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[upbeat music] Good morning. It is Wednesday, April 2nd. Is, is today Liberation Day is to- I'm confused. I don't know. But it's the Automotive State of the Union. I'm Paul Jay Daly with Kyle Mounts here.
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We have a very special guest today. I heard he is in- [upbeat music] LinkedIn and Wall Street Journal famous now. There'll be no living with him. No. I can just see him, like, waving, waving food away from him.
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"Get this, get, get this away from me." Get this away from me "I want something else." "Give me the steak." That's all he says. I know.
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I was thinking more like cycling through, like, I didn't want the chocolate frosted, I wanted the glazed. [laughs] The donuts. That's messed up. [laughs] That's messed up. Austin, he's having Austin bring him...
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Well, I didn't say who it was gonna be. Oh, he kind of gave it away. It's Zach Kinch. It's Zach Kinch, everybody. Kinda gave it away. [laughs] GM- There it is... Bob Rowan, Toyota.
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He's got Austin bringing him boxes, uh, just, you know, at his whim. But, um, look, episode 1,007 today. Obviously, tariffs are the talk of the town. Uh, we're gonna s- talk about tariffs, dealer questions.
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Also talk about, like, what it is to, uh, have Amazon's new AI bot, like, purchase things for you. Wow. If it was bad enough, we'll, we'll save our comments for then. But, uh, look, all roads lead to a SoCon right now.
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We wanna talk about it. Um, if you haven't got your tickets, now's the time to get them. Zach's gonna be there. We'll ask him what he thinks about it.
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Uh, thank you to our friends at Reynolds and Gubagoo for being presenting sponsors and helping us make this happen. We have a whole list of industry partners that made this happen.
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We have a whole list of startups that are gonna be there pitching on the pitch tank. We have a whole list of dealers who have already bought tickets. Hotel rooms are just about booked solid in the main hotel.
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We're gonna release the other- That's right... hotel soon because we're gonna have to.
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And the best time to get your tickets is now because they're cheap as they're gonna be, and probably the only time to get your hotel rooms in the event hotel is gonna be, like, this week. The next week. Yeah. That's it.
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So I don't know. Let's- I think we should get into it because, like- Let's get into it... it is cooking out there. We got a, we got a... It's a big conversation.
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This afternoon is, is, uh, Trump is expected to kinda give the final verdict on what's supposed to happen on tariffs. So let's get into what we got. All right. Let's bring Zach Kinch into the show. By the way,
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Zach, uh, was driving his kids to school when I texted him and so... He's still driving actually. Kids in the car seat in the back. I'm just kidding. He's- They're back here. Everything's good. Yeah.
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[laughs] Everything's good. [laughs] So, uh, I'm gonna start the story, and then we're gonna talk about what happened to you yesterday and what you're kind of experienced right now on your LinkedIn page.
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Uh, but spurred by tariff fears, consumers have been flooding showrooms in late March, giving the US auto market a surge just in time for Q1 closing.
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Urgency sparked by record, uh, the record performances were sparked by, across multiple brands, sending sales soaring. Ford was up 19%, Hyundai up 15%- [whistles]... Kia up 25%, posting- Goodness...
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their best March and Q1 ever. GM posted a 17% Q1 jump. Buick, the biggest jump, obviously the fewest cars to make the percentage jump, up 39%.
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Uh, basically inven- inventory shortages, especially in hybrids, are expected to go through Q2, uh, as a result of the pull forwards in Q1. The average March retail price hit $44,849. Doh. Which is up- Hmm...
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$637 year over year. We thought we were going in the other direction. We were wrong.
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Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai and Genesis North America, saying, quote, "It's probably the best weekend I've seen since Cash for Clunkers." Lots of people- Wow...
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rushed in this weekend especially trying to beat the tariffs. How about that? Now- Did you see a great weekend at, uh, at the, at the store- That's a great question... there, Zach? What did it look like for you?
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Yeah, yeah. For sure. Yeah, we definitely had a good traffic increase just due to it. I said, um, to someone that asked the same question, it could be the March wave as well. Sure.
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I mean, always the last week of March is the dynamic, like, the turn for the Midwest. I mean, that's where we are. So it could be part of that, too.
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But, um, I would say everyone who bought definitely mentioned tariffs before they bought. Whether that was a, a guiding factor or what, they definitely had it on the tip of their tongue. So I would say- Hmm...
