News live from NADA show, Amazon Autos coming to the UK, and American dealers want to block Chinese cars – with James Leese, episode 242

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Welcome back to the Car Dealer Podcast, where we pick our favorite stories of the week and

ask an industry guest to choose which were the best.

I'm John Ray.

And joining me this week, live from the NADA show floor, as you'll see if you're

watching this on YouTube, is James Bagot.

There he is.

Hello, John.

How are you?

Hello.

This is the nearest you've ever been, recording a podcast.

It's very nice of the Gardex team and Expalter.

Let us be on their stand.

We should give them a mention, shouldn't we?

Because we are in the middle of the NADA show recording the podcast on a stand, which

is a little bit strange, isn't it?

Yes.

And there might be a live product demonstration happening behind us as well.

Which will be good for those people watching on YouTube.

Not so much those people on Spotify, so sorry about that.

It's very true.

Anyway, I should introduce our guest, rather than leave you sat here in the middle.

So another fellow Brit here in Vegas, it's of course James Lease from AI Provider Impel.

James, thanks for joining us.

You're welcome.

Thank you for the invite.

Nice to see you.

Sorry if I sound a bit croaky, but it's been a long week.

Well we are in Vegas, aren't we?

So you can imagine there's been some interesting parties for people to attend.

I think John, we should probably just for those people listening and not watching.

Just give them a sort of idea of the scale of this show.

We're currently sat in the West Hall.

There's two halls here for the expo.

It's been open for two and a half days.

This is the last hour or so, I think, of the show, but it's been incredibly busy.

It feels to me like a motor show, it is huge, isn't it?

Some of the stands are absolutely massive.

I hate to think how much they've cost to put together.

I'm sure James knows actually, but I hate to think how much they've cost.

It really is a place for the motor trade in the US to attend every year and get a good

idea of what's happening, isn't it?

I've enjoyed walking around.

What's been your take on just the expo halls, really?

Well, there's been a lot of AI.

Hence James being here.

Of course.

None of them is as good as yours, James.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, a lot of AI stuff here, as you might expect.

Strangely, a lot of car washes in this show.

I've got lots of pictures of my phone of you just stroking car washes, John.

Well, you know, when there's a spinny, rotaty thing, you don't normally get the opportunity

to see what it's doing to my paintwork.

Yeah, a lot of that, a lot of incredible amount of stuff that's mind-blowing for us, because

it's very American-focused, you know, a lot of providers of big American truck

parts and all these sort of lifted trucks.

I mean, there's been a lot of talks as well.

We've gone to a lot of workshops and things like that, which I think some are

a bit more useful than others because some are tailored more to Americans, as we say.

But it's been interesting to see and hear the different challenges that people have

here compared to the challenges we have across the pond over in the UK.

Some of them very similar.

Some of them quite different.

James, you've obviously been on the impale stand, haven't you, for the last couple

of days, and you've been chatting to a lot of British dealers here, isn't there?

There is a very good contingent, and up, yes.

What has been your take from those dealers you've been chatting to?

I mean, the Brits first, because I'm interested to hear what you've heard

from the Americans too, but what have they been saying to you about the show?

What have they learned?

Actually, a lot of the dealers that are here come every year, and they come

every year for a reason.

The reason is there's nothing else like this in the world.

To get the opportunity to see all of these businesses.

And a lot of them are global businesses.

A lot of them are US focused.

But to come and see what's happening in this market is a great opportunity

for those dealers.

So I think what they are game from coming to something like NADA is to

see, especially the technology, I think car washes are nice, but

they're probably not here to see the car washes.

It's more about what are the dealers using in the US?

What's the technology look like?

You talk about AI last year.

Again, AI was a topic, but this year you're now seeing that the AI and

people are coming with stories on actually what it's delivered and

the return on investment now.

So it's a different conversation.

So dealers get that opportunity to spend time here understanding about

the products and seeing what US dealers are doing.

I think what's interesting, you would have noticed this, that as you

walk around, if you've got international on your badge, a lot

of the businesses here actually won't talk to you because they're so

focused on their local market, which is understandable.

But there are more businesses that are now looking at international

especially with SaaS and the ability to be global.

So I think dealers get a lot out of coming here and seeing those

businesses and how they operate and the products that they've got

available.

What's amazed me about the show is that firstly the amount of

people here and if you go to trade shows in the UK and

doesn't matter what industry is, people are more just browsing.

Here they're really doing deals, aren't they?

There are people signing up for very, very big deals on stands

like yours and some of the other big ones here, that's normal,

isn't it?

Yeah, I mean this traditionally is somewhere, I mean I work for

Cox Automotive for 16 years, they call it the Cox Automotive

Village here because it's so big.

But these businesses will be writing anything up to 20, 25%

their revenue will be written a show because the dealers are

here to do deals and when you think about that and you

think about some of the sort of events we have in the UK and

that doesn't happen.

But the US is so vast to have the opportunity to come to one

place and see all your potential partners negotiate deals

as an opportunity they can't refuse.

So yeah, as in power as you've seen our stands being

up to the ramp this week again and lots of dealers come

there to do the deal, sign the deals, they get an offer

maybe.

So it's a very important show for the US market.

I want to touch on AI because it is a theme absolutely running

throughout this show, isn't it?

I mean you can't, you know, if I had a pound for every time

I've heard AI I would have made a lot of money on the

gambling tables in Vegas.

I mean it is everywhere, I mean I can see it across the way

from where we just stood now.

It does fields me a little bit, James, and some of the

deals I spoke to have said the same thing, that it is a

bit of a gold rush at the moment and there are so many

different platforms out there.

You're obviously selling one so you are going to be slightly

biased, but what do dealers need to be looking for when it

comes to choosing an AI solution?

What is the most important?

Because here it will do voice, it will do answering text

messages, it will answer emails, it will help you book

services.

Where should people look for first, for those UK

listeners, what should they be looking at?

I think it's a similar conversation we always have

and we say to people, well first of all AI, it's two

letters and at the end of the day it's technology.

It's very good technology and it is absolutely making

waves and the capabilities that it can deliver.

But it is just technology and with any form of

technology you bring into a business, whether that's a

CRM system, a DMS system, you have to take the time to

make sure you're implementing it on board it

correctly.

So I suppose the first thing would be what are your

pain points?

Because we always say you can find the next shiny

thing but it's actually solving a problem in your

business.

What's the pain point you want to deal with, whether it

is warranties, whether it's lead management,

nurturing, whatever it may be, then go look for that

supplier and then when you find the supplier then

have a conversation with them to understand their

methodology, how they work with their customers.

