.
Like in another decade, it'd be like, what happened to the baby G?
What happened to that little EVG wagon?
Yeah, yeah.
No, it's 100%.
Like that is one of the wildest things.
And I root this company on in Dallas.
I hope it all works.
Again, this long drawn out timeline and all of this build up.
We don't see that work, not in the modern era.
What used to work in 2005, 2010, 1999, I think people are misunderstanding
in these car companies.
You can't keep teasing things for two and three years and keep people's interest.
I think the slate interest has fallen off dramatically.
What we were seeing when they launched compared to now there's prices,
now they're talking about delivery, we're seeing a dramatic effect to the downside of interest.
And if I see one more video of what you can fit into that frunk, I'm going to lose my mind.
It was cool at first, caulking and sand.
But now we got hockey pucks and all kind of, you know, blown up balls or whatever.
Like, hey, hey, hey, we need some.
I tell you, I'll go back and people can disagree with me.
They really should have hired some people to be on camera.
They really should have hired some people.
Especially when you're going to go with a bang on Leno, you know, it's Leno.
Yep.
And here's what I'll say.
I didn't have a problem with the designers because of the Leno vibe.
And he's good with questions and he's good at directing an interview.
Yeah.
Edit it, bring in another segment.
But I got a different, different view.
When you're, when you're now in TikTok land, you know, short Instagram videos, YouTube shorts,
just get somebody charismatic.
Yeah, like just get somebody cares.
I'll allow the Jay Leno thing.
That's what I'm saying to you.
I'll allow that.
I'll allow it.
Because I was like, but you had to do the other stuff.
Yeah.
Like go pick one of the Landman characters, put her in the slate.
You would have built enough runway to like last two or three years.
How about you call Margot Robbie and say, there we go.
See, a true gentleman, good pull.
Love me some Margot Robbie.
Yeah, we all do.
She might have made too much money on Barbie.
I mean, she might just be like, but I mean, Clooney does commercials.
You know what?
As she should though.
As she should.
I'm not mad.
I'm never mad.
Well, I have this conversation in my house all the time.
I don't like seeing Tom Brady do tostitos commercials.
Feels like it's beneath you, dog.
You've told me this and I disagree.
I'm just going to say it.
No.
Like should George Clooney be in Nespresso commercials?
I just think it damages your brand.
Should Derek Jeter be doing Capital One commercials?
No.
Should Samuel L. Jackson be doing Capital One commercials?
Well, Samuel L. Jackson, OK.
I can see.
Like he's not considered by a lot of people to be this.
He's sort of just been in a lot of movies and people like him or whatever.
But if you're Tom Brady and I always give this people, you know,
and they always bring up like the Haines commercials
and the McDonald's commercials with your boy Michael Jordan.
But I go, but once he became the goat.
He disappeared.
He disappeared.
Yeah.
Like the goat doesn't do tostitos commercials.
It would be pretty cool though.
Watch this time and soon next Super Bowl,
you're going to see Tom Brady and Michael Jordan do a tostitos.
I know.
And I'll be like, oh, I'm a whole theory.
Turn it off.
Yeah.
I can't watch it.
It's hurting my eyes.
Yeah.
No, I they should have gotten some slate.
You guys should have gotten somebody.
It's not too late.
You know, we might do a couple of ads for you.
You know, I think Wahlberg is always tough.
You can always hire Wahlberg.
That's true.
That's true.
He's like, you know, he's putting a gym right by my crib.
Is it really nice?
Oh, yeah.
Like this big gym build out.
I got to have the hyperbaric chambers and the cryo.
My man was a big cryo proponent.
Appreciate you, Mark Wahlberg.
All right.
We got to we got to shift real quick.
We were talking about these little trucks,
but it's doing the same kind of conversation.
Shout out to low miles, no miles.
So if you're an OG listener,
you know the least referenced their Instagram page a lot
early on in the show.
Yeah.
About a week ago, not even maybe 34 days ago,
they had a video on their channel, on their Instagram,
and it was none other than Mr. Stone Cold Steve Austin,
the rattlesnake.
What?
He's selling his 87 Toyota pickup truck.
It goes on.
The auction starts January 9th.
So this Thursday, when you listen to the show,
Nick, this is the exact same truck.
Well, not the same truck,
but the exact same color year, the same Toyota pickup truck
that I learned to drive manual when I was a kid.
I got to tell you, man, these are so cool.
I love it.
They're so cool, man.
Like this is and I know what everybody's going to say
is that we just talked about how people don't really want this.
You know, they really would.
But I always go back to you're a person.
I'm a person that was around these trucks,
Ford Rangers, Toyotas, name the brand Mazda back in the day.
These are so goddamn cool.
Same interior color.
This is exact.
This is where if you've heard me reference the cow feed,
it was always like this.
The passenger seat always had bags and bags of cow feed
that I'd go feed the cows in.
And the entire truck just smelled like sweet feed.
This is, I mean, dude, and then so on the video,
you should guys should go watch it on their channel.
It's Stone Cold doing the walk around talking about the truck.
It was a project he picked up in California.
It's a one owner truck.
Really cool.
And it's like and Stone Cold reminds me a lot of my dad
for good and bad reasons.
If you ever watch the documentary Stone Cold of how like,
you know, shitty he was when he was on the road early on,
some of those elements stick out in bad ways to me.
But again, that's for therapy talk.
Yeah, yeah.
This isn't therapy.
Yeah, yeah.
No, no, this is car talk.
But it really like struggle court.
It's like, man, the nostalgia of certain cars
just take you right back to a place.
Like this is this is ultimate cool.
This is very cool, man.
This is this is like a no crack.
I had the same crack dash.
Is it cracked right there?
It is.
Oh, it is.
Got it.
You're gonna have to get a 3D printer on that.
Yep.
See, look, yeah.
Oh, man.
The tourists, man.
They just you can never avoid it.
You know, Chevy knows the struggle.
Yeah.
I uh, I just don't know why all of us and I think it's like you
said, nostalgia, you were around them.
They're just so goddamn cool.
Yeah.
Because we just don't have anything like this now.
No, no.
Right.
So like if you had an evolution of this now inside the
Toyota brand or whoever's small truck, I think you would
feel a lot different.
You'd be like, yeah, it's kind of cool, but I'll just
get the updated one that what adds to the cool is like,
this isn't available here.
Yeah.
Like nothing of the lineage like that's all be clear.
The new Tacoma is not the successor.
Oh, no.