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consumers are definitely looking at it going, "What the heck is this gonna be?" And the good news is, for the consumers out there, dealers are saying the exact same thing. "What the heck is this gonna be?"
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[laughs] 'Cause we have no clue, really. Okay, so let's, let's continue down this so we can get to the post you made and the story you were in.
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Um, the ripple effects through the auto landscape over the weekend, you're feeling, fielding, dealers are fielding a surge of questions and consumer visits, uh, which is w- you know, why dealers are so important, uh, actually.
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Dealers looking to educate consumers, educate themselves. The 25% import tariff is set to hit 7 million vehicles plus starting today, um- Tomorrow. Oh, is it? That says 3rd. Tomorrow. Oh, it's only the 2nd. April 3rd.
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It's the 2nd. Yeah. I'm a day ahead. I'm a day ahead. Yeah, it's Thursday, so. Um, Rhett Reichert. Remember Rhett? If you don't remember Rhett- Uh... I mean, you don't, you never forget Rhett if you meet Rhett.
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But he was the chairman of, uh, the NADA when COVID hit, and he is still the CEO of Reichert Automotive Group, said that one out of four calls this weekend were asking about tariffs and which cars- Hmm...
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would have them or not have them, saying, quote, "It's a multi chaotic market and dealers are the shock absorber." He actually didn't say that in the article. He said that in a text message to me- Wow...
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but it's the better quote. Um, Zach Kinch, who is here, GM Bob Rowan Toyota, said, quote... This is what you said, and you can tell us if they got it wrong or not.
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[laughs] Says, "This is gonna be learn and fly by the seat of our pants. I think the auto industry is going to have to figure it out." And did you say that? Yeah, sounds pretty, pretty similar to something I would say.
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Close, clo- close enough. [laughs] But I think the coolest part of this story is the fact that you made a, a video, posted it on LinkedIn, probably other places as well. I saw it on LinkedIn- Yeah...
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where you were going around from vehicle to vehicle, um, just saying, "This one has a tariff and this is why. This one doesn't have a tariff. This is where it was made."
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And then all of a sudden you realize it has 800,000 impressions, and then the- Yeah... Wall Street journalist reaches out and calls you, or somewhere in there, and now it's over double that and still running.
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And so why do you think- Yeah, for sure... that post is running so hard, and what is it like when the Wall Street Journal reaches out?Well, I think, uh, the, uh, the uncertainty's the number one.
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Why is, why is it doing so well? I think everybody has no clue. So- Hmm... any information out there that's showing, you know, any data that's more than someone's opinion i- is so valuable right now.
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And that, and that's really what the crux was is, like, we are the shock absorber. I love that quote saying, like, that's really where we are as a dealership operation.
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And when consumers are calling us about the tariffs, it's like we're putting the tariff on the car. Like, no, we're absorbing this tariff just like a consumer is.
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We're gonna have to figure out how to make sure we take care of the customer. 'Cause at the end of the day, that's all that matters.
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And I think that was the purpose of the video was to go around and show, you know, 50% of Toyotas sold in the United States are manufactured in the United States. That's wild.
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And 80% that are sold in the US are manufactured in North America.
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So it's really to go through and kinda educate, like, hey, I, I think being a, you know, Japanese company in Toyota, the main thought is everything's imported.
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Well, we wanted to show what actually was built here, and a lot of them, being an Indiana dealer- Mm-hmm... are really close to home in Indiana and Kentucky.
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So that was kind of the, the crux of it and the principles of it, but also to make sure people knew, hey, if you are looking at something and you're 90 days out and we have it on the ground, this is gonna be the cheapest it's going to be.
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It may stay the same price if the, if the, the manufacturer steps up and eats some of this, but it's not going to be ever less than what it is today. As, as kind of the stats you showed before are.
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You know, you have-- You're a general manager, so you oversee everything in the store. Uh- Yeah... yesterday Kyle and I were talking to Brian Kramer a lot about reconditioning, a lot about- Mm...
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you know, c- fix stops, parts, parts, you know, surprises in the service lane.
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And, uh, I stopped by, there's a, a small local shop that, um, is right down the street, and I stopped in and I asked him, I was like, "You know, I do a lot in the franchise space. What are you experiencing?"
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And basically, um, the guy said to me, "Well, our big parts supplier to Unito- United Auto Parts around here," he said they had... He was talking to the owner, had a $5 million shipment coming in
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and, like, they missed some cutoff, and it immediately became over a $6 million shipment. Same parts. It's crazy, isn't it? And so- What? Yeah.