I mean we talk about 50-50 approach in the UK

which is 50% is about the technology and it's

good technology and you need good technology but

the other 50% is how you implement it on board

it and that's about the people that help you

do that in your business.

So spending time in the dealerships, talking to

them the way that the system is going to work so

they understand because in some instances, not all

but in some especially in lead nurturing, it can

change fundamentally the way you operate and how

your salespeople manage those leads and enquiries

so you've got to take the time.

Yeah I mean there's a lot of dealers that I'm

talking to who said they've been to all of

the different stands and they've really

struggled to compare them, there's a lot of

people out there doing AI but it's about

understanding which bits they need.

If you were running a dealership, what would

be the first thing that you would, where would

be the first place you implemented AI and I'm

talking dealerships of all sizes, you know the

smaller ones all the way up to the large group.

I think, great question, I'm going to go back

to that point about understanding where

you're paying for each other, there's no

point in trying to bring something into your

business where you feel that the problem

isn't there, there's nothing to fix because

some people would just go chasing, oh I need voice,

we hear it a lot, voice is the big one right now,

everyone talks about voice but okay where do

you want to deploy voice and for what

reason? Because we've seen lots of examples

and you talk about you know a bit like the

Wild West, there's AI everywhere, it's all over

and but actually when you start looking at

it and someone goes well I'll just put

voice into my service area, okay well why

are you doing that and actually and can

the voice get to the data because this

is another big conversation all the

time, the technology is great but if it

can't get to the data to have the right

conversation, the right outputs then all

it's potentially going to do is just

shift that problem further down the

process. So I think for a dealer it's

just understanding your own business,

working out where you feel that there

is a place for AI to be deployed, finding

the right partner and then maybe

you know what go play, go you know

and that's easy to say isn't it, if

you're going to bring in a brand new

system that's big you can't

necessarily play but pick those

points. So things like lead nurturing

is a good example, chat is another one

we talk about a lot on the website but

that is again moving really quickly

so the chat solutions we've seen in the

last few years are now very

very much out of date and now you're

starting to get into a genetic search

so I think pick your spot and we say

to a lot of smaller dealers even with

things like chat GPT they're using

chat GPT well you know I'll play with it

you know see what it's quite capable

of but also remember that actually

your data you need to make sure it's

secure so get yourself a business

account and then go play. John and I

went to a session on the first day

about AI and they had two dealers on

there and a couple of like training

experts didn't they and we listened

to the session it was absolutely packed

wasn't it, there must have been

three or four hundred people in this

in this auditorium and I came away

from it and I wrote a story for the

website this week and I'm on the

headline looking at now does anyone

really know what they're doing when it

comes to using AI you know we've come

to the US and often people come to

come to this show to learn stuff that's

not happening in the UK and it still

feels like to me from from from that

session that I got the feeling that

people don't know what still don't

know what to do with AI it feels like

we've moved on they were talking

about like you said last year but

they're still really testing now

no one's actually come up with the

this is where it works the best. Well I think

I think there's lots of good

good cases that show where AI has

actually absolutely made a difference to

their business either UK or US

I think that the technology is moving

at such a pace that by the point you

get to somewhere and go oh this is

working really well actually the next

iterations there and it keeps moving

so I think there's always this bit

where people step into it and go

yeah I'm on the journey with AI

and then something new comes out and

the new version of it and agentic

is out now as well so

I think there probably is always that

feeling of you know where's the end

point when do we sit there and go this

has been really successful and

that's not the space we in this will

continue evolve and develop we're

still really at the beginning of the

capabilities of what the technology

can deliver so you will always see

that that line that people people are

looking for what sort of investment it

will keep moving. Yeah like John from

that session that we went to I mean

there was some things like one of the

pieces of advice was make sure people

are using chat gpt I mean it wasn't

exactly the most insightful was it that's

the no and I suppose none of the people

on that panel were from AI firms where

they saw it was as you say dealers and

training people really I mean I thought

it's quite one of the examples was to

say to your sales team type into chat

gpt I want to go and buy a Toyota at

your Toyota dealership who's the best

salesperson and if it comes back with

someone that isn't you as the sales

person why not you know go and

reverse engineer it and find out why

and try and it's very much like trying

to understand how it all works still

isn't it. Yeah I did find that bit

interesting it was the kind of I think

someone said it's like the the start

of SEO whereas before it was about

surfacing yourself in Google now these

days it's about working out to surf

yourself in chat gpt and it's I mean

nobody really knows. And that's a

really good point I mean I was

chatting to my wife and I phoned him

back home and just we were talking

about something I can't remember

what she was looking at but she's

using chat gpt for what you would have

traditionally used Google for now so

you're absolutely right so yeah go

find out what it says about your

business and then just make sure any

social you're putting out there

your website whatever has got the

right information on it because

that's where it's gaining its data

and insight and obviously it will

learn from when people are typing

in their queries and questions and

you know I think we've said it

before where you have to be

careful because someone goes and puts

in a load of potentially

confidential information to help

them build out a report or

something they're they're writing

now that information is out in the

worldwide web so you need to just be

mindful of that but yeah go find out

see what chat gpt said about your

business. I mean the other one that it

said was customers are now using

chat gpt wait you know they are using

it as they would use Google but it

does so much more doesn't it so

customers are saying how do I get you

know find me this car firstly

secondly how do I get the best deal

how much should I be paying for this

what are the things I should be

saying to the salesperson all this

sort of stuff so if you're the sales

person you need to be in there

getting an idea of what customers are

going to come in and speak to you

about and how they're going to

address you and how they think the

sales process is going to work it's

so broad isn't it it is and you know

and I laugh only because you think

about now I'm having a conversation

with technology about how I should

have a conversation with a human

and that's just that's crazy but

but that's the world we're living

in but that we go back to it's

still about relationships so they're

typing in how should I have a