Like, so it's just such a cool thing, man.
Like, and there's something about those like retro bad paint
jobs that you just go, we just don't have anything like that
now.
I like how you say retro bad paint jobs.
I think that's a spectacular color and in combination inside
and out.
Yeah.
You go to the dealership today when you got your after you
go, hey, do you have ship brown?
This is more like vanilla ice cream with a little bit of
coffee mixed into it.
Do you have some eggs that have gone bad?
Color?
Duck eggs, preferably.
Give me that nice color.
Go her and shout out.
So by the way, it starts the ninth, like I said, and it's
going to run through the 16th.
So market calendar.
Watch it.
See, go watch Stone Colds video.
Watch the walk around.
This is what I hope this this Ario Speedwagon company can
make something like this.
I agree.
Yeah.
100%.
Like this is the these rule always.
How many do you think are left like this?
In this condition?
None.
I mean, I was surprised to see this when I saw it.
I mean, aren't 99% of these in Mexico now?
Yeah.
Well, it was in California where he picked it up.
So you know where it came from.
But I'm saying all the American ones, aren't they down
there now?
I mean, when I've been down there, I see a lot of these.
And they're still in the countries and some in the
rural areas that are still just rich.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is this is all time cool.
And what makes it cool is nobody did anything crazy here.
No, he literally just I showed it earlier.
He added some speakers in the back, some little like
six by nine or something in like a new stereo.
That's it.
Yeah, man.
This is cool.
But I'll be interested to see what it goes for.
Oh, same.
I'm keeping an eye on it and we'll talk about it again
the following week when when it's sold and there's no
reserve on it.
Just go follow it for fun or buy it actually buy it
and then let us know that.
Buy it and just take a driving video so we can
live through you.
Clip on the camera and do like a POV if you're driving,
you know, 60 miles an hour.
Let me tell you what happens if you get in an accident
in this thing.
No, no, no.
Hey, it's a rat.
We don't talk about that.
It is a rat.
How is that any worse than a smart car though?
Buddy, I never told you to buy a smart car.
Well, I'm just saying I'm just telling you this car,
this truck right here, you get into an accident.
It's a rat.
It's trouble.
This is no crumple zone.
You said a phrase right now that I want to go back to
about, you know, they're not making cars like this anymore.
I have a note about peak cars.
But first, I didn't bring it up because I thought it was silly,
but Fiat is bringing those little, I forgot what they're called,
man.
Maybe you've seen it, but it's like the tiny little Fiat car.
It's like a Manila Tapia, something or other little EV.
Why Fiat?
Why?
It's not right for here.
I mean, maybe you could say San Francisco, New York, Miami.
You'd have to have, you know, if you lived in downtown Austin,
which is what, 1% of Austin.
I mean, you just don't have, I mean, damn, you definitely
couldn't drive it in Houston.
You get yourself killed.
That's worse than this little Toyota is what I'm trying to say.
Let me, I got it.
Now I just got a fine.
I just to show you because, okay, I actually found it really quick.
Ah, I did it again.
This stupid update.
Look at your boy.
Struggling.
Check it out.
Fiat shows.
Producer Polly.
The caption is like, make yourself on what is an air all spritz
and enjoy this, you know, Eurocentric, whatever.
What are we doing?
It's got a like a rollable soft top up there.
I would say this, throw in the towel Fiat.
You've tried and you gave it an effort.
Like I'm not bashing you gave it an effort.
Their official page blurred out them coming off of the
boats.
It's like, yeah, you don't have to blur that out, dog.
This isn't some kind of like special vehicle.
I'm not sure I'd be blurring them out.
Yeah, again, we'll go back to what media team goes,
you know what we should do, blur these out.
It's like, no, I don't, I don't think you should.
Well, they also have the camel on top of it, which is even worse.
Who made this decision?
Yeah, I don't know.
Ricky in the marketing department.
Yeah, well, Ricky, Ricky Martin needs to find a new job.
Ricky Martin.
That's who would drive that, by the way.
That's your folks.
Is it my folks though?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Fake news.
You made a comment earlier, which I wanted to get back to,
because I was listening to somebody talk about tech
and something completely unrelated, but they turned out to be a car fan,
or a car, you know, fanatic.
And they made this comment about how we've reached in our like cresting over
what is like peak car culture type of cars,
that are actually cars that people want to buy.
And now's the time to buy those cars that you want to enjoy,
because they're not making any more of them.
You've said this for two years almost.
We've said it both.
And I think it's really time that we go back and harp on,
if you want to have anything that you can buy later,
there is a certain way that we need to be maintaining these cars.
Your LX, my Raptor, even your, obviously your BMW.
I would even say that the earlier GTIs and Golfs and Golf Fars,
because dude, I'm so convinced after seeing
especially shit like this from Fiat,
and what Audi's doing, what do I show you without,
like it's gone.
We have to stay siloed in a way, in a good way,
of like how to care for these cars,
how to watch out for them,
how to like sell them at reasonable prices, even,
I don't know, my mind was just kind of everywhere
when I saw some of the stuff coming up
and some of the stuff that we're just never going to see again.
Well, it's like the BMW X5 on bail.
That was on the list.
That hits home with me because I literally had like a,
I owned a BMW X5 to like save my life.
Really?
Yeah.
Guy hit going 80.
I was, I was stopped in California,
guy going full speed,
hit us from the back, stopped,
by the way, signs everywhere the traffic was stopped.
One of those, one of those cones, everything,
hits the back of us, crumples their brand new car
with 30 day plates on big SUV, Buick SUV actually.
Crumples it, dude, I end up having to have
like a bunch of stuff done on my hip.
But dude, we, I took that X5.
I was in the far left lane.
If anybody's ever driven in California,
there's 8,000 lanes on every highway.
Get all the way across to the shoulder.
I mean, our car was totaled, but we were safe.
I mean, we, so when I see the new X5,
I go back to, man, I loved my X5.
Like I love that car because like, dude, it literally like,
it was, you know, it's, it's a German tank the way they used to.
And look at that.
27 BMW X5 enters a new era.
Like how do you spell it?
How about the, how about the Twitter X
on the front for the headlights?
222 X's, yeah.
I mean, they obviously didn't see the X.com logo.
They're just like, yeah, let's just do that on this.
It sucks, man.
It sucks.
I don't care what anybody says.
Like this is,
this deserves a nickel.
Yeah, I've had, I have a lot of fondness for X5.