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And so he said, he's like, "I haven't seen it yet in my pricing," but they've been communicating about this for, like, the last 60 days that it's possible- Yeah... that this is coming.
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So what are you seeing in the service bay? Are you making adjustments to reconditioning? Like, how are you approaching it from that side of the business? Yeah.
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So the biggest thing we've seen so far is parts suppliers throwing out ETA delays. Like, they're saying, "Hey, 30, 60 days, we don't see anything."
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But if you're ordering anything that could be 90 days out, they're not even giving us an ETA like they had been.
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So they're already saying, like, "Hey, we're pausing everything to figure out what's gonna happen tomorrow."
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And I think that's the uncertainty that, unfortunately, I think some people will take advantage of that uncertainty and go, "This is our opportunity to get more." Yeah.
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This is gonna be about who serves the customer more. And it's gonna go all the way, like you said, through parts, reconditioning, and it's gonna be who can stabilize.
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And I think that's the big crux of what we're trying to do with, you know, Roman Toyota, what we're trying to do with the Roman Automotive Group, is to make sure that we're out there sharing good information.
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And that's why we started social media, that's why we started LinkedIn, and really posting more than just what's going on in our day and not saying, "Hey, so-and-so who works for us sold a car and he did great this month."
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Yeah. It's like, how can we actually get behind the curtain and show a customer what's going on and be that direct to consumer versus allowing everything else in the media to go out there, so.
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Well, in so many studies, consumers, the reason why is that, why they want to do business with a dealership is because they're looking for that extra tidbit of information that they can't- Mm...
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find online quickly, right? Yeah. A relevant resource that can get the information that they need really quickly.
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And so that's where, like, your LinkedIn video or educating the salesperson or educating the parts desk employee, the, the service advisor- Yeah...
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is extremely important right now so they can pass that education on to the consumer. And not feeding misinformation, not feeding sensationalism, not- Yeah...
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freaking out because we don't actually even know what's gonna happen tomorrow. But being measured and resolved in, in the education is just gonna- Mm. That's what the consumer is looking for.
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They're looking for a trusted advisor in the car business. For sure. Everybody wants their car person, you know. Okay. Yeah. We have a great comment right here, Zach. I, I, I see a cowboy hat in your future, by the way.
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Oh, boy. John Roper says, "Zach Kinch on the show now from henceforth to be known as the Tariff Sheriff." [laughs] Love that. "Thank you for the insights." I'm telling you, that'll run. Let's go, John. You gotta... Yeah.
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That'll- You have to get a cowboy hat. That'll run you at least a couple months. There you go. Oh, easy. The Tariff Sheriff. [laughs] That's, that's amazing. I like it. I mean, it'll go away- I'm in...
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as soon as the car- tariffs are gone, but, I mean, you're gonna get a good run out of this one. [laughs] For sure. But, but I think the next time Wall Street Journal calls, you're like, "There's one condition."
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You have- Oh, yeah. Let me go get my hat. No, you have to re- And you're gonna get a follow on here... you will refer to me as Zach Kinch, [laughs] the GS. Yeah. Otherwise, AKA, the Tariff Sheriff.
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Tell Austin, tell Austin his nickname has nothing on you. No, he's gonna be- Yeah, no joke, right? Well, he's gonna be the sidekick now. Like- I know. He's- That's a big, big upgrade for me. [laughs] Absolutely.
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Uh, Nathan, bring the graphic up. Uh, one of the coolest parts about this is that Zach is going to be at ASOTU CON. Look at the handsome devil on that picture. Look at that guy. May 13th- Goodness...
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through 15th, and, um- Photoshop... uh, it was AI, but, you know, same thing these days.
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[laughs] Um, so look, we hope that you come out and spend some time in person with Zach and Austin and all these other dealers who are trying to help one another, uh, be better. And we'll see.
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Maybe you're gonna have to figure out how you're gonna fly with a cowboy hat. You've probably never had that challenge before. Hey, we'll get it done. Spirit Airlines, baby, hook me up.
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[laughs] Well, Zach, as always, thanks for doing the work. I know you got a busy month and a busy week. Um, probably it's only gonna get busier with all this, uh- For sure... with all this news.
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So thanks for joining us today and, and being part of this community, and can't wait to see you- Thanks, boys... in, uh, May. See ya. Oh, by the way, make sure you go... Oh, he's back. Make sure- [laughs]...
