Farley’s Ode To EVs, Sub-$25K Jeep EV, Bugatti Robotaxi

Welcome to a new month and a new quarter! Today we’re covering Jim Farley’s conversion from “petrol head” to EV enthusiast, Jeep’s plans to bring a sub-$25K EV to the US market and a new robotaxi from the CEO of Bugatti.

Show Notes with links:

• Ford CEO Jim Farley has posted his argument for EVs on LinkedIn, discussing the potential and challenges of EVs, while emphasizing his personal experience and Ford's commitment to innovation.
  • Farley describes his deep-rooted love for traditional cars and his surprise at falling in love with electric vehicles through his experience with the Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum.
  • He highlights the convenience of EVs, such as the absence of gas station visits, quiet operation, smooth acceleration, and unique features like a massive frunk and mobile generator capabilities.
  • “The tipping point we’re working toward will come not from regulators who push us or from politicians who try to hold us back. It will come from consumers. Not when an arbitrary market share is reached, but when electric vehicles are simply better for more customers – better to drive, cheaper to own, and easier to integrate into daily life.”
• Jeep has announced plans to launch an affordable Renegade EV in the US for under $25,000, but industry experts are skeptical about the feasibility of hitting this price point.
  • Jeep aims to launch a new model every year over the next three years, with a goal of increasing its market coverage in North America from 45% to 85% by 2027.
  • Experts doubt Jeep can achieve the $25,000 price point, citing potential production outside North America, which would disqualify the vehicle from federal incentives.
  • Ralph Mahalak Jr., a Jeep dealer, supports the idea of a low-cost EV but stresses the need for a range of 200 to 300 miles to be competitive.
  • Other brands like Kia, Volvo, and Chevy are also targeting the low-cost EV segment, with prices starting around $30,000 to $35,000.
  • “If the Renegade comes in at, let’s say [$30,000] starting for the launch models, or maybe even [$35,000], it could put up some numbers for Jeep,” says Edmunds’ Joseph Yoon.

• Rimac, known for its million-dollar hypercars, has ventured into autonomous vehicles with the launch of its robotaxi, "Verne." Named after the novelist Jules Verne, this innovative two-seater EV aims to revolutionize urban transportation.
  • The Verne is a two-door, two-seater EV with a design blending a space capsule and a European hatchback. It features a giant 43-inch dashboard screen, 17 speakers, and no steering wheel or pedals, offering a spacious and tech-savvy interior.
  • Equipped with Mobileye's advanced cameras, sensors, and lidars, the Verne uses the Mobileye Drive platform for its autonomous driving capabilities.
  • “Why a 2-seater? Because the data shows that nine out of 10 rides are used by one or two people,” says Chief Design Officer Adriano Mudri in a

Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier

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Transcript

Paul J Daly: 0:10

Today is the first day of the rest of your year. July 1, starting q3 Starting the back half of the year talking about Jim Farley is owed to EVs a sub $25,000 Jeep, and who got t Robo taxi guy go do it like when they see how you say Robo taxi

Kyle Mountsier: 0:36

call it something different just for the heck of it.

Paul J Daly: 0:38

I mean, I think they kind of wanted to just like little turn it back and push it in elands face just a little bit. Yeah, well, that will tie we mentioned it on the show on Friday. We have a little more detail on it today. So we'll talk about it. But second half of 2024 we are they were in

Kyle Mountsier: 0:55

it. Let's go it you know, the older you get the years just fly by the half years act like they don't even happen. You know,

Paul J Daly: 1:03

I know. I mean, I feel like we were just that NADA. I really That's exactly right.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:09

And now and now we're almost at NADA action. We're gonna have some cool stuff to share this week. I'm excited about it. Yeah,

Paul J Daly: 1:15

we are. Yeah, we already missed the holiday week. I mean, like everybody's kind of ramping up. This is great. I mean, whoever put the holiday in the Fourth of July just understood it's a great way to start retail. With the second half of the year having a big holiday week. Somebody was thinking about that. Thank

Kyle Mountsier: 1:30

you so much for whoever got

Paul J Daly: 1:32

the day. Wherever you are Independence Day, man, we salute you. What else we got? We got a new Auto Collabs episode launching or launch? I don't know is a monster already launched? Yeah, we're it's out when running a business like coaching an eight year old baseball team with John Fitzpatrick of force marketing. These conversations are so great. And that metaphor goes a long way. You could really have some fun with that on a tick tock account. But yeah, we had a great conversation with John, and just really an earth this passion for coaching youth baseball, and you can see his face light up. And then like we started drawing the parallels, and it's just a great fun episode to listen to and see a little different side of John Fitzpatrick you may never have seen before. Just kind of why we do the Auto Collabs the way we do. Yep. All right, we're gonna get right into it.