For anybody that's ever been in a serious car accident,
you remember the cars you're in if they performed, right?
I don't care if it's Chevy or Ford or whatever you're like, dude,
I'm so glad I was driving this vehicle.
By the way, when that car was totaled, this is an exact quote.
We've never seen a car this clean.
It's in our notes from our,
Oh, you mean the actual cleanliness from our jester.
And we got a pretty penny.
I got more for that car than I paid for that car.
No way.
When it was totaled.
Yeah.
What year were we talking?
It was when I got in the wreck.
Yeah.
It was like 2012 or 2013 maybe.
Yeah, something like that.
Maybe like 2015 could have been,
yeah, 2015 sounds more accurate.
And I had a 2008 BMW X5, I believe.
And it's crazy to think that that 08 just seems like more of a tank,
which it's probably not,
but it might be actually more of a tank than anything we'll find today in the X5 world.
Yeah, it was, look, man, that thing, it saved our life.
I can't, I can't express what it looked like when we saw their car and it was gnarly.
Damn.
It was gnarly.
Like it was really, really crazy.
I don't remember.
I don't remember.
I just remember when they gave us the offer.
So we took it to a tow yard.
The jester goes out the next day.
She writes all these notes, gives us an offer.
I couldn't accept it fast enough.
I was like, yes, yes, you know, it was like.
Where do I sign?
You need my fingerprint as well?
Yeah, it was like early app, you know, when you got all your messages through it.
I was like, yep, yep, like how do we get this checked?
Like it was, and the notes on the car, this is a reason to keep your cars pristine.
I'm telling you, we probably got another, if I remember right, 25 to 2800 bucks that we shouldn't have gotten.
Wow.
Like, but they took everything into account, you know, and we didn't have to argue.
And it's like they knew I was going to argue.
Like, hey, wait a minute, you guys need to do this on excellent shape, you know, not good shape.
And but the lady was perfect about it as an adjuster.
She was just like, this, this car was in pristine condition.
We're going to give you the price for that.
Like, look, maybe it was all luck, but I'm just telling you, like, there is a value to all of this.
So I actually, that was one of the first cars that I did most of the work on it.
Like I, I changed the valve cover gasket.
Boy, did that take me a long time as somebody who's never changed a valve cover gasket.
In early 2000s to you that you didn't have a Chris fixed at the gist river, you know,
buddy, I'll admit this.
I'm in my garage and a lot of f bombs, a lot of f bombs.
I, I got it done.
I got it done correctly.
Okay.
I was very proud of myself.
But for all of you that have done all that type of work for a guy that has worked on other
sides of the car business, I, I was more sad that I had put so much work into it than the accident.
If you were to film that, you probably would have became famous just by being the guy that
like did that.
I gotta tell you something, man.
I was, it was a very humbling experience for me.
Have you seen the videos of like dads crashing out at the most common things around the house?
That dude that's changing the light bulb.
Oh, that did.
Motherfuck, I hate this house.
I hate this house.
It's so true too.
It's like, and if you guys aren't built that way, then congratulations.
But I'm definitely built that way where I'm just like, I just, I can still remember
the tools I had, the stuff I ordered, the, I, you know, that's why I have a lot of respect
for great mechanics, you know, because the shit's not easy.
I was definitely also built that way, identical to my father.
And then, you know what, I just kind of talk myself out of it.
What I'll do is just, I'll just, I'm going to be the bigger man.
You know what?
You're going to stay right there.
I'm not going to work on you anymore.
I'm just going to turn around.
I'll finish you when I want to finish you.
How about that?
I'm not, I'm not going to drive this thing for weeks.
Yeah.
I'm not putting this crib together.
You know what?
You can sleep on the floor.
I'll put you together when I want.
100%.
We're, we're now in the phase with my daughters where they're trying to move
their beds into the same room.
That's, you know what I mean?
So it's like, I'm like, yeah, that's what you guys want to do.
I don't, I mean, I don't care.
There's going to be no room in this room.
You know, I'll put both the beds in.
I'm also not helping you do it.
If you want to move, you become a mover right now.
That's what you're doing.
Yeah.
No, it's, it's like I said, man, it's
I really, when I see the X5, one of the really
painful things to me is because I have that story.
Yeah.
So I see this and I go, I don't really know who's going to buy this.
I, they're going to sell some of them.
We just go back to the fact of why are you so far down this road of design language like that,
that I just don't think looks all that good.
No.
And I was trying to find somebody from our discord.
Um, I think it was Mr. Sloth.
I can't remember.
Sorry, man.
I don't have it in front of me, but he actually said hot take.
I like the way it looks.
And the, the kidney grills reverting back to like an older BMW.
I wouldn't know which one.
I'm not the biggest BMW aficionado.
Yeah, it is, is a, but I think there's something's really hard for any car design.
When you try to go back as far as they're trying to go back and you have all of these
new dimensions that are so much bigger, I think it is hard to pull off.
I understand where they're trying to go.
I just don't think that front end looks good.
Maybe if the lights had been different, you'd kind of distract you from the kidney.
Yeah.
Like if they didn't put the LEDs in the kidney grill, that I've also never been a fan of
like the strips to go across the entire hood or the lights that light up.
I thought those were cool for five seconds and I'm like, what am I talking about?
Yeah, no, that's just me.
I can see where people do like this.
Like I'm not so like against it that I can't see.
It's got cool body lines.
When you see it from like that three quarter angle, you know, off the front,
there's definitely cool.
Like right there, that looks pretty good.
Yeah, maybe it's the color too.
Like that's, it looks more separated.
When I go back up to the green one, there, it doesn't look like it should be.
I think it's a, a different package.
Oh, maybe.
Right.
But I think when they do that three quarter shot or, you know, for any of you photographers
out there, you would know better what it's called.
But yeah, I think that looks good.
It's not my style, which is kind of what I'm referencing.
Like I just don't, it doesn't resonate with me, but I could see why people think this looks good.
You know what I mean?
Like it's in that modern, modern design.
It's just a matter of if you kind of like that or not.
Yeah.
And I'm trying to convince myself to like really look at things and objectively try to just
let it sit in the brain a couple of times before you comment on it.
And I've come to like some of the, like even the previous, you know, M cars, the,
what was it, the G80s versus.
So you came around on the lucha, you heard it here first.
Rob's going to defend the lucha.
I said some, not abominations, you know, not abominations.
By the way, did you see the email going around where the Ferrari guy, the Ferrari customer?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
I did actually.
