00:00
Step up and deliver the superior experience that today's consumers have come to expect.
00:04
DealerTrack DMS gives you the tools to improve workflow efficiency, reduce in dealership time,
00:10
and put the focus on your customers so your sales team and your entire dealership shine.
00:15
Hey, it's daily drive executive producer Jake Neer here in Detroit.
00:19
On this bonus episode of the show, more of our own Laurence Ilyff's conversation with
00:24
slate auto design chief Tisha Johnson about the EV startup's vision to make an affordable,
00:30
customizable electric pickup. But first, one of the big stories of the past week was a new trade
00:35
framework between the US and the EU. We heard a clip of Auto's Drive America CEO Jennifer
00:42
Safavian reacting to the news on Friday's episode of the show. We thought you'd be
00:47
interested in her full answer to the question from our own Hannah Lutz on last week's Automotive
00:52
News Congress Conversations live stream. So here you go. Jennifer, I want to start with you. We had
00:57
some tariff updates this morning, specifically on the EU and the US. The deal today or the
01:05
framework said that they intend to accept and provide mutual recognition to each other's
01:10
standards on vehicles. There's a lot of details we know that are still, you know,
01:13
yet to be sorted out. But what could that recognition look like? And what do you
01:18
make of the framework overall? Yes, hi. Thanks Hannah for that question and thanks for having
01:24
with you. Yeah, we were honestly pleased to see this framework be announced this morning. It's
01:30
something that we've been waiting for now for a couple weeks since the deal was reached
01:34
a few weeks ago and waiting for similar ones, similar frameworks in writing with Japan
01:41
and with South Korea as well, which I think you're going to take a little bit more time.
01:46
So what we were most pleased about in the finally seeing something in writing is when it
01:51
comes to the autos, right, for the auto portion of it, you know, right now, even though there are
01:56
these deals, right, these verbal kind of agreements in place, you know, the automotive
02:02
industry is still paying 27.5% tariffs on every imported vehicle and in a lot of instances on
02:10
imported auto parts as well. And so that's having obviously a significant impact on the
02:15
industry as a whole. So what this framework showed us today was, you know, that they've
02:21
agreed to a 15%, they'll lower the 27.5% to 15%. At the beginning of the month when the EU introduces
02:29
a legislative proposal, right, that sets forth sort of this agreement and everything they're
02:34
supposed to do on their end. And, you know, what we're hearing is that the EU is planning
02:39
to work very quickly and try to introduce something this month even. So if that is the case,
02:46
then that means going back to the beginning of the month, August 1st, imported vehicles and parts
02:52
would drop from that 27.5% to 15% because even though we have these deals, these agreements,
02:58
the industry is still paying 27.5 tariffs. So that's why this was really critical to see this
03:03
come out today and we hope to see something very similar quickly for Japan and South Korea as
03:08
well. So again, that's going to be very helpful when it comes to imported vehicles and parts. But
03:15
I would say, you know, as far as the standards, there's a lot we still don't know, right? There's
03:19
a lot that wasn't, you know, it was only a couple page framework that we saw today.
03:24
And to me, I think like I said, the biggest piece of it was talking about when that 15%
03:28
was going to actually be enacted and be started. Right. So really solidifying that rate that
03:33
we heard about and giving a more definitive timeline. Okay, that's helpful, helpful context.
03:39
How are the automakers and suppliers navigating these tariff changes on a global scale? There's
03:44
been so much that's happened. And like you said, still waiting for to see the paper on a lot of it.
03:51
Yes, you know, it's been it's been really impactful for the industry, as you can imagine,
03:55
right? I mean, these auto tariffs on imported vehicles and parts, you know,
04:00
we're looking at a lot of these since early April. And again, like I said, 27 and a half percent,
04:06
you know, whereas we went from what, two and a half maybe or 0% to 27 and a half percent,
04:12
that's a significant increase that kind of happened overnight, right? And while I will tell
04:17
you, you know, certainly my members are very supportive of the president's goal of more
04:21
auto production here in the United States. It doesn't happen overnight. And yet these
04:26
tariffs happened overnight. And they are really significant and really having an impact
04:31
on the on the automakers, but also the suppliers, right? And I think it's really important to talk
04:36
about the suppliers here, because without the parts without the suppliers, we can't produce here in
04:42
the US, right? If there's any slowdown, or shutdown of a supplier, that's going to have a
04:47
significant impact on the production here in the US. You know, just to reiterate from my
04:52
member's perspective and their international automakers here in the United States,
04:56
you know, they have been committed for a very long time to the US market. And you know, they have
05:02
actually, you know, over the years, they have invested 124 billion in their US operations
05:06
to show how committed they are to the US. And that continues every year that grows. And they're
05:12
willing to do more of that. You know, they produce 48% of all US production here in the
05:18
United States, if I'm looking at 2024 figures. So that's nearly half of all production is done
05:23
by international automakers. And they have 31 facilities across the United States. So they're
05:27
very committed. And they're continuing to build up facilities and continuing to retool
05:32
their facilities. But that all takes time, right? And it takes investment. And I think as you've
05:37
seen recently, there's been, you know, several automakers who have reported earnings,
05:42
their earnings, and they've talked about the impact that tariffs are having on those
05:46
earnings. And I think the cumulative number that I've seen recently is almost like, it's like
05:50
$12 billion from those automakers who have reported their earnings. So it's having a significant
05:55
impact on the automakers and their ability to continue to grow and invest here in the United
06:01
States. So I would say, you know, they continue to look for relief, you know, from assistance
06:07
when it comes to all of this. Again, they're willing to do more, more investment, more
06:11
production here in the US. But you can't move suppliers overnight. You know, there's a
06:15
lot of things that just take some time. And I think that that's kind of, you know, one of the
06:19
things, one of the talking points and messages that we try to really relay is they're doing a lot,
06:23
they want to do more, but it takes some time to do that.
