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Hey, it's daily drive executive producer Jake Nier in Detroit.
00:22
On this week's bonus episode of the show, we'll hear from Suzanne Kazunis, Group Vice
00:27
President of Production Engineering at Toyota Motor North America, about how the automaker
00:32
is responding to tariff headwinds.
00:34
But first, on Wednesday's show, we brought you the first part of our own CJ Moore's conversation
00:40
with Selmy Ride president Dom Pope and the company's new chairman, Chip Perry.
00:45
If you haven't heard that part of the interview, go back and check it out.
00:49
Here's more from that conversation.
00:52
Just thinking about the way that the used vehicle market has been, there's such
00:56
a change since before COVID, during COVID and now after.
01:00
Used vehicles, I think dealers are certainly concerned about margins compressing or margins,
01:06
you know, they have been compressing in the time since kind of the peak of used vehicle
01:11
prices a few years ago.
01:13
Did that have any influence in bringing this to market now?
01:17
I mean, certainly I think high volume dealers are interested in acquiring used vehicle
01:22
inventory at lower prices.
01:26
They'll look anywhere they can at this point to find that.
01:30
Are you seeing some of that demand from dealers, we'll say, at this point?
01:34
Yeah, I think the demand for what we have is probably at an all time high.
01:41
As Chip mentioned, this is an always on problem and always has been.
01:47
But I think that the problem's getting worse because of the huge market players
01:51
that weren't really hitting the levels that they currently are.
01:54
Now, Cabana and Karl Marx have really
01:56
stole a march even more than the last few years in this space.
02:01
And I think dealers are sort of really left with less and less option.
02:04
And I think it was there's a white space for us to come into
02:09
to actually help the dealers defend themselves, defend their local
02:11
markets against these these sort of big players.
02:14
So I think the dealer need has never been greater.
02:16
And also, like you said, the different parts of the dealership when it comes
02:22
to margin that are getting tighter and tighter.
02:24
And I'm really dealers are acutely aware that this part of the dealership
02:29
is where they are able to drive significant revenue.
02:32
They have more control over what they do by and what they sell it for.
02:36
So ultimately, it's become a greater priority than it ever has been
02:42
for dealers that followed up the timing market wise is good.
02:46
I think maybe years gone by dealers weren't really willing to put much
02:50
resource into linked handlers or BDC in order to actually help them acquire cars.
02:56
Not like they are now the pair plans are improving the structure,
02:59
the amount of resource, the quality of the resource and dealerships when it
03:03
comes to use car acquisition is getting better and better, as well as their
03:07
understanding of how this part of the dealership can really drive the profits.
03:15
Yes, and many dealers face the problem if they want to acquire
03:18
more used cars, how can they do it?
03:21
They go to the auctions, put their hand up, be the last person standing.
03:25
They know what that produces.
03:27
The third parties are fairly capped in their ability to drive traffic
03:33
because they share leads across multiple dealerships and trade ins are a fairly
03:38
constant flow, but hard to grow.
03:42
So this represents a fresh new digital
03:45
channel that brings new opportunities that the dealer wouldn't see.
03:50
And it's done in the same way that those two big giant
03:54
acquisitive companies, CarMax and Carvana use, which is doing digital
03:59
marketing over the top and local markets.
04:01
So when I saw that dealers were able to protect their share, capture their fair
04:06
share of local local acquisition opportunities, I said, yes, I want to be part of that.
04:11
It certainly seems like there's just overall more competition for used vehicles.
04:16
And like the three-year-old used vehicles, the later model used inventory.
04:22
Is that what you're aiming to have on the platform available on the platform?
04:27
Is any specific model year range because you mentioned high quality?
04:33
Yeah, we just really want to look at the bi-plan that the dealer is looking for.
04:37
So the dealers really know their local markets and know what cars consumers
04:42
are looking for and they're very, very, very attuned to that.
04:46
So we just really want to provide them with the opportunities
04:50
to acquire the used cars that they know are going to sell in their market.
04:52
They know what turns quick, they know where they can find good gross.
04:56
And ultimately, if a dealer's got a great wholesale solution set up as well,
05:01
we can really help them with that.
05:03
And that can be a good profit drive before them.
05:06
Ultimately, we want to get them retail ready cars or retail available cars.
05:11
And ultimately, if they do have options to they would have options to wholesale.
05:16
But we look at the bi-plan, mile, age types of cars,
05:21
and we try to find them the opportunities that really fit into that.
05:25
It's not really where we want to be sending any old lead to their BDC or sales team.
05:31
It's really, you know, we don't want the sales team looking for gold.
05:34
Every single lead is a gold.
05:36
So that's our objective here is to establish what leads and what cars
05:40
the consumer and the dealers looking for and then really really send them through
05:46
And we use Google and Meta to target these people very specifically.
05:50
Now, both of those platforms understand user intent.
05:53
They watch what we're doing.
05:55
So that they know if you have a six year old Ford Explorer and you're
06:01
thinking about selling it, you've kind of done some things on the on the
06:05
internet that signal your intent.