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you go to Zach's LinkedIn. It's- Yes. Check it out... Z-A-C K-I-N- Yep... C-H. Look him up on LinkedIn. Make sure you check out that video and follow along. He has a lot of great content that he puts out on the regular.
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But, like- Hey... let's- I want Sheriff Tariff in the comments. Let's go. Sheriff Tariff. Yeah. [laughs] Sheriff Tariff in the com- Sheriff Tariff... Tariff Sheriff in the comments. Tariff Sheriff. Tariff Sheriff.
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There we go. Tariff Sheriff. There we go. Done. [laughs] Just put Tariff Sheriff in his comments and you'll know we came from here. [laughs] Done. There you go. Thanks a lot, Zach. Have a good day.
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See you guys.All right, keep it rolling.
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We're looking at Amazon as they are diving into AI with what they're calling Nova Act, a semi-autonomous agent designed to operate both online and in the real world with capabilities like browsing, shopping, and task, uh, uh, execution.
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Nova Act is aiming to be your new digital helper. So, uh, a few things that they... Nova Act can do, it can complete tasks like finding rentals, placing orders, filling out forms.
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Um, it also, and, and probably more broad in use, is going to be allowing developers to build bots for things like hotel bookings, food orders, and more.
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Comes in text generation tiers, micro, light, and pro, and supports image, uh, it's called Canvas, and video, Reel, creation.
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Uh, nova.amazon.com puts the power of Amazon's frontier intelligence into the hands of every developer, says Rohit Prasad, uh, s- SVP of Amazon AGI. They're giving it out.
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All right, there are a few terrifying things about this. [laughs] This may be the most terrifying development in AI since, since I've started paying attention.
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Number one, leave it to Amazon to find a way for people to buy stuff automatically. Just boom. Right? It used to be one click, but now this thing can just go buy stuff.
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Second, if we can create bots, can I create a bot that hinders my wife's shopping ability on Amazon? [laughs] It's like the anti-bot, right? Rolls it back. A couple more are you sure prompts. It's like, "Are you sure?"
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[laughs] Does Paul know about this? Should he? You know, um, this, this is a pretty amazing development I think because Amazon- Yeah... has put it into a very practical retail sense.
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I think with, um, OpenAI's, uh, what's their agent called? What's the, um, what's their thing? Is it just agent? It's just agent. Yeah, just agent. Right? That can like- Yeah...
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go through tasks, and browse the web, and, and carry out functions, and take stuff from website, put it in spreadsheets, all these things. Amazon is such a clear path to a functionality that everyone understands. Yep.
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Booking a hotel room, find... And I think that they're probably gonna be best at it because they understand consumer behavior on retail sites better than anyone else.
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So I think this is gonna get quick traction because they have so much understanding, and it's already the clearest path that people have to purchasing things.
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And now once they get into the booking space, I think it's gonna be a massive window of opportunity for them to lean into airlines, and hotels, and so on and so forth. Yep. Well, and if you look at the...
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So o- one of the interesting things that maybe not a lot of people really recognize about what Amazon has at its fingertips, one, it is, um, one of the top three leaders in cloud services and database storage, uh, m- mechanisms in the world.
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Um, you basically sit, whether you're in like Google Cloud or Amazon's Cloud, um, that's, that's where like the world's data, the world's development resources, like deploying things all comes from that as a resource.
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And then you couple that with one of the most impressive databases when it comes to consumer information, as well as consumers', like address, right?
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Because that consumer's always updating their address to make sure they get, they keep getting their packages. Ooh. Like it's probably better than your lender, honestly. Um- Without a doubt it is. Yeah.
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And so, like you couple...
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You, you like line all those things up and then deploy AI over the top of it and allow it to use that data to get into, like booking things for you or buying things for you, and the relevance that it can create, it's quite staggering, honestly.
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It, it really is. And- Because like m- Google doesn't have my address in all of its, in, in- No... the accounts, right? And all of your credit cards that you actually use- Yep...
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and the multiple addresses you ship, place your home address, your work address, if you have a vacation thing. It's crazy. It has it all. So that's a really great insight.
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You know, I do think as this applies to the auto industry, obviously Amazon making waves, selling new cars, about to start selling used cars.
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This is all going to become part of, at some point, the car shopping process where people are gonna deploy these bots- There it is...
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to figure out what is best for them, ask for recommendations, ask for dealer recommendations. So the industry should be paying very close attention to this.