That was about, about feeling bad for them having to reach out to say, I'm going to sell this,
you know, abomination, essentially.
Yeah.
You're right.
I totally forgot about that.
Yeah.
And he goes, he wrote back and goes, you don't feel bad.
You reached out, you know, like and, and.
For everybody that has not been around these Ferrari people that can get whatever they want,
for him to send that email back and then to make it public,
that wouldn't have happened 10 years ago.
No, that guy said, I'm burning the votes.
I don't care.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He, and he's, and he's not going to lose and they're like, well, you know,
if you don't buy one, you're not going to lose your spot in line.
You're not going to miss allocations.
And the guy kind of basically said, that's BS, you know, what are we doing here?
You've damaged the brand.
This is about as bad as something could go.
Yeah.
And you know, when you, when you work with people like that to a degree,
it actually for some of them, at least not all of them, they think to themselves,
I put so much money in this brand of my money to build it up to what I thought it was and
everyone thought it was and it was respected around the world.
And you did that with it.
They're like, fuck that.
They feel, they feel personally.
Slighted.
Yeah.
They feel slighted.
Yeah.
They, they, they definitely do.
And you know, how many of you, if you spent millions upon millions of dollars,
I don't care how much money you have, you'd feel the same way.
Like it says, I mean, all of us are like, hey, I like this one car and now the new one looks
like shit and we feel disrespected and we've only ever bought one of them.
Right.
Especially when you take into account the rollout and the cost of the rollout for the
celebrities that he used, the athletes that they used, everything they did, you're like,
there's no way you spent all that on this abomination.
Yeah.
And now having to play damage control and then I saw somebody out of Florida,
I forget who it was, who's, who's been a long time and, and in his profile says Ferrari ambassador.
So take this with a grain of salt.
He started putting out numbers like, you know, the first 88 have been sold overseas.
And it's like, but this isn't the hill to die on.
Like this, this will ruin your name along with it.
Along with, by the way, this is just a small jab to somebody that nobody will ever hear about.
Some EV company that commented on one of the recent videos talking about the U.S.
market and pulling out their EV bikes or something like that.
We just talked about how China doesn't even sell or make the money for Mercedes that America does.
Relax.
All right.
It's way more.
Oh, was it the Maserati video?
Or he's like, you know, by the way, Maserati is bankrupt.
That's what it was.
There's no leg to stand on.
Like they need to sell cars in the U.S.
For anybody confused out there, let me make something very clear.
The money maker is the United States market.
Yeah.
And for brands that aren't in here and they found a way to, you know, exist in other countries,
great for them.
But there's a reason why they're not called Toyota or Honda or Ford or Chevy.
And you don't know them as household names is because they're not in the biggest market in the world.
Now, all of this can change in the next decade.
I'm not saying that can't happen.
I'm not saying that people won't find a home in China and make all this money or an India or whatever.
I'm not saying any of that.
What I'm saying is, is we sit here in 2026.
If Maserati sells 100 of these cars in the U.S., it's a failure.
Fiscally.
It's not my opinion.
Yeah.
They have to sell thousands in the U.S.
Again, the very educated way of saying it.
What I'm saying is, come on.
If they don't sell it here, come on.
It's over.
All right.
They're not selling more.
India is not making their pockets grow.
All right.
Yeah, not a big Maserati market.
Nope.
No, it's not.
But Audi might be for China.
There was an interesting article by Motor1 that their chief executive,
it was a chief technical officer, had a little write up.
And they were talking about the global car.
So when you hear the word global car, who do you think of first that makes a global car platform?
Toyota.
Exactly.
Same, right?
So they said, or he said, I think the idea of the global car, so one car that fits the world,
this is gone.
To be honest, because it's not fitting anyone in the U.S. and in China,
you need to kind of be local for local, have a local for local pillar.
Who's been saying that since we got on this podcast?
Isn't that interesting?
Somebody hire me.
And this is for somebody that doesn't need to be hired.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm like, yeah, this is exactly where the market is going to become segmented by
by country.
No question.
And we've already had this, right?
So if you think about the European market all these years versus the U.S.
market, it was always segmented, right?
It was always walled off.
If you ever visited Europe, here's the cars that were in Europe.
Here's the cars that were in the U.S.
I think they're publicly saying it now for shareholder education more than consumer education
is like, because, you know, Volkswagen is basically going to come on to the North American
land in a big way by this big Mexican manufacturing plant.
So I think they're trying to tell their shareholders, we don't have a choice anymore.
Yeah, expectations are going to be changed a bit here.
Yeah, we need to put manufacturing on the shores of North America.
We need to put manufacturing in Europe.
We need to put manufacturing in China and they need to serve those markets,
which, by the way, is kind of what every big manufacturing company who doesn't build cars
has basically been doing for the last 10 to 15 years.
So if you look at one of the biggest industrial companies out, and you know the person I'm
referencing here in my life, they moved all of their manufacturing out of China when they were
one of the biggest industrial companies in China.
The only things left in China serve China.
That's all they serve.
They don't serve the rest of, you know, they don't, they don't ship much to Australia.
They don't ship much to India.
They don't ship much to the rest of the world.
They now have, and by the way, you're talking about 20 factories across China at one point.
Now they're down to 10.
Yeah, and it wasn't just 10 served that market and it was just served China.
Yeah, absolutely.
And it wasn't just the COVID era.
A lot of people go to will COVID showed a lot of people like, no, no.
It's been happening way before.
Yeah, yeah, roughly about 15 years, you know, by all accounts about 15 years.
Number one, it started because China didn't become cheap to do business.
No, it became more expensive.
It started to get expensive.
Then you had all kind of the export problems for anybody that's never dealt with that stuff.
Getting things off the dock, there was a cost.
Getting things where moving was a cost.
And so as you put all of this stuff together, and by the way,
all of your executives went to U.S. schools, so they had U.S. demands salary wise.
And now all this, you see what I'm saying?
Like for anybody thinking this was COVID, this started a decade before COVID with slowly moving
out manufacturing that serves the market.
Now a lot of that stuff has moved to India and Vietnam and places like that.
That's all true.
But what's going to end up happening is they're going to develop the India market
and they're just going to have factories there that serve there.
And I think Volkswagen is showing you this.
By coming on shore in North America even further than they are,
they're telling you we just need to have these factories serve these things.
And we talked about this months ago.
So the Audi brand is Audi, but without the rings.
And it's exclusive to China and it's catering to what they know the Chinese market wants.