06:07
So that's how the digital marketing finds the people with the cars that the dealers want.
06:12
Automotive News retail reporter C.J.
06:15
Moore spoke with Chip Perry and Dom Pope of Sell My Ride.
06:19
Coming up, Toyota Motor North America's
06:22
Suzanne Kazunis talks about the automakers strategy to mitigate tariff costs.
06:27
That's next on this bonus episode of Daily Drive.
06:30
On Monday, General Motors CEO,
06:33
Mary Barra joins Daily Drive for an exclusive interview with Automotive News
06:38
journalists, Lindsey Van Holley and Nick Bunkley.
06:40
In this two part interview, Barra talks about how EV headwinds are affecting
06:45
GM's electrification strategy and her conversations with President Trump
06:50
and his administration about tariffs.
06:52
I also think tariffs are here to stay.
06:54
We're working on how are we aligned with what the administration is trying
06:58
to accomplish and then make sure that they have the information to help
07:01
encourage that. And I think that's the productive way to move forward.
07:05
That's what we've been doing since day one.
07:07
Don't miss this opportunity to hear directly from GM's CEO, Mary Barra,
07:12
Monday and Tuesday, September 15th and 16th, right here on Daily Drive.
07:21
For over 100 years, Ally has helped dealers like you serve your customers
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by providing the best in class products and services you need.
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And by remaining true to the automotive passion, we share your dedicated
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Ally account executive will work hand in hand with you to help you gain
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efficiencies, increase your product offerings and work to improve per vehicle
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revenue because we care about your business as much as you do.
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We're all better off with an ally.
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Contact your local Ally account executive to get started today.
07:53
Welcome back. Automotive News Congress 2025 was jam-packed with industry
07:59
leaders and thinkers in downtown Detroit on Thursday.
08:02
In one session sponsored by Boston Consulting Group, managing director Brian
08:07
Colley spoke with Bridgestone America's CEO Scott Damon and Toyota Motor North
08:13
America Group Vice President of Production Engineering, Suzanne Kazunis,
08:17
about how companies are navigating several new challenges in 2025.
08:22
In this clip, Kazunis talks specifically about Toyota's efforts to mitigate tariffs.
08:28
Obviously, all of us in this room have been dealing with a incredibly turbulent,
08:33
rapidly changing tariff environment, where the rules of the game are changing
08:37
not by the year, not by the quarter, but in some cases it feels like by the day
08:41
or our latest Twitter feed.
08:44
Toyota has been like many OEMs, especially exposed to that.
08:47
And we just love to hear what are some of the steps that Toyota has taken
08:50
to really manage through that uncertainty, both from a terrorist standpoint,
08:54
from a broader geopolitical standpoint.
08:56
Yeah, I think that's the question on everybody's mind right now.
09:00
You know, Toyota's had a philosophy for
09:04
as long as I've been with the company that we will build where we sell and buy
09:09
where we build, and that has really streamlined much of our decision making
09:17
over the last couple of decades, even including our most recent
09:22
curl across, which we're building at a new facility in Huntsville, Alabama.
09:26
The decision to in 2024 before tariffs, you know, we announced a decision
09:32
to build rear axles for our truck business in our facility at San Antonio,
09:37
Texas, and invest there and what has turned out to be a very fortuitous
09:41
decision in regard to the new battery facility that we're building in North
09:48
You know, that was initially, you know, part of our strategy for electrification.
09:54
But the first product that we're starting to produce there is hybrid batteries.
09:58
And as we're seeing the shift in the market towards hybrid,
10:02
that's going to give us some real advantages.
10:05
We talk about being able to vertically integrate and to have more of those
10:09
high cost commodities being produced in the United States.
10:13
I think one of the things we've always done is that new model,
10:18
we evaluate what parts can be localized.
10:22
And an example that would be with our new Tundra and Sequoia,
10:27
we were able to work with our partners to actually localize transmission
10:30
production in Texas, nearby the manufacturing facility.
10:34
Also, resin deck bed was localized, just a couple of examples.
10:40
So how do we take the work that we've done in that space typically at a model
10:45
change, but now we're having to do those studies and look at how
10:51
we can make those decisions mid-cycle instead of waiting for the new model.
10:56
And we're having to make decisions much faster.
10:59
I think we are very proud of the relationship we have with our suppliers.
11:05
And, you know, in fact, I was here yesterday, we had an opportunity
11:08
to exchange in Detroit with our suppliers at 36th year that we've had that event,
11:14
which is really about how we're building relationships and trust.
11:17
And so being able to move quickly in the space, not just from the standpoint
11:22
of the OEM decisions, but with the supplier basis key.
11:26
That's all for this bonus episode of Daily Drive.
11:29
We'll be back on Monday with a brand new full episode of the show,
11:32
featuring the first part of our exclusive interview with General Motors
11:36
CEO, Mary Bara. We'll meet you back here on Monday.