conversation how should I negotiate

well that still requires human to

human interaction so

the technology is great but we still

need humans within that and the

getting the balance between the two

is where you get your benefit

one one of the things I did find

interesting in this is panel on AI

that we've mentioned in the story

on carding the magazine was that

there's this high on Digenesis

dealer who has implemented AI tech

throughout his business he's

really been testing it and he was

talking about some of the learning

points that he's had

and you know one of the things he

said is this is not magic

these these are tools and I thought

that that was an interesting point

but the the thing he said was so

important for him

was getting his team on board and

making them understand that firstly

it's not there to replace their jobs

it's there to help them do their

jobs

better and I suppose that's that's

an important thing because there's

a lot of people out there at the

moment that are worried that

AI is just going to steal their jobs

absolutely and then I go back to

the 50 tech 50 about the people

about bringing people on that

journey

so a good example is

and so when we we we sit with our

customers

we actually build out personas of the

AI

so you treat it as another member of

the team

so

you'll go into some of these

dealerships

customers of ours and I have a

poster on the wall of

Fiona Tracy whatever the name may be

and it will say hey this is who I

am this is what I'm doing for you

so when you're sleeping I'm

nurturing the customers

I'm doing these things

so I'm doing all of this for you

now just make sure you can do

this for me

and it becomes a member of the

team

and and if you treat it that way it's

the same as

talk to business owners and they

talk about AI and what we need to

go

but think of it as a

another member of your sales team

you know it still needs to be

trained it still needs to have the

right information

but the beauty is when you give it

the information

it doesn't forget and it will

you know repeatedly use that

information doesn't make

spelling mistakes all of those

things

but you're absolutely right it's

you have to be people on that

journey

and once they see this and they

think

well actually now the AI is doing all

the jobs

I don't enjoy doing

and I can now do the bits I do enjoy

doing spending more time with

customers whatever it may be

then you get buying and then you

really start seeing the value out

the technology

yeah I mean that's where it's helped

helped to cross my business

the the clever car collection we've

tried to use AI to

free up our time

to look after the customers better

and I think if you do look at it

that way it's

it's a much more useful

much more useful tool

when it comes to these next steps

than James

the AI is developing

incredibly quickly

we've seen that here

we've been talking for a long time

we've watched the

the impel business develop

what are you most excited about

next I mean what do you think

it's going to be able to do that

that's really going to help

dealers next

I think

people talk a lot about

agentic

and agentic when you can start

getting to that world of

training agents to do individual

tasks whereas very

it's a very generic type

technology at the moment

is that's where it gets exciting

where whether you can

you can start programming

these agents to go off and do

specific tasks for you

and then

those agents start learning

as well as they go on that journey

and go that one didn't

I didn't quite get the result

I was thinking of

or what we wanted

so I'm going to try a different

journey

I think

that again

as the technology moves forward

adds another layer of complexity

or challenge to businesses

because now

you're going to potentially be

looking at roles

inside those businesses

that you just don't have today

so

how many

dealerships have prompts

engineers or people that can

write prompts

now we all sit there and chat

GPT and we write things

I mean that's really

what we're writing is a prompt

when you start talking about

training

a genetic agents

you now need to start talking about

so as an example

again I usually nurturing

because that's the era I'm working

but it is now if someone

I want this

so if someone submits a new car lead

from a specific manufacturer

I now want you to communicate

within a certain way

whereas if it's a used car lead

I want you to communicate

in a different way

well that's training people

now I can sit and have a conversation

with you and John and say

right James this is the way

I want you to speak about

BMW customer

this is a used car customer

I've got to do the same with the technology

so having that skill set

to sit there and write prompts

and then

just understand all that one

didn't quite work

or monitoring the day

to the CEC

and lots of engagement

on conversations

but can we get it better

I need to tweak that prompt

so those are some of the things

where I get really excited

about what the capabilities

are going to be

but it just

it means that we

need to spend more time

training working with our customers

I'd like to talk a little bit

about the

visit that John and I did this week

we went to see some

a couple of dealers

early on this week

and I know that you've

you've been talking to

lots of them this week too

so I'll be interested

to get your take on it

but

what I was amazed about

so John and I went to see

firstly CarMax

which is

they are the biggest seller

of used cars here

they had a very big

dealership

didn't they just down the road

in Las Vegas

I think as they go

it was a relatively small one for them

but for us it was big

well still had a thousand cars

and stocked

they sold

well over 250 cars this week

and we had a little bit of a tour

of that facility

didn't we

they had 60 sales staff

and it's the way that

they do business

that I found fascinating

it's so fast

paced here

firstly he was saying

that the cars that they brought in

they

from the minute they arrived

on the site

to the point in time

they were sold to a new customer

the maximum was seven days

or the average was seven days

a seven day turnaround for stock

was incredible

and it was the pace at which

they do it

do those deals

he said

some customers will come in

and they will be driving away

within 30 minutes

I mean it was an amazing setup

John wasn't it

I mean it really was incredible

and he said

the other part of that

car max business

I just didn't realize

the scale of it

they're a listed business

over here

they sell 1.3 million cars a year

so they have got huge scale

when it comes to selling

and buying

so they're sucking up

huge amounts of stock

and it was just the

the professionalism

with which they do it

which sounds a weird thing to say

you'd think all dealers would be

would be professional

but they have really got

the processes nailed

well it was

there was a lot of

a lot of eye-opening things

in our 15 minute visit really

we was thrilled didn't we

one is

the owner of that particular one

say

people turn up with the car

and we'll pretty much buy

whatever

anything

yes

because

even if it's not right

for that particular site

they don't really decide

you know

he is the dealer principle

whatever you want to call it

of that

he doesn't really care

what he's buying

because ultimately

he will put the details into

the car max mega computer

and car max head office in

Virginia or wherever

will decide

what the price for that car is

where the best place

for it to go is

so an example

I mean the states is enormous

as we know

it's very

well we

we talk about the UK

and saying

four by four sell better

up north or whatever

you imagine that in America

you know

if you if you trade in a Subaru

to car max in Vegas

it's not going to stay in Vegas

it's going to immediately

be on the transporter

up to Oregon