Longer wheelbases, comfortable cars.
And this isn't a place too where China, they're known for EVs, right?
And they're still trying to and are competing because the nameplate, it's still a German brand.
It still has some sort of, I guess you can call it like brand recognition that they actually like.
And if they can have an option that's well, that's why Buick exists.
I mean, let's not forget Buick only exists because China exists.
Shout out.
And what who really got hurt by the tariffs of any American manufacturer was Buick.
Because they, they had kind of found this niche.
We were seeing them more and more.
You and I were talking about it for a couple of weeks.
It was funny.
Yeah, there's like, there's a lot of small Buicks driving around your city.
That kind of came to a halt because they couldn't get these cheap because stuff's
being built in China and was being brought over here and, you know, for their really small SUV.
So the only thing that I think is going to be interesting here is any diplomatic relationship
that goes south, you could lose all of China overnight.
So let's say Mercedes, Audi, Chevy, doesn't matter the company, right?
Puts money into China and then diplomatically something happens between Germany and China.
They'll just be like, you can't sell this stuff here anymore.
And all of a sudden you, I mean, that stuff can, that stuff happens all the time.
Yeah.
Right.
So, but I don't think right now you're going to ever see Audi or Mercedes ever really get,
you know, what, five to 15% of revenue is probably going to come out of these submarkets.
China being the biggest one.
Mercedes is what?
15% and falling and falling.
So they're going to be sub 10%.
They're going to have no choice but to say we have Mercedes, China,
North America, we have Mercedes, India, we have, I mean, even in some cases,
things like Mercedes, Australia, you know, and we only build vans and stuff like that there.
And that's the only thing we really do in that marketplace.
Maybe we do some other stuff.
Maybe we import some things.
But I think it's going to become a very segmented global.
It's going to go from this global economy to this very localized country economy for these
car brands long term.
I don't think that can happen overnight in no way, shape or form, but it's going to become localized.
Well said.
And you've been saying it for a long time.
So it's funny to hear a brand like Audi really.
I don't know why Audi didn't call me.
Could have called me years ago.
Should have called you a long time ago.
Now that I'm like, Hey dude, here we go.
Maybe update your design.
10 years price is not today's price, by the way.
We're going to speed run through a couple more stories out here, but I will say we're
going to do like a pretty heavy email listener question show here pretty soon.
So I'll have some Harry, Daniel, Ryan, a bunch of people send those.
ClutchCulturePodcast at gmail.com.
If you want to stack on top of those emails or hit us up in the discord or join us at clutch.club.
Because we got to do a double week.
We're going to do a double week.
Nick Scott, some plans and business trips and whatnot.
So we've never missed an episode.
Nick's done stuff out of hotels, by the way.
So we never missed an episode.
By the way, random question.
If you had to pick a Barrett Jackson or one of these, actually it was Barrett Jackson.
Somebody asked me, where would you go?
Would you go to Scott's?
I think it's Scottsdale, Vegas.
Scottsdale.
Scottsdale, that's what I thought.
Yeah.
If you go to Barrett Jackson, if you want to go to the best experience,
to have the one-off experience of your life, you go to Pebble Beach.
Okay.
But Scottsdale, if you're going to Barrett Jackson.
Yeah.
If you're going to Barrett Jackson, go to Scottsdale.
Gotcha.
All right.
There you go.
Question answered for our listener.
Oh, Chevy, the new Corvette with the 6.7 can now do 200 miles an hour in the base stingray.
Jesus Christ.
And do you know what's going to start at?
What price it won't break supposedly?
It's not going to break 100 grand?
It's not going to break 75.
Holy shit.
What are we doing here?
Are they the best?
Are they the best?
Come on, America.
You're going to see C8 Corvette, the early editions go down in value big time.
So the entry-level stingray has 535 horsepower from the 6.7 V8.
Wow.
Can now reach double century mark without breaking 75,000.
Pretty sweet.
I just don't know how anybody hates on this platform.
It's crazy.
I mean, I think I'm out of words.
Just go, like, dude, they have just, I mean, this has got to be celebrated.
They literally have just said F it.
Yeah, this is so cool.
Yeah, we're going to do whatever we want to do.
Like that, they've done it right, man.
Let me give you the exact number.
For such a big break from what they used to do,
like design-wise, it's unbelievable.
It starts at 73495.
That sounds like you get a lot for 73-based stingray.
In this world, yeah.
Yeah, yep.
Very cool.
Yeah, that's very cool.
Shout out Chevy.
By the way, any bites on one of the BMW and two?
Have you found the dream wagon?
Are you tracking any dream wagons?
Haven't been looking too hard at wagons, but yeah, I've had some people contact me and
some interested parties and some back and forth.
So anybody who's interested, you know, a check of 43,000,
I'll replace.
I got to fix the back tent.
I'll put some new mats in there for you to make sure it arrives where it needs to.
Fresh detail, all that kind of stuff.
But look, man, I have to say this, and this isn't about my car.
If you're sitting on the sidelines, this, you're going to get left behind.
Yeah.
If it seems insurmountable now, in five years even, it'll be like,
there's no way I'm ever getting the car I wanted experience.
Yeah, it's a real, because you've got to realize the next cars to start falling
price-wise are the 60s and 70s, not the ones that are so popular,
not the late 80s, 90s, early 2000s.
Those aren't falling, right?
60s and 70s falling for the most part.
You know, that's the next lineage to start falling in price.
You're a long way before those late 90s, early 2000s, you know, up to 2010 start to fall.
So I would tell you guys, and whatever platform you like,
and I'm not talking about the stuff that's out of your reach, like, oh,
I'd love to have this and it's 480 grand and I got $32,000 to spend.
We're not talking about that.
But like, if you have $32,000 to spend, you better go get in on a platform that you like.
If it's in that price range right now, because I don't know where all this stuff can go.
Oh, yeah. It's platform dependent, obviously, but some of them will.
And I'm trying to find a screenshot it.
So I found one more, is it?
No, I don't have it.
I found one more Ruby Red SuperCAD like the one I have.
It's the exact same color at the whole spec.
It is $50,000.
Whoa.
And same mileage.
It had 45, I got mine with 44, four months ago, almost five months ago now,
four months ago.
And I got it for 35.
There's a whole podcast on it.
If you guys want to go listen to it, it's 50 now.
Hey, somebody offers me 50.
Do I sell it?
Yeah, of course.
Okay, okay.
Yeah, I mean, don't be crazy.