06:27
That was Autos Drive America CEO Jennifer Sevevian on our recent automotive news
06:32
Congress Conversations livestream. If you missed it, no worries, you can catch
06:36
the whole conversation on demand on our LinkedIn, Facebook, or YouTube pages.
06:42
Coming up, the final part of our own Lawrence Ilyfs interview with Slate Auto Design Chief Tisha Johnson.
06:48
Consumers have high expectations of the car buying experience. 88% of consumers said their
06:54
experience matters as much as the company's products or services. And with low inventory,
06:59
high prices and high interest rates, you have the opportunity to step up and deliver a positive
07:05
buying experience that helps consumers overcome their frustrations and feel good about their
07:09
purchase decisions. Your DMS is a data powerhouse and must be well integrated across your dealership.
07:16
DealerTrack DMS is proven to seamlessly connect your operations and reduce manual data entry by
07:22
pre-filling forms so consumers spend less time at your dealership. DealerTrack DMS is also
07:28
key to helping you track, optimize, and improve the performance of your entire team.
07:33
With actionable data insights from streamlined reports and metrics,
07:37
you can find new opportunities for growth and unlock important process and profitability improvements.
07:43
Because DealerTrack is flexible and easy to use, your team spends less time re-keying data and
07:49
memorizing codes and more time delivering the next level customer experience your dealership
07:54
rides itself on. Bottom line, DealerTrack DMS improves workflow efficiency and puts the
07:59
focus on your customers so your sales team and your entire dealership shine. See how you
08:05
can unlock better experiences and improve your entire operation with DealerTrack DMS.
08:11
Welcome back. On Thursday's episode of Daily Drive, we brought you the first part of Automotive
08:16
News staff reporter Lawrence Eiliff's interview with Tisha Johnson, head of design for Slate Auto.
08:22
That's the Jeff Bezos-backed EV startup that plans to sell a low-cost electric pickup
08:28
that can be highly customized even to be converted to an SUV. If you miss that part of the
08:34
conversation, go back and check it out. Here's the final part of that interview.
08:38
When I talk to people in the industry and people do consumer surveys and all this,
08:42
they think the most controversial part of it is there's no four doors.
08:46
Kids and dogs and all that type of stuff. I know you've created a situation in which
08:50
you have a back seat but then you compromise the bed. Was that a hard choice? Did they tell
08:54
you you have to do that or are you part of that decision? You don't even have to tell me
08:58
that but what do you think about it? So there's a few questions in there but let's start with
09:06
is it a compromise? There's some controversial conversations maybe around that you're saying.
09:13
First of all, the truck bed itself is effectively a standard for a small-sized
09:21
truck. It's fully capable of handling normal utility so it's got great capacity.
09:30
So no compromise on the truck bed. We made a decision early on to have a two-door because
09:39
we said all right when we start looking at what people want, what people need,
09:44
people are asking for a low cost vehicle. They're asking for something that they can afford.
09:52
So we looked at it from the standpoint of passing dollars back to our customers.
09:59
That was our future customers and we to this very day when we are working on the vehicle,
10:05
we're saying to ourselves is this something then that we can pass on dollars to our
10:10
customers. Yes we can. That's a sound decision to make. So when you have less doors, you have less
10:19
cost, you have less weight and it actually gives you a measure of utility back. So what we've done
10:28
then is said okay how can we make sure then that we're able to give back in that scenario.
10:34
If we have two doors what are other ways we can give back? So we have on the passenger side
10:39
an extended track for the front seat. That means it slides forward more than the average seat.
10:46
That gets you easily in and out of the vehicle to that second row if you want a five-seater
10:54
configuration. Yeah you know I think that that we've kind of got a little lazy as consumers
11:01
in a way in that we all used to have to climb into the back seat. You know I mean my
11:06
you know we had a lot of Volkswagen bugs when I was a kid like climbing into the back
11:11
and she's like oh we have to climb in the back of the seat but now you know everybody wants a four
11:15
door I think that only five percent of the market buys two doors. Do you think that
11:20
customers are willing to say well wait a second it's a low cost it does a lot of things you
11:24
know I'll get over it. Well you know the the reason we got together and created this vehicle
11:31
is because we believed that customers would show up for it future customers would understand
11:39
all that they get here and they would want it and and sometimes it is as much what you get as
11:45
as what we intentionally deleted. We are definitely hearing back from the market saying thank you
11:54
for giving us a roll-up window I don't need to pay for that motorized version I am happy to have
12:02
a crank window and you know I have I can do that and likewise we're hearing from people
12:12
I'm fine to open up one set of doors and get into the back of the car it is
12:19
I'm happy to do that for the sake of having a less expensive vehicle.
12:24
Slate auto design chief Tisha Johnson spoke with our own Lawrence Eyelift during an event at Monterey
12:30
Car Week in California. Thanks for listening to this bonus episode of Daily Drive. We'll be back
12:35
on Monday with a brand new full episode of the show.