or New York

or wherever

you need

four-wheel drive

so they're very on

all that sort of stuff

and yeah

it's just amazing really

the

the level of control

the head office has

over the operation

but it seems to work

doesn't it

and the

yeah the turnaround from

as you say

here's a car

with a few dents in it

it's arrived

seven days later it's sold

it was including

reconditioning

it was that we buy any car model

that they've got built in

within their business

and they said they

60% of the stock

that they have

across the business

is brought to them by customers

I mean that is a

huge difference to the UK

they've plugged in that

we buy any car model into a

into the retail side

I mean it sort of reminded me of

the constellation group

but

just a very successful version of

yeah

and I think similarly

in the way that

let's say some dealers

many dealers in the UK

are not that fond of we buy any car

a lot of franchise dealers

over here

not a fan of CarMax

but even

and the

second visit

which will come on to

we visited a franchise dealer

who said basically

sometimes

he will have to get rid of

tradings through CarMax

because they offer the best price

more than he could

you know

offer in terms of selling

that vehicle

so it's sort of

they were wholesaling cars

from that

that dealership as well

weren't they

so it wasn't just a case of sending

them off to auction

they had an auction platform

online

well they have their own auctions

basically

and then the dealers were picking them up

from the same site

just as much as consumers

James have you

have you been

come across the

these CarMax sites at all

did you

have you done any visits

while you've been out here

um I've not

sad I've not had time to do visits

we've been so busy on the stand

but in previous years

yes absolutely I've visited these sites

and and they are a site to behold

and and you're absolutely right is

it's the process that is critical

that you know they've got so much

scale

they need that process

and and when they get that right

and then you bring in

the technology side of it

that helps them

with efficiencies

and you know you could

you know normal dealers

can't don't have the ability to

that because they don't have that

scale

so but but it is you just

you're looking all of actually

and it is like a factory

have you listened into any of the

the pitches your American colleagues

are doing to the American dealers

I mean what

is it

is it the same pain points

that they're having

to us in the UK

yeah no it's very

it's very similar

you you have

dealers that are

you know way ahead of the

curve that are very engaged

and and have bought technology

into their business AI

technology

several years ago

and are now

continue to evolve and develop

and actually are helping

businesses such as impale

develop that next product

you know what

have we dealt with that

pain point

what's the next one

and keep going on

and then you've got

many other dealers that

haven't ventured into the world

of AI and now going

okay where do I start

I see a lot more about it

so you've got this real mix

I think again

come back next year

it'd be different again

because now probably

everyone will be using AI

but there'd be different

some at the start of the journey

and some still very much at the forefront

so but when it comes

to the conversations

you hear that happen

and it's not just the impale stand

it's all the other stands around us

it's a very different way

I keep saying to my US colleagues

so they say

hey we'd love to come over

to the UK

and I'm going

I put you in front of a

UK dealer

you'll be out there

as quick as you like

their approach is very very different

it's very direct

it's very

you know what

you want to make your business

better this is what you need

it's those sorts of conversations

but they have the same pain points

absolutely

and are going on the same journey

some of those will be asking the same question

as you had in the

some of the events you went to

earlier this week

where do we start

so they're still having that

even though

UK dealers will come over here

and look at the tech

and go

the US

at several years

in front of where we are in the UK

they're still dealers

still at the very start

of that journey

not understanding

or thinking about

where they need to start

the second visit we did was to

as John mentioned

was a franchise main dealer

Honda dealer

called Findlay Honda

so it's in the Henderson area

so it's just south of Las Vegas

yeah take the i5

go through

thanks John

thanks

good traffic at the moment

yeah it's a

it was an amazing

amazing business too

I mean what firstly

what struck me there was

this is

this is a huge Honda dealer

which sounds quite strange

when you're in the UK

it's

it doesn't really exist

this was a dealer

that had 600 Hondas in stock

and then

the new car business is very

similar to the used car business

these customers turn up

and expect to drive these cars away

whether they're new or used

so they've got these cars

the new cars in stock

it's all about the inventory on the ground

there's no such thing really

is buying to order

which was

I find that

I knew

I knew that in the past but

actually seeing it there

it taking effect in that dealership

it's just

it strikes you doesn't it

because

there are you know

you want to see RV there's

you can choose from 100

it was strange wasn't it that

but the

we had some time with the dealer principle there

and he was very candid

wasn't he about

about the pain points

that this business is struggling

and then

I hope you notice we're about to quote him on

yeah sorry

well I've quoted him in my sub-stack

so unfortunately

it's already out there

but now he was talking about

some of the

some of the pain points

that the American

automotive industry is feeling

and it felt very similar to the

to the UK

it's

affordability was a big

was a big one

he was talking about the

the way that the

after Covid

they really made hay

and he said

they sold

some fantastic numbers of cars

because

demand was

well outstripping supply

and now

it's gone the other way

and they're having these awkward conversations

it was a lot

and he said

a lot of people were in negative equity

and

the the bit that struck me was

how much people pay for new cars over here

the average price he said

monthly payment

for in

for a new car over here

was a thousand dollars

which is

the equates to 730 pounds

I mean that is a lot of money

I mean I know it cost us

£8.50 for a coffee

from Starbucks before and John

but

you know that is

that really is a lot of money for a new car isn't it

yeah incredible we're not talking

I mean that's for a CRV or an Accord

or something like that

he wasn't talking

high-end stuff

and I think generally speaking

the cars themselves list price are cheaper

than what we would get before as well

so

we'll be right back

running a dealership means making

hundreds of decisions every day

but James

when do you get the time

to step back and think

well John

I don't

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bit rude John

but you're probably right

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John have you ever wondered why I

along with 14 000 other dealers

choose to partner with auto trader

well actually

I didn't think so

I'll tell you anyway

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and now with the launch of buying signals

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they're interested in

plus as someone who set out to use AI

and data as much as possible in my business

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but when I do get stuck

which is let's face it most of the time

auto trader is always on hand

and committed to supporting us

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to find out how they can help you