I mean, yeah, we're, I'm in it for a fun time, not a long time.
There we go.
Hey, shout out, George.
Oh, here for a good, good time, not a long time.
Yeah, no, I will say to everybody, man, I just think there's a lot of people,
sort of like all these people for the last five years that have sat on the sidelines of
house prices, and they're like, oh, everything's going to dramatically fall.
And it's like, no, it just went up.
Like there's a supply and demand issue.
Now, can you see these things reverse?
We've had some things reverse in the sun belts, Arizona, you know, Las Vegas, where
you've seen prices stabilize on houses, but they've stabilized at a price that's much higher
five years later.
I'm not talking to people that aren't in the position to buy a house at that time.
But I know a lot of people who are in a position to buy a house that thought they were going
to outsmart the market.
And they go, well, see now prices.
I go, no, no, prices are stabilizing at the elevated level that's way higher than five
years when you could have bought the house.
What's the phrase?
Is it like date the rate, marry the house or marry the price?
I don't remember what it was.
Yeah, I mean, you date the rate because you can always refinance.
Like if the rate falls, you can refinance.
And there's some people that got 7%, and let's say you can get, you know,
at times you could have gotten 5.8, you know, you could have refinanced down.
I just think there's one of these, and the way I feel about cars is I feel about houses.
I don't marry any of it.
They're always building more.
Just stone cold killer all the way around.
Yeah, like it just, you know, now I may be making a move in the next couple years that
is sort of like a dream house scenario.
That's not the majority of the market though.
Yeah.
You know, that you're not really buying, you know, most of you who dream of buying a
F430, but you're in the $50,000 price range.
Well, guess what?
That's just not in the cards today, right?
Like, so it's not your dream, you know, not everything's a dream car, a dream house,
a dream anything, like it's a nice place to live and you like it.
You have a nice car, you like driving it, you like the platform.
But I do think there's a lot of people, and I would kind of say this pertains to
under 100, under 75, under 50.
If you can get into something you love and you've already seen the last five years that
it started to inch up, don't expect that it's going to inch far down.
Yeah.
That's kind of my point.
If you're in that F430 dream club, like by all means dream, but that's like saying
India is going to be Marasarati's biggest seller, you know, like that's the illiterate realistic
here.
Well, and I, you know, I do say this to people like, dude, I want you to get the F430.
Yeah, for sure.
I want you to get the A12 or whatever the hell you want.
But if you're in the price range you're in today and you go, man, I really like this platform.
I have 50 grand to spend.
They're right around 50 grand.
If your thought process is you're waiting for something to happen for it to go back down to 25,000,
just remember if that happens, the likelihood you're going to want to spend that 25,000 is very
little because you're going to be worried about the global economy collapsing.
See, that's the thing people don't talk about.
And I have said a lot on this podcast.
I was there in 2008, 9, 10 and 11.
I was in cities that saw massive price collapse.
I also saw everybody's behavior like, well, I don't want to buy that.
So it's really nice in 2026 to go wish I could have bought a house in 2008.
You wouldn't have bought it, dog.
I watched people smarter than most people just sit on the sideline because they were worried.
They didn't really need to be worried, but they were.
It's human nature.
That's why most people don't really day trade well.
It's because they panic.
The market goes down, they sell, they lose all their money because they panicked, right?
If you just stay in the market for an extended period of time, that's how you win, right?
So I think this is one thing I want to say to people is I do think if asset prices fell,
stock market goes down 20, 30, 40%.
You could see some of these cars come down a bit.
All could happen.
We've stated that.
I think a lot of people are waiting for their dream car to come down by 50%.
And it's like, but I don't see that with the supply and demand we have now.
Could it happen?
Yes.
Total collapse, total deep recession.
But guess what?
That means you're not going to spend money.
We have a lot of big problems if that's the case.
50%.
And you're not going to want to, I mean, maybe you have to use your money to survive.
Exactly, yeah.
You won't have time to fund.
Yeah, yeah.
Now it's like, you know, it's a whole different economic situation.
I don't think that gets painted well enough to people.
I wish that something I would have known much earlier in age is like,
it's great to talk about when things get cheap, when, you know, when,
but guess what's the reality around that?
Something terrible.
Something terrible has happened and likelihood is you got gobbled up by it statistically.
And I'm working on a tool that I told you about yesterday where I think if the one of your
ownership experience that Nick and I talked about probably a year ago has always stuck with me.
So I think looking at it, the whole overview of what it would cost you to drive one of these,
we'll call them even micro dream cars.
Like if you buy a $30,000 car, it's obviously probably not your dream car.
For some it might be you want something six figures and above.
But if you look at the expense and what it would cost you every year,
I think a lot of people could work towards that more reasonably than if they
just look at the price tag without factoring in all the other things because your total
cost will be higher.
But if you get out of the car and it's still a good market, then it's all good.
Yeah.
And I also think, man, like I just, I'm not a big fan of people think,
thinking that they're going to outsmart the market.
The market is pretty efficient in things like cars.
There's absolutely times I would tell anybody right now.
I don't want anybody to misunderstand me.
We are elevated to a degree we haven't seen in a long time.
If ever.
But if you're sub $75,000 and you're like, I want to buy an E92M3 and it's $78,000,
the one I want, I'm going to wait until it's $39,000.
It's like, bud, by the time it's $39,000, you're not going to have the money.
Yeah, you're going to need $80,000 to keep it on the road.
And by the way, not only that, things will happen in your life.
So you'll want a little buffer and then you dip into your savings to pay some bills
and to kind of get you through a tough time because that's what happens.
It's not because that's what anybody wants to have happen,
but that's just kind of how it happens.
All right, let's shift to the last story as we land the plane here.
If you don't get the wagon, this is what I can see you.
We're going to go the other way now.
If we don't get an old wagon, it's like the cool thing to drive around.
This is what I see Nick driving all around Vegas.
The 26 Mercedes-AMG SL63 SE performance.
What a name, what a mouthful.
The Germans with naming things, man, they're bad at it.
So the Podent Plug and Hybrid powertrain starts at $209,250 for the four liter V8.
But these things look awesome.
I just, I love the way these things look.
I would say you would catch me in an SL 500 from back in the day.
I could definitely do that.
I can say that.
This, no.
Come on.
No.
In a convertible in Vegas.
I'm going to say this.
I can still get an SL 500 convertible.
Yeah, that's true.
I'm just not real convinced that a Mercedes hybrid powertrain is going to be the thing
that I want to do.