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Hey- And by the way- We're gonna be talking about gen- generative engine optimization at Sodacon. Dang. There is a full panel on GEO. It's the, it's a new acronym that you gotta know.
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It's not SEO, search engine optimization. It's generative engine optimization. And so thinking about that right now is gonna optimize you for some of this stuff that Amazon's doing.
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Right, which is how you're building your website, how you're creating other content so that when someone types into GPT or this Amazon tool some- asking about a car or something, it prioritizes- Yep... your stuff.
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Also, Amazon Autos is going to be at Sodacon. They're one of our industry partners. Um, they're gonna... Actually, they, they've taken the Northwood sponsorship. So did we announce that yet? We just did. We just did.
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Okay. You just did it. I did. Yeah. There we go. Um, I was actually on a call with Northwood yesterday.
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They're super excited, and it's showing that they're looking to invest in the future of automotive leaders and technology.
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So look, if you want a firsthand, you wanna meet some of these folks for the first time, have some real conversations, Sodacon is gonna be the first opportunity you have to do it in person this, the rest of this year.
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So, um, look, I think that's enough for a show today. We had guests. That's it. That was a hot show. We had tariffs. We named Zach Kinch the Tariff Sheriff.
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Make sure you go check out Zach's LinkedIn today, and also make sure you get your tickets at sodacon.com. We're all for the ride, and we'll see you here tomorrow. [laughs] Bye.
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[upbeat music]
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[upbeat music] Good morning. It is Wednesday, April 2nd. Is, is today Liberation Day is to- I'm confused. I don't know. But it's the Automotive State of the Union. I'm Paul Jay Daly with Kyle Mounts here.
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We have a very special guest today. I heard he is in- [upbeat music] LinkedIn and Wall Street Journal famous now. There'll be no living with him. No. I can just see him, like, waving, waving food away from him.
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"Get this, get, get this away from me." Get this away from me "I want something else." "Give me the steak." That's all he says. I know.
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I was thinking more like cycling through, like, I didn't want the chocolate frosted, I wanted the glazed. [laughs] The donuts. That's messed up. [laughs] That's messed up. Austin, he's having Austin bring him...
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Well, I didn't say who it was gonna be. Oh, he kind of gave it away. It's Zach Kinch. It's Zach Kinch, everybody. Kinda gave it away. [laughs] GM- There it is... Bob Rowan, Toyota.
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He's got Austin bringing him boxes, uh, just, you know, at his whim. But, um, look, episode 1,007 today. Obviously, tariffs are the talk of the town. Uh, we're gonna s- talk about tariffs, dealer questions.
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Also talk about, like, what it is to, uh, have Amazon's new AI bot, like, purchase things for you. Wow. If it was bad enough, we'll, we'll save our comments for then. But, uh, look, all roads lead to a SoCon right now.
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We wanna talk about it. Um, if you haven't got your tickets, now's the time to get them. Zach's gonna be there. We'll ask him what he thinks about it.
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Uh, thank you to our friends at Reynolds and Gubagoo for being presenting sponsors and helping us make this happen. We have a whole list of industry partners that made this happen.
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We have a whole list of startups that are gonna be there pitching on the pitch tank. We have a whole list of dealers who have already bought tickets. Hotel rooms are just about booked solid in the main hotel.
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We're gonna release the other- That's right... hotel soon because we're gonna have to.
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And the best time to get your tickets is now because they're cheap as they're gonna be, and probably the only time to get your hotel rooms in the event hotel is gonna be, like, this week. The next week. Yeah. That's it.
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So I don't know. Let's- I think we should get into it because, like- Let's get into it... it is cooking out there. We got a, we got a... It's a big conversation.
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This afternoon is, is, uh, Trump is expected to kinda give the final verdict on what's supposed to happen on tariffs. So let's get into what we got. All right. Let's bring Zach Kinch into the show. By the way,
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Zach, uh, was driving his kids to school when I texted him and so... He's still driving actually. Kids in the car seat in the back. I'm just kidding. He's- They're back here. Everything's good. Yeah.
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[laughs] Everything's good. [laughs] So, uh, I'm gonna start the story, and then we're gonna talk about what happened to you yesterday and what you're kind of experienced right now on your LinkedIn page.
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Uh, but spurred by tariff fears, consumers have been flooding showrooms in late March, giving the US auto market a surge just in time for Q1 closing.