visit trade.autotrader.co.uk

now back to the podcast

I think probably let's move on to our stories

because we're sort of slightly getting there aren't we

we're cannibalising them

yeah and we are halfway through

so James and I are going to run through

our favourite stories of the week as usual

and at the end

James gets to decide which one of us chose

the best ones

and who's the winner

James won last week apparently

so off you go

thank you John

so I'm going to just continue on this theme

of the things that we picked up

and I'll continue with that with that Honda dealer

because one of the things we started talking about

while we were there was Chinese cars

and it's been a big topic

just like AI out here

the Chinese manufacturers have come up a lot

in conversations I've had with the Americans here

and also just the Brits have come over here

been surprised not to see any

so firstly that Honda dealer

we asked him

what do you think of the Chinese manufacturers

do you think they'll be accepted here firstly

and he was explaining how they've come with

a hundred percent tariffs over here

so they're incredibly expensive

well sorry

a hundred percent tariff does make them more expensive

than they would be in the UK

but still would be very good value here

compared to pretty much stuff he was selling

in his Honda dealership

he said he'd seen quite a lot of them

when he'd been on holiday

like the BYDs he was talking about

I've seen those BYDs when I've been on holiday

they look amazing cars

but he was saying he hopes that they don't come here

because he actually does think

the Americans would buy them

and so we had that conversation early on

and then we ended up picking up a

conversation that was in one of the

sessions

from the NADA chairman

Mike Stanton

I think his name is

CEO

CEO thank you

and I mean he was very forceful about this topic

asked about it

he said that effectively

he would back blocking these Chinese manufacturers

coming to America

his quotes were incredibly strong

he said they're bad for the country

bad for the industry

and he wants to keep the Chinese car makers out

and he said 95% of the car dealers here

back that same thought process

which I thought was a

what struck me with that John is

if the sort of lobbying over here is far stronger isn't it

can you imagine

any groups in the UK

any dealers getting together and saying

no we're going to block the Chinese

we've welcomed them with open arms

it's very different how it's

how that translates across the pond here

well yeah and you can see the scale of

well I mean this is the NADA conference

I mean what's our equivalent of the

of the NADA

National Automotive Dealers Association

probably the NFDA

I don't see an NFDA conference quite like this

I don't know about you James

and you know everywhere you go

in this set of four buildings

there's you know in the press room

for example there's all this

signage about all this

and on their website all this

lobbying work that NADA has done

to prevent things that are not in dealer's interest

whether it's to do with compliance

or agency sales star models

all that sort of stuff

they've worked really hard to stop

that stuff coming in

because they've said it's not good for dealers

what I think is

this is where the difference is

isn't it between the UK and the US

from our point of view

and when I have conversations about

Chinese car makers

and whether it's a threat or not

it's not a threat to the people

that we talk to

because they are the people selling them

and they're struggling to sell

a 50 grand crossover

from a European manufacturer

they're not struggling to sell

a 28 grand crossover

from a Chinese manufacturer

so from that point of view

from a dealer's point of view

really Chinese cars are

going pretty well in the UK

so it's

well it's peculiar for us isn't it

but we don't have the automotive industry

in quite the same

we don't have a manufacturing base

to the level that US does

it was a strength of feeling

that surprised me

you know especially from someone like this

that the NADA CEO

coming out in the press

saying those sorts of comments

I mean it's

you know he hasn't sat on the fence there

has he he really has said what he thinks

but it's sort of opposed with that

that chat that we had with the Honda dealer

that the consumers buy them

I mean

the reason they've come out with this

as well as suspects is because

last week or this week

Canada announced that they would accept

a certain number of

Chinese cars to come into the country

tariff free or very low tariff

so that's what has set panic stations here

you know not that

well quite far from Vegas in Italy

but not far across the border

there's going to be BYDs

and whatever else

driving about

and you know

I suppose people are thinking

how long is it going to take

before they're down here as well

but we've met up with some American journalists

and we've covered the market here

and they are fascinated to hear

what's been happening in the UK

because they're watching it from afar

and they've seen how

how differently we've approached it

James if you had

you must have had conversations

about Chinese cars this week

yeah yeah absolutely

lots of conversations

and I think

the stance that they're taking

doesn't surprise me

and you look at the government

it starts from the top down

on their approach

and they're just generally

to businesses coming into the US

I think they have said about

and now whether it's just a statement

just to put something out there

but you know if they were considering

coming in and starting and building

factories in the US

then maybe we'll have a different conversation

so I get their point

about trying to protect the workforce

trying to protect their economy

but your point is very valid

that then says

but as a consumer

actually it's what's in my back pocket

and how much I have to spend

and we see that in the UK

we're seeing it right now

where people are on PCPs

for some premium product

they're coming back into the market

it's X amount to refund that

or I can get this brand

for a lot cheaper

which actually is a pretty good car

so because you know

it's tough

and people are always thinking

about what's in their back pocket

so there's that whole challenge

that they're going to have

the consumer

pushing for cheaper vehicles

and this

so it's going to be

an interesting watch

yeah definitely

I mean we produced a video

about Chinese cars

on our YouTube channel

about

I think the week before we

before we came out here

and I've been watching the comments

there's well over a thousand comments on there

and it's interesting to see

them fall into two camps

there's

there's a lot of

Chinese car buyers

on there who say

I love my Chinese car

it's absolutely fantastic

you're stupid not to buy one

and then there's the other camp of saying

why on earth would you buy a Chinese car

you are just killing our

automotive industry

not that we've got a huge one

in the UK anymore

but in Europe we certainly have

and it's just

there it's very opposed

you're either you either want them

or you really really don't want them

yeah absolutely

and and even more so in the US

you know that that has been the stance now

with the government

is very much you know

what protect the US

protect the workforce

so actually anyone coming into this market

that isn't here

and you know what providing jobs

and all of those things

it's you know they look at it very closely

yeah I just wonder whether

future governments in the UK are watching

what happens here

and thinking well

we'll copy that or whatever they do

and I think there's opportunities

look at tariffs

absolutely the cars are selling very well so

yeah I mean they just

anyway I'm going to park the Chinese cars

John I'll let you

I'll let you do a story

lovely I'm going to be able to Amazon Autos

oh yes very interesting

so we went to a little micro session on this

which was well it was on

it was on a stage about the size

where we're sat now

and then

we got there 15 minutes early to get a seat

and then

300 people descended

around it

so obviously something that is of great interest

to US dealers

so Amazon Autos

if you've not come across it is

sort of what it sounds like

so on amazon.com

you can search for new and

I think used cars

near you

there's only a select number of dealers at the minute

so for example in Los Angeles

where we're heading off to this

there's a couple of Hyundai dealerships

for example are on it

so you can go and find your next Tucson

blah blah blah blah

but it's interesting for lots of reasons

one is that initially when

Amazon Autos kind of came about