But it's more powerful and it's like modern.
So we had a customer get a brand new S-Class.
This is probably like a year ago.
The reason I say I probably wouldn't trust the hybrid powertrain is it took like
three or four months just to get the infotainment to work.
Did it have the same giant infotainment?
And then don't forget, I shared a Maybach SUV story where the whole infotainment system
would never come back on.
It had to be traded, you know, not lemon law, but you get what I mean.
Like, hey, you need to take this back.
So yeah, I'm probably sticking away from a lot of Euro brands and electrical things
would probably be the thing I'd say, I'm going to be a little leery.
But let's be fair about this.
Somebody buying this, they're going to keep it a year or two.
They're going to trade in and get whatever the new one is.
So it's really not that big a deal.
Oh, let me just real quick show you this.
Our Korean luxury friends over at Genesis, GV60 Magma first drive.
This is their electric, you know, hot performer, as they call it.
How'd they make it look worse?
Yeah, this one looks like a Kona.
Doesn't it look exactly like a Kona, a Kona in at that maybe.
Is that is that a wing on the back?
That is definitely a wing on the back.
Yeah, that's let's see if we can get a good shot of it.
That one looks better.
But they probably said, don't take a picture of this.
Can you guys leave that out?
Oh my God.
Is that the interior?
That is the interior.
I like I like that interior.
I like the, you know, a little plaid on the side.
Yeah, exactly what you would say to about the screen,
not being too high or low.
It's very flush, unlike the ones where it's staggered.
It's like one's in and one's out.
Yeah, I like that.
I don't know how they made the outside.
Oh, there we go.
Oh my God.
Dude, the fangs on that wing, the fangs on that thing.
Come on.
It's going to start around $80,000, by the way.
Yeah, that's the wrong price.
That's the wrong price.
That, for a company that, I mean, I think you could say
they've done design pretty damn well.
That's not good.
That is so fun.
Why, I would love to talk through this,
because I know there's reasons.
Okay, so I'm not like some idiot that doesn't understand this.
I get that there's reasons why they have to design EVs
in a certain way and they're doing all this testing.
At what point can we just have you put the battery on the
shit that's designed well?
Is that too much to ask for?
Can we get there?
No?
No time to.
No time to.
No.
I mean, Genesis SUVs in the midsize look great, right?
For years now.
Then you pull up this picture and you go, uh-oh, here we go again.
Uh-oh.
Right?
I mean, can they honestly look at that and go,
yeah, that looks as good as our gas one?
No.
No, it's not even close.
That's the thing.
Not even close.
If it was close, I'd be like, okay, give them some slack.
It's not even close.
It's not close.
All right, literally the last thing,
final last thing.
If you guys are in the market for a Honda CR-V,
I would say try to find one now.
They have surged in America's best-selling car
taking the title away from Ford F-150s
and from Toyota because they can't build enough ref for it,
so you can't find them.
So CR-Vs are just flying off the lots now.
The new ones are like used ones too.
Yeah, no, new ones, new ones.
I haven't seen the CR-V.
I'll pull up and assemble it for you right now.
Do they have CR-V real big on the back and badging?
Hey, this is a Honda CR-V.
It probably does on the bag.
It's pretty plain up front,
but it looks like all of the other modern Hondas,
which isn't bad.
I kind of like them.
Yeah, it's fine.
Yeah, it's exactly.
It's fine.
I think that is the reaction to have.
Yeah.
Really not much others pictures of it, but yeah.
Hey, they literally just took like an AI shot.
And that's all we got.
Yeah, that's all we got.
I can't have that.
A lot of things are pretty low effort these days,
if you didn't know.
They got to get on Claude or something, you know?
I mean, you got to give me something more than that.
I mean, at least do at least what was the car
that they faked it being on the racetrack,
and it was like at a steep angle,
and it looked like they did all those.
We talked about it, but I don't remember what it was.
I don't remember what it was, but I mean,
they could have done that.
I mean, you got to at least said,
hey, put this somewhere it doesn't belong.
We got to end on a good note,
where I actually show you some of it in motion there.
Yeah, this is a perfect midsize that should be.
Yeah, it really is.
I personally like them.
I've always liked CRVs, even the older stuff.
Yeah.
I mean, it's a perfect commuter right there.
And we all need to say this because we get lost
in people that love cars.
Like this is perfect for like your mom driving to work.
Exactly.
You know, like dad drive to work.
He just wants to get back and forth.
He's not a car person.
I can see it.
So you have two moms?
Two moms and two dads.
Rob has two daddies.
Just kidding, everybody.
So I think this makes total sense.
Has anybody, and I haven't looked into it,
has anybody tried to figure out,
other than the very questionable factory fires of Toyota,
why they can't get the production level up?
Dude, I'm surprised that it's been about two solid weeks,
and we don't have an actual answer for that.
You would think the journalists would be in there
uncovering the truths of what's going on.
No, come on.
They're too busy driving the new EV.
No one's going to buy.
Ah, good stuff.
I know you and I talked about it.
I mean, Camisa glowing review of the R2.
Of the new Rivian R2.
Which is great.
By the way, of a guy that doesn't give glowing reviews.
No, he's very, and for good reasons.
He's a good journalist, good writer.
He's very critical of stuff, but know that.
Good stuff.
And so anybody that wants to know my feeling,
Camisa is somebody I would read and take seriously.
Absolutely.
I mean, and when I say about the only one,
that's what I mean.
That'd be about the only one.
When it comes to that type of work, right?
Where you go, he puts a lot of thought into it.
He's got a ton of experience.
He doesn't care about pissing off manufacturers.
I think he's even talked about being banned
from certain manufacturers for a period of time,
because he wrote something about one of their cars.
I'm sure.
But that was a glowing review.
And I think, I don't know if he wrote anything
on any kind of haggardy.
It looked like it was just Instagram post.
But boy, I mean, he couldn't have said nicer things.
I'm going to leave you with two things.
They're going to be cliffhangers.
We'll talk about them next time.
Ford rehires people after AI essentially fails.
I saw that.
Yeah, I saw that.
VW cuts 100,000 jobs and closes four plants.
And a lot of other stuff.
There's just so much going on.
It seems like as we're getting into the second year,
second half of the year, we're going to see a lot of unraveling
of good, maybe, and bad stuff.
But it's a whirlwind.
It's a cool time to just be interested in what's
going on in the car world.
Yeah, and I think you're talking about keeping an eye
on things like CarMax and Carvana and all these things
in the US market.