Kyle Mountsier: 2:21

Let's get into it.

Paul J Daly: 2:22

So Jim Farley, Ford CEO, you know, he posted this I don't even know what to call it. An Ode to EVs and argument for EVs. It felt it felt pretty heartfelt. I wonder if he wrote the whole thing or just I don't I don't know him very well, but either way. Yeah. Yeah, we're gonna keep going. He posted it on his LinkedIn account, discussing the potential challenges of EVs while emphasizing like telling the story of his personal experience and their commitment. He talks about his love for EVs and how he grew up and his grandfather worked for Ford and like he grew up building these cars, he still wrenches on his old like 1973 Bronco on the weekends. He's like, I got petrol in my veins. Then he talks about his experience getting the F 150. Lightning, he talks about the convenience of EVs, the absence of like having to go to a gas station, it's quiet fun to drive. And he says like, I know, there's a lot of skepticism around EVs, particularly concerning charging infrastructure, but talks about the improvements talks about the cost savings and how it's like actually a lot closer than most people think. And at the end of the at the end of the letter, he's kind of like, but don't take my word for it. Go out and drive one, right? How American is that that you can go out, try it, decide whether or not you want it, and then make your decision. Here's a quote from it. He said, quote, The Tipping Point we're working toward will come not from regulators who push us from politics, or from politicians who try to hold us back. It will come from consumers, not when an arbitrary market shares reach. But when an electric vehicles are simply better for more customers to drive cheaper to own and easier to integrate into daily life.

Kyle Mountsier: 3:56

There's not a statement in that thing that I could agree with, like sounds that, you know, it's it seems like actually a departure from 2023. The way that the automated automakers are talking, some of that was politically driven. But this is this reality, like until the technology is ready for the mass consumer. It's like, you know, who thought you know, when the OLED TV came out, I don't know, in 2013, or something like that. And it was like eight grand that anybody? Everybody was like, No, this isn't practical. But now it's like, you know, you can get an oily V TV for 1100 bucks and the insurance, you know, more people are getting into that

Paul J Daly: 4:35

and the insurer in the in the article or whatever you want to call it. He talked about the things that were only once for other people. And he brought out like cell phones. He talked about computers were only for NASA and he just like I think I think he made a cool case. It's a great little LinkedIn article and they probably posted it other places. We link it up in the show notes. If you didn't know if you're watching this live stream. This is also an audio episode. It has A show notes you can link through every article that we cite or talk about in the show. Speaking of talking about things in the show such a cheap segue that's like in there. That's,

Kyle Mountsier: 5:12

I want I want to speaking of making it cheaper to own.

Paul J Daly: 5:16

Oh, man, that was really good. It's okay. I know I felt like I felt like when you like try to like mail in a segway. It's like when a musician comes on stages is like, Oh, we do in insert city here, right? Whatever, you need a little bump in the action. This is another another Evie related story about being affordable Jeep has announced plans to launch their affordable renegade Evie in the US for under $25,000. But industry experts are very skeptical about the feasibility of actually hitting the price point. Jeep Jeep aims to launch a new model every year for the next three years with the goal of increasing market coverage in North America from 45% to 85%. By 2027. I like it. So I'm put a goal out there that actually is going to be like out there measurable. experts doubt Jeep can achieve the $25,000 price point talking about production outside North America which would disqualify the vehicle from federal incentives. So obviously, they're thinking in order to hit the incent the price point they need the incentives, the incentives. Yep, yep. Ralph Mahalik, Jr. A jeep dealer supports the idea of a low cost CV but stresses the need for range. He's like, it's gotta have 200 to 300 miles to be competitive. I think it's gotta be like 300 anymore. Yeah. Other brands like key a Volvo Chevy also targeting that segment, but their starting prices around $30,000. So it's a little different. Here's a quote from Edmonds. Joseph Yun says if the renegade comes in at let's say, $30,000 starting for launch models, or maybe even $35,000 it could put some numbers up for Jeep.