I think a lot of people assumed it would be

direct to consumer

Amazon would start selling cars

directly from car manufacturers

or maybe even launch their next

used car proposition

or something like that

this this whole 15 minute session

was largely about

we're not doing that

you know this is entirely an

advertising model for us

and they spent a lot of time and energy

explaining that that was the case

so in effect this is a marketplace

for dealers in the US

to start selling their cars

to consumers

I mean I think they've got a bit of a

challenge on their hands over here

because there's some enormous players

car cargo ruses the biggest over here

isn't it by

by some margin

you've got other ones like cars.com

autotrader.com

which of course Cops Auto Multivones

and so on and so forth

but anyway we cornered

Steve Johnson I think it was

who's the guy on the stage

James cornered him and said

when are you coming to the UK

and the answer was well

it's not a case of

if but when

we will come to the UK

where you know there will be

markets that we're going to tackle

after this

and it's very early days for

Amazon here

but it is coming

and then having had a few more

conversations with

select sources James

thank you John well hidden

you've established that

actually they are well on the way

to getting themselves set up for the UK

with a view really

to be maybe in the market

by the end of this year

that's what we heard wasn't it

I mean we heard that very strongly

I mean they are having conversations

with those partners

that they need

to facilitate that launch in the UK

because the interesting thing was it

it's how that Amazon

solution works

it's very similar to an

autotrader deal builder isn't it

so you'd find the car

whether be it new or used

you can work out how

you are going to fund it

so you can do the finance deal

you can work out what

after sales products you want on it

be that you know paint protection

like this

or warranties etc

you build it

and then at the end of that point

once you've decided how it

what you want to buy

it's sent to the dealer

so it was very very similar to

that deal builder product wasn't it

but it what I found interesting is

again talking to some of the

automotive journalists here

is they were saying that

Amazon and the dealers

haven't really got on

the dealers have been

very skeptical about what Amazon

are planning

are they planning a margin grab

are they going to eventually want to

take a little bit of the

a little bit of the pie

rather than just that advertising play

yeah and Amazon would say

no we're not interested in that at all

it's purely an advertising model

and I think their argument was that

when you go on to Amazon

I think particularly in the UK

you search for a

hairdryer as I often do

and you'll find of the

millions of billions results there are

very few of those products

are actually in an Amazon

they're not Amazon stock

it's generally speaking

a another company has borrowed

some of Amazon's warehouse

and it's their product

that they're selling

Amazon is just fulfilling it

and it's the same sort of model as

that you know

that Amazon will take a

teeny tiny slice of it

in terms of here's some

advertising revenue

that's all they want to do

over here they've focused on

not just new

not just used they're doing both

aren't they

which I think

I feel if they

if and when they come to the UK this year

which we know that they're going to be doing

I sort of think

that if they went straight in

with just the used car market

they would probably be

a little bit more successful

I think that would probably be

slightly easier to serve

than that new car market

I don't know

I think the opposite

because I think new cars

are homogenised

and you know

whether you want

as Carwell found out initially

when they started

you know you

a Hyundai Tucson

from every dealer across the country

is identical

you just

it doesn't really matter

where you're getting it from

it's just a case of

what's near

and what's the price

whereas used as we know

every car is unique

it's a nightmare

in terms of setting up a platform

if you're someone like Amazon

to explain why

this particular car

that's five miles down the road

is better than the next one

that's 10 miles down the road

or so on and so forth

this story has been incredibly popular

on our website this week

and you can see why

I mean the advertising market

for used cars in the UK

is fraught at the moment

I mean there has been

lots of talk about

about AutoTrader

and the other rivals

to AutoTrader

like Cargoerys

and Motors

and because they were pushing

pushing really hard

it sort of feels to me like

this is a good time

for Amazon Auto's

to enter the UK

and if they can come up

with a platform that works

I suspect they're

corner quite a bit

of the market

because they've got

the audience haven't they

these other platforms

have to go out there

and acquire those audiences

by a paper click

or Google

Amazon we've already got it

what's your take James

um well I think

we've been in the industry

many years

there's been many examples

of where big brands

have suddenly said

we're coming into cars

yeah test goes

and they haven't worked

yeah

um I think that also

if I think about

why I feel

I enjoy the test

the sorry the Amazon

experiences because

if I don't like it

I'll just send it back

whether it's a partner

products or not

now I'm not going to be doing

that with cars

so then you think

it is just a marketplace

play it has to be

that's all it can be

I see

but then the other side

I think about

I suppose just because

the way my brain works

is actually

the data they're potentially

going to start learning about

and be getting through

this the platform

is going to get really

interesting because

you think about all that

data when you

go onto Amazon right now

hey you might be

interested in one of these

you might

so the experience

is a great experience

because it's learned

from all of your data

now suddenly people are going

in the start

start searching for cars

so there's a big data

play in here as well

because of the volume of them

which I think

would be a really

interesting point

so I think

I think

I'm a little skeptical

I'd sit back

and probably say

being here before

things may be slightly

different this time

so I'll keep a

very open mind

I tell you why I'm

skeptical as well

and it's

that Amazon

search function

you know

like Amazon 10 years ago

it's very easy to find

a product on there

that was going to be all right

looking for a

hair dryer

whatever a toaster

now

it's like a flood of stuff

you know

there's millions and millions

of products on there

and I don't think the search

is particularly brilliant

on Amazon

I think that's one of the

the weaker points

and when it comes to use cars

as I say

they're so unique

people want a certain

price

certain number of miles

certain kit

all that stuff

I don't know if

Amazon are really thinking

about that

properly at the moment

but they

they have got

very very deep pockets

something

and I think this is a

different when

you compare them to others

that have tried

to enter the market

I mean Amazon have got the

the expertise

and the money

to try and make this one work

and I think that's what the

dealers are excited about

yeah

and I suppose for a

consumer

if suddenly you look at

I loot

I use Amazon a lot

and if I could have that

same experience

of buying a car

but it will never happen

you'll never get to point

I'm going to order two of

those and I'll send one back

because I don't like it

and it's

it doesn't cost me anything

so it has to be a

different experience

for the consumer

for what they're used to

with Amazon

but

as you say

big organization

deep pockets

if there is someone

who can probably

invest that time

but

at what point will they go

when are we going to start

seeing a return

and

perhaps it isn't

worth the investment

yeah because then

they're not charging

dealers over here at the

moment

are they

they've been running for

what do you say it was

13 months

and they haven't charged

dealers a penny

but then

but they've only got about

30 dealers on it

and I mean

so

I mean we walked over to

a Mitsubishi stand

which is a rare thing

isn't it

and they said

they are a small

company over here

and they've got 250

like that

so

30 across the whole of America

on Amazon Autos is

not a lot

really

but we did

we did publish this story

as you say

they're

saying that they're coming to the

UK

we did approach Amazon

for a comment

and they did finally

get back to us John

after saying that the

inbox I sent the email to