Like, this is going to be a tough second half of the year.
There's a huge CarMax being built in central Texas.
And when it opens, I'm just going to go and see what
they'll give me for the GTI just for fun.
And I'm just going to put everything from that
into the Raptor.
Is that what you're going to do?
Probably.
So you're out of the GTI?
No, well, I mean, I'm not yet.
I actually just had it really well taken care of by a shop
that's going to hopefully be a holder of hyper clean products.
They're going to do some work for me on the Raptor.
So I feel like really good.
It looks great inside.
I'll do the outside next.
But if CarMax gives me a solid price.
Hey, you just became a true hillbilly
when you got that car, when you got that truck.
Hell yeah.
You're like, oh, I'm not riding in that little thing anymore.
I got this big old truck.
Dude, I've driven that thing so little,
but I still love it.
I do get into it.
And I'm like, I still have.
My heart is in the small pocket rockets.
I do love those things.
Yeah, good for you.
That's not what that's not what your actions say,
but it sounds good on the podcast.
It does sound good.
Look, listen, I'm still a man of the people.
Of course, I'm driving the truck.
I'm driving a Raptor.
The little Euro.
That's more of a like, not quite me anymore.
You know, I need big V8s all the way around.
And I'm the aristocrat for all you out there.
The next car, your boy got a big truck
and was like, oh, screw that little hatchback.
Now I need a big V8 car, I think.
So that might be next.
Oh, is that what you're thinking?
Down the line, maybe 20, 27.
As soon as we get a million subscribers on YouTube,
I'm getting a V8 muscle car.
Yeah, no, I mean Chevy SS.
Hey, if those keep going up in price,
no one's ever getting one.
Like they're getting close to 50 again.
It's like, OK.
Yeah, we need to all relax.
It's about a $35,000 experience.
That's the peak, yes.
And we need to write this down for something
I need to explain more thoroughly.
I think we need to have a conversation about.
OK.
When cars get elevated and when cars get more expensive,
how my brain works, and probably a lot of you as well,
is what dollar figure do I put to that experience, right?
Like that's what I've always said things about like GT3.
Like GT3s have always been a nice $150,000 to $200,000 driving
experience.
When they're $450,000, I go, eh, now, then you can even
flush it out further from there.
And you can say, if I just want an out-of-the-box,
awesome track car, it's worth paying $300,000 for a $200,000
driving experience, because it's just a great track car.
I don't have to worry about it.
I just go, but that is how I think about all these things.
Like if I would still tell people the E90M3 that I own
with the manual, I think you can really say it's a $50,000
to $55,000 driving experience.
And I think you can stand behind that.
But if somebody told me, which we shared on here,
here's a $99,000 one, and I don't care how low mileage it
is and whatever it is.
I'm just talking about the driving of it.
I would say, look, I don't think it's a $99,000 driving
experience.
Yeah, you'd have to be pretty crazy to argue that fact.
Right.
Now, that's a totally separate conversation than what
a car is worth in the marketplace, right?
So if it's incredibly low mileage,
and somebody wants to put it in a collection,
that person's probably right to price it at $99,000,
because it's probably one of five left, or one of 10 left,
or one of 50 left in that condition.
Right?
But the way I think about things, and I think the conversation
is, what is the driving experience?
Like that Toyota truck, OK?
We can all talk about how cool it is.
Is it more than a $7,500 driving experience?
No.
Is that what you're putting it at?
I'm just using a number.
OK.
Let's just say $10,000.
OK.
If I told you you paid $10,000 for that, for the smiles,
for driving something, but the driving experience,
what you would experience driving that around your farm,
or driving it around your property,
or driving it to the store and back, if you paid $32,000,
you'd be like, eh, I'm not sure I really love this truck as much.
I need to go to the doctor.
Yeah.
What have I done?
But you also understand why they go for $32,000.
But I think it's more fun to have the conversation of,
what do you think that driving experience is worth?
Like it's the NSX conversation.
NSX's were really great when they were 40 to 70.
It made sense.
220, eh, it's not a 220 driving experience.
That is such a great, and I made the note.
We're going to, that might be one entire episode, honestly.
Like that is a really good conversation to have.
And you should honestly come with a list of cars
that you like, have driven, have been around,
even just recently maybe, and put a dollar amount on it,
to maybe, you know, let the market hear what-
Like a BMW i8.
It's like a $2,000 driving experience,
because it takes you eight minutes to get in over the fucking ledge
and get into the cockpit of that thing.
That's so funny, and that's exactly what I'm talking about.
See, there's no better way to start off Freedom Month.
That's what I called July, July is Freedom Month.
Oh, you just do, you know, it's like a birthday,
you just celebrate it the whole month.
100%.
As we should, especially this year, celebrate in 250.
No better way to kick off Freedom Month
than a 90-minute episode.
But now you know, or let me just say,
I know people will be like,
oh, now we just need a 90-minute episode every week.
Well, if you want a 90-minute episode every week,
you got to go hyperscalingstore.com
and pick up all the stuff
with promo code July 4th.
We're going to give you an hour and a half on our Patreon.
Why don't you guys go Beezus Cravers?
You laugh at that, but if people have enough requests,
what if they're like, hey, you know what?
Thousands of people want a 90-minute episode,
they get a Patreon.
Why don't you buy a billed one for you?
Look, I get up in the morning to make a living.
Like, yeah, man, I don't lie about that.
I think you guys all get paid to do stuff.
That's so funny.
Hey, I'm going to use that.
I get up early to make a living.
It's so simple and true, like, we all do that,
but nobody ever says it in that way.
Yeah, it's fun, man.
That's going to be the first class culture shirt.
A car in the back in the front.
I get up to make a living and just a car in the back.
All right, enjoy, or I hope you enjoyed your 4th of Julys
and we'll see you guys next week.
See you guys.
About this episode
The hosts kick off with a July 4th hangout vibe, then pivot to grilling and steak prep—especially the “salt ahead” method (hours to overnight) and favorite seasoning brands. They also swap ranch/meat talk, including Hardcore Carnivore sausage and thoughts on Yellowstone. The main automotive segment focuses on the REO Trucks concept: a Dallas-backed, American-manufacturing plan for a small pickup starting around $21,500, with a 6-speed manual and 4x4. They debate the risks of hype pricing and delayed visuals, comparing it to past disappointments from other brands.
Original notes
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Clutch Culture Podcast
Robert Garza & Nick Walters
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85:37