Kyle Mountsier: 6:43

So yeah, I would say that the next survive OEMs that figured out a sub $35,000 Eevee in especially if it's like a crossover small SUV, are they're gonna win on on market share alone, right? Just because more consumers can buy the vehicle like they're looking for, right? Not everybody wants a model three, that you know, a car that that is not like it's not that's not what people buy in the US, right? They buy robes and Rab fours and and those types of cars. So until you get that type of volume, or until you get that type of price point you won't get that type of volume.

Paul J Daly: 7:27

No, no, you won't. I mean, I think he has got a great shot at getting to the 25 first, personally with that, right? They got they got the 30 to 35 figured out already.

Kyle Mountsier: 7:37

Yeah, but I don't know how many new cars are actually are going to be 25,000 like across the border for years. So like, chasing that goal seems a little

Paul J Daly: 7:48

you know, $30,000 does seem reasonable. Yeah. seems more reasonable speaking things that seem pretty dang reasonable, especially after you've

Kyle Mountsier: 7:57

been reasonable all at the same time. Rimac known for its million dollar hypercars has ventured into autonomous vehicles with the launch of its Robo taxi firm named after the novelist ve

Paul J Daly: 8:10

r n e not like Vern, like, Uranus goes the Kipps like cameraman

Kyle Mountsier: 8:14

right Jules Verne, the innovative two seater Evie aims to revolutionize urban transportation. So if you haven't, you gotta go click on the link you got to find the video the YouTube video that the Top Gear did with SEO Bugatti. It is amazing. It walks through every single part of this vehicle so the version is a two door. two seater, Evie with a designed blending space, space capsule and a European hatchback. It features a ginormous like widescreen curved, 43 inch dashboard screen. 17 speakers, no steering wheel or pedals and a tech savvy interior. It has a ton of technology, advanced cameras, sensors, lidars LIDAR on the top on the outside, oh screens on the outside. It can be summoned by an app with customizable features like cabin temperature, lighting, music, it'll identify the users name, even the ability to customize the scent of the car when it arrives.

Paul J Daly: 9:19

I think I want customized sense in which is sure because that is like that's the concern. Cleanliness is definitely one of the concerns in a driverless vehicle. Yep, exactly like you just the and that could change the whole experience real this

Kyle Mountsier: 9:34

this was a wild. This was a wild piece here. They said the question was posed why a two seater? Why not a four seater? And it's because the data shows that nine out of 10 rides are used by one or two people that makes sense to when it comes to a taxi. So they're

Paul J Daly: 9:50

like if you need if you have more than a couple people then you just order a couple of these things in a line by daisy chain those babies you got your whole little convoy We're not in robot, that'd be cool if you could actually communicate between the two of them. Oh, rides up little intercom secretes. That's version two. I think this you have to go watch it because when you watch it, it makes a lot more sense when you see it, you're like, oh, big trunk, lots of leg space. Again, we said this last week, some other company putting out a robo taxi when Tech's Tesla has been talking about so much, I think is makes their claim to having a viable rogue Robo taxi taxi actually better, right? Because now it's like, oh, yeah, this does seem something like something that would be really easily to adopt, easy to go. And, you know, Tesla probably has a lot more capability to execute the full business model from top to bottom, like Tesla's saying, we're not only going to build these, we're going to own them. And we're going to like, have Tesla, Tesla, Uber, right, you know, but you have to think like Uber Uber is also going to shift back to whenever it can. I think these driverless vehicles. Oh, absolutely. Right. They had professional drivers when they started. And then it was crowd sourced drivers like it is now. But if Uber can own the vehicle, and then get the whole fare and own like its lights out of the dryer, it's over. Yeah, I bet it'll be a combo because we know like, no one's getting in one of these in Syracuse anytime between October and May. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So autonomous driving rules still apply.

Kyle Mountsier: 11:18

I would say in the next year, you're gonna see a ton more of this and you're gonna see it, especially in major metros, and they're going to be rolling out all over the place, and they're gonna be some funky looking things and it'll be fun. It'll be fun to watch.

Paul J Daly: 11:29

It will be. Well, look, we're starting out the week, the month the quarter. The second half of the year strong. We got a holiday week coming up. So we're gonna have three very high speed days are in front of us. So batten down the hatches and get ready