wasn't monitored

they did come back to me

and they said

we're focused on expanding

Amazon Autos in the United States

where we're continuously

adding new dealers

vehicle inventory

and features for customers

while we're always

exploring opportunities

to serve customers

in new regions

we do not have anything

more to share at this time

what that says to me

is it's not a no

it's certainly not a denial

that says to me

that our story is correct

and they'll be coming

very soon

lovely

over to you

your story

is it my go

is your go

excellent

well I'm going to stick with

use car advertising

because we had a very

interesting chat

with the cargoers team

didn't we

so

we met up with

with cargoes

and they wanted to show us

some of the new things

that they've

they've been doing

and it's something

I've written about

and we've talked about

many times on the podcast

it's it's the conversational

AI use car search

it's the

I genuinely think

the way that people

we expect people to search

for cars at the moment

on these use car platforms

auto-trader etc

is a little bit archaic

we expect people to know

what car they want

and actually a lot of people

that seems fine

for car people like us

but when you talk to people

who know nothing about cars

the people who

who walk into my dealership

I often ask them

how did you get to the point

of wanting a Skoda Yeti

a Kia Picanto

etc before you say anything

John

and they say

well we

I spoke to chat gpt

I asked Gemini

I asked friends and family

and it's sometimes they

they said

I had one customer who came in

and they had all of these

questions that chat gpt

prepared for them

that to ask about that car

so having it built

into a platform

I think is really important

and that what

cargoes showed us

they call it discover

it was the ability

to go on there

and ask questions

in the way that

you would ask a friend

that what cars

I'm looking for a reliable car

what brands would I buy

I'm looking for

a car with seven seats

what options I've got

and it was very good wasn't it

rapidly served up firstly

dealer adverts

which is important

but

importantly gave it context

and advice

and I just feel that

I genuinely think this is

the future of search

but we haven't seen it

in the UK yet have we

no

and it feels like

I mean

cargoes weren't going to be pressed on

when or if it would come to the UK

but I can see that it would be

relatively easy to implement

yeah and I think as to your point

I agree with you basically

I think the way that we do

search on a lot of platforms

at the minute is

it's very specific

and that's

back to what I was saying earlier

it's because used cars

have been complicated

and

there's lots of different variants

of everything

but yeah it is archaic

you know for

to take

people that come into your dealership

as an example

they just

they've had the car written off

they need a car immediately

they presented with a drop down

that says do you want a

Ford, a Vauxhall

an Audi, a Vauxwagon

or a lot of other

I don't know

anything

yeah I just want with seven seats

like my last one

yeah for about eight grand

like where do I

I see it a lot on the

so we've got an impaled chat

function on the front

of our website

and I look at the conversation

that customers have had

and they're having these sorts

of conversations

on our website now

and AI's already

even in our small world

I mean you know

10 cars advertise at the moment

it's helping them

decide which one

on our website works

you must see it

on a much grander scale

I mean I get excited

about these types of conversations

so we may know

where the winner's going to go

at the end of this

but I

we're going to have to have

a good one Jane

a John sorry

so I

I think

I mean

a genetic search is

as you would expect

is something we're currently

working on

with a UK

sorry a US car manufacturer

about exactly that

that

you know what people

are coming in now

and they're unsure

they're not only

unsure what type of vehicle

but actually brand as well

so brand agnostic

is a big thing

so

and I think we make

the customer journey

and this isn't necessarily

just in the automotive world

but we make the customer

the consumer journey

really tough

and and difficult

and anything that can make

that easier

I'm up for that

and I think

the the

genetic approach

and what car gurus

are doing

you'll start seeing that

happen quite quickly

because the technology

is now starting to get there

and again that'll be

another one that we'll probably start with

just very simple search

on the front of a website

that you can just go in

and just chat to it

as if it was a friend

and it will point you

in the right direction of vehicles

and then we'll get even better

with a genetic agent

that says

okay now I've got an agent

that's helping me find a car

now I need an agent

that's going to help me

find the best finance deal

and an agent

that's going to start

helping me find

you know where I can get it delivered

there'll be lots of these things

and it will just get

richer and richer and richer

and the day of a website

where you will go onto a website

and search for things

will change

you can see a world where

I may just have on my phone

my little agent

who I just go and chat to

a bit like chatGPT

and Gemini right now

they will go off and do

all of this for me

yes

and so I get really excited

about that

yeah and I can see the work

I can see that world

and how it will work

it's just

I don't think in the UK

we're catching up

with those sorts of things

fast enough

you know this

ability to search in this way

people are already doing it

but they're not doing it

on the platforms

that serve up our cars

yeah exactly

yeah

um

John I'll let you have a go

I'll squeeze one more in

shall we end

I have got one

thing on top of it

I'd just like to talk about

okay all right

I'll do this quickly then

TikTok

so one of our other sessions

we went to do

was hosted by TikTok

which is not a platform

either but she used very well

is it James or at all

I actually hate it

when someone sends me a TikTok

and I can't look at it

because I'm not on the platform

yep

I'm with you on that one

but there was a live stage

presentation from TikTok

which was

okay

but it was

it was sort of

it was interesting

from the point of view of

here are TikTok

enormous

social media company

probably the world's biggest

in some ways at the moment

presenting to dealers

saying you really need to be

on our platform

and it was

there's lots of things

I mean they have

in the US at least

I can't speak for the UK

they have a

an advertising model

that lets dealers

push things

into TikTok

I guess a little bit

like an Instagram ad would be

but the

the main takeaway from this

particular session was

slightly questionable

I'm not sure I agree with this

you need to get

every member of your

dealership staff

and again this is

American dealers are a lot bigger

and

sales works a lot differently here

I think

you need to get every member

of your sales team

on TikTok

posting things

and

because of the way that

TikTok works and serves

content up to random people

almost

you know

so it's a discover

kind of

algorithm isn't it

the more people you have on it

the more people

are going to be

pushing stuff from your dealership

the more customers

you're going to have

so get all of your sales team on it

get them to be pushing content

lo-fi content

is the term that was

yes

that was interesting

you know you don't need to

make these really beautiful

glossy videos

literally just

do this

hold the iPhone in front of you

film a

Ford Expedition

get it online

and you will see a result

it was realism wasn't it

that's what they were talking about

it was the fact that

you don't have to do stupid

dances

or funny

TikToks

for them to actually work

because

a lot of people

and they were saying

it's not just about the youngsters

there's a lot of older

older generations

that are using TikTok

as a

and I don't know how much I believe this

but as a search engine

they were searching for

for dealers to

to work out what they were like

on the platform

it's

I think

it's hard to invest time

in TikTok

this is the thing

it does take time

and when you are

when you're producing

social media for your business

no one which platform

to put it on

is really hard

yeah

you're right

it does make me feel very old

all these TikTok things as well

can I wedge just one more

last topic

go on

yeah

I just wanted to talk about

some of the experiences

that we've had

while we've been out here

that have sort of

blown my mind

and

and one of them was

well two of them

were to do with Tesla

the first one was

would be

we've been getting a lot of

Ubers around, haven't we

and

one of them we got into

I was kind of

I noticed at some point

that the guy was

not really paying much attention

and then I noticed

he didn't actually have his hands

on the steering wheel

and it was until I started chatting to him

that he was

he was running the entire

journey on full

fully autonomous autopilot

which I know has been a thing

in the States for a while

but I've never actually experienced it

and I was amazed at how good it was

it was

he's

I asked him like

how often do you use this

and you know

his job is to drive people around

he said well

all the time

every journey I do

he said he just

turns on

and he's got

the Uber app

plugged into the Tesla

system

and it just plums in

where the

where the trip's going

he presses go

and he just says he sits there

he says he has to wear sunglasses

because otherwise the car knows

he's not paying too much attention

I mean

I don't know how many stars he gave them

John after that ride

he did get a tip

but really I should have sent it straight to Elon

shouldn't I

and the other thing that

I've experienced while we're out here

again with

with Teslas

is the Tesla Loop

so it's that

I've obviously read about that many times

it's

Elon Musk's

boring company

that's drilled the holes

but

we did that between the

show halls

didn't we

you can jump in

at Tesla

I think only Teslas are out

through these

yeah

these

weird tunnels

but it was

strange wouldn't it

it was like going through

like a kind of disco party

all the

all the weird lights on the walls

but

it was actually quite surreal

wasn't it

yeah I would say it was like

the Blackwall tunnel

imagined by a

Gen Z

gaming streamer

yeah exactly what it was like

RGB lights all the way like

but it is so

over here

everything seems to be autonomous

doesn't it

there's so many of those cars

the Zoot cars

I think they're called

driving around

which is like

weird little vans

with

with loads of

radars all over

they look like something

you'd see at the Tokyo Motor Show

exactly

20 years ago

you know

square box

with a wheel at each corner

you know

but it's

what's amazed me is

that it

that it's live

is happening

you can experience it

you can

you can do it

right here

right now

and I've just

that's probably one of the things

that's blown me away the most

it's just

it

again it's back to the AI subject

isn't it

it's

you know

thanks to AI

that these things exist

have you tried any of them

yeah yeah

I've been in all of them

and it's an experience

because you don't

you don't get a chance

very often to be able to do

those things

so

and the monorail is very good

as well

going back to old school

but what's surprising

but what

I'm just surprised to me

is actually

just standard taxis now

is actually

they've got these

virtually massive TV screens

on the top of them

just advertising everywhere

so I'm surprised that

in the tunnel actually

those walls

at some point

would become more like TV screens

and they'd just be

throwing advertising at you

but

yeah it's an experience

and everyone should

should try it while they're here

yeah it's been great

I

I want to get one of those

Zooks John

before we leave

because that was

them

they just look

so space age

driving around don't they

although our taxi driver

at the one who was

not really driving us

but was letting the car drive

I think he said

they

have a habit of getting stuck

stuck

right in the middle

which

is probably not ideal

when you're sat inside it

because it's

you know they're a bit like

the Heathrow pod things

the T5 pods aren't they

yeah exactly

them

yeah

but it's been nice

isn't it

trying to experience

those

those sorts of things

but you

you wonder whether

they would ever work

in the UK

and then you look at

some of the roads

and the road markings

we have

it's kind of

I just can't see it happening

I think they've got

a lot of

a long way to go

should I wrap this up

yeah I think you

probably should

so

James in the middle

before I ask

for your verdicts

are there any

stories or

things from the show

that you think we

should have talked about

that we haven't

well you've

you've covered

I think

as I'm looking at now

we've got

not only car washes

but lots of lifts

and ramps

we've not touched on those

so I don't know

if we want to get

into conversation about

sure could do

but no

and no

I think that

I mean you've covered

some great stories there

that there's lots

happening here

and

I think

the one that was

interesting

there's

this new entrance

coming in

for the first time ever

I've seen some

UK businesses

making their way

into the US

which is quite unusual

yes

tends to be the other way

be interesting to see

how that journey

happens for that business

so

I think that

I mean

also from an

other perspective

this is the first time

they've run the event

midweek

which was interesting

to us

because normally

it's over a weekend

it finishes on a Sunday

right

there had feedback

from a lot of the dealers

saying

actually we don't want

some of our people

out of the business

our business times

can we run it

midweek

so they've done this

for the first time

so we were always

interested to see

what does that do to

the level of attendance

and we've seen really

strong attendance at the show

but I think what we haven't seen

is perhaps so many

business owners here

so the business owners

tend to arrive at the weekends

and

they're not here right now

so I think that

what you're finding is

lots of managers are here now

they're out looking around

they're shopping

so I think

so the stands are busy

but it'd be interesting to see

how many deals are actually done

and the level of those deals

compared to last year

what would you say to

those people listening

and watching this

who've been thinking about coming out

is it worth the trip

absolutely

I mean

it's obviously

it's not every year

that it's at Vegas

it's every second year

I think it's

Orlando I think next year

but Vegas is one of those

where you can experience

so much more than

as you have done

rather than just the show

so I would

absolutely recommend it

I think there are some

businesses out there

that run trips

for dealers

I've heard of a couple of businesses

that do that

so I think it's a very

valid thing to do

and yeah

if you get the opportunity

absolutely you should

yeah definitely

I mean John and I are out here for

another week

so we're going

heading on to LA after this

we're going to be picking up a Rivian

this afternoon

which I'm very excited to

experience

and then we're going over to

Pennsylvania next week

to hopefully

see one of the

largest

US car auctions

with Cox Automotive

so

those people listening

and watching this

will be able to see

a lot more next week

won't they

indeed unless we're stuck in a snow storm

in which case

we'll be showing you that

live from our hotel room

oh so I'm going to have to ask you

who chose the best stories

here's your winner

I think I need to go with the search story

so I'm really sorry

and I know that's a surprise

because I didn't hint at that at all

I will chalk that up as

one for me James

thank you very much

there's two all

a US win

that should count for two

no what happens in Vegas

stays in Vegas James

so actually

no until we come back

doesn't count

well on that note

all that's left for me to say

is thank you to James

for joining us today

thank you James

we should also thank God X for letting us

use their stand

and the expel team

give this expel product to Google

because it's available in the UK

very soon

it's a very interesting

way it's a sort of paint protection film

isn't it

but it's

it's like regenerative

so if you scratch it

you heat it up

it fixes itself

it's very interesting

are you going to put on one of these

lanyards

and start selling it

do you want to put on them

you're not good at it

they pay very well James

so

oh god

actually no don't talk to me

thank you as well to James

and thank you for listening

as he says

we'll be back next week

with another episode

probably some random time like this one

so make sure you're subscribed

so you're notified when that goes live

if you want to check out the stories

you mentioned today

take a look in the show notes below

or head to carliethemagazine.co.uk

thanks for listening

and goodbye

News live from NADA show, Amazon Autos coming to the UK, and American dealers want to block Chinese cars – with James Leese, episode 242

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