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Urgency sparked by record, uh, the record performances were sparked by, across multiple brands, sending sales soaring. Ford was up 19%, Hyundai up 15%- [whistles]... Kia up 25%, posting- Goodness...
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their best March and Q1 ever. GM posted a 17% Q1 jump. Buick, the biggest jump, obviously the fewest cars to make the percentage jump, up 39%.
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Uh, basically inven- inventory shortages, especially in hybrids, are expected to go through Q2, uh, as a result of the pull forwards in Q1. The average March retail price hit $44,849. Doh. Which is up- Hmm...
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$637 year over year. We thought we were going in the other direction. We were wrong.
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Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai and Genesis North America, saying, quote, "It's probably the best weekend I've seen since Cash for Clunkers." Lots of people- Wow...
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rushed in this weekend especially trying to beat the tariffs. How about that? Now- Did you see a great weekend at, uh, at the, at the store- That's a great question... there, Zach? What did it look like for you?
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Yeah, yeah. For sure. Yeah, we definitely had a good traffic increase just due to it. I said, um, to someone that asked the same question, it could be the March wave as well. Sure.
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I mean, always the last week of March is the dynamic, like, the turn for the Midwest. I mean, that's where we are. So it could be part of that, too.
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But, um, I would say everyone who bought definitely mentioned tariffs before they bought. Whether that was a, a guiding factor or what, they definitely had it on the tip of their tongue. So I would say- Hmm...
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consumers are definitely looking at it going, "What the heck is this gonna be?" And the good news is, for the consumers out there, dealers are saying the exact same thing. "What the heck is this gonna be?"
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[laughs] 'Cause we have no clue, really. Okay, so let's, let's continue down this so we can get to the post you made and the story you were in.
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Um, the ripple effects through the auto landscape over the weekend, you're feeling, fielding, dealers are fielding a surge of questions and consumer visits, uh, which is w- you know, why dealers are so important, uh, actually.
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Dealers looking to educate consumers, educate themselves. The 25% import tariff is set to hit 7 million vehicles plus starting today, um- Tomorrow. Oh, is it? That says 3rd. Tomorrow. Oh, it's only the 2nd. April 3rd.
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It's the 2nd. Yeah. I'm a day ahead. I'm a day ahead. Yeah, it's Thursday, so. Um, Rhett Reichert. Remember Rhett? If you don't remember Rhett- Uh... I mean, you don't, you never forget Rhett if you meet Rhett.
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But he was the chairman of, uh, the NADA when COVID hit, and he is still the CEO of Reichert Automotive Group, said that one out of four calls this weekend were asking about tariffs and which cars- Hmm...
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would have them or not have them, saying, quote, "It's a multi chaotic market and dealers are the shock absorber." He actually didn't say that in the article. He said that in a text message to me- Wow...
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but it's the better quote. Um, Zach Kinch, who is here, GM Bob Rowan Toyota, said, quote... This is what you said, and you can tell us if they got it wrong or not.
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[laughs] Says, "This is gonna be learn and fly by the seat of our pants. I think the auto industry is going to have to figure it out." And did you say that? Yeah, sounds pretty, pretty similar to something I would say.
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Close, clo- close enough. [laughs] But I think the coolest part of this story is the fact that you made a, a video, posted it on LinkedIn, probably other places as well. I saw it on LinkedIn- Yeah...
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where you were going around from vehicle to vehicle, um, just saying, "This one has a tariff and this is why. This one doesn't have a tariff. This is where it was made."
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And then all of a sudden you realize it has 800,000 impressions, and then the- Yeah... Wall Street journalist reaches out and calls you, or somewhere in there, and now it's over double that and still running.
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And so why do you think- Yeah, for sure... that post is running so hard, and what is it like when the Wall Street Journal reaches out?Well, I think, uh, the, uh, the uncertainty's the number one.
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Why is, why is it doing so well? I think everybody has no clue. So- Hmm... any information out there that's showing, you know, any data that's more than someone's opinion i- is so valuable right now.
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And that, and that's really what the crux was is, like, we are the shock absorber. I love that quote saying, like, that's really where we are as a dealership operation.
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And when consumers are calling us about the tariffs, it's like we're putting the tariff on the car. Like, no, we're absorbing this tariff just like a consumer is.
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We're gonna have to figure out how to make sure we take care of the customer. 'Cause at the end of the day, that's all that matters.
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And I think that was the purpose of the video was to go around and show, you know, 50% of Toyotas sold in the United States are manufactured in the United States. That's wild.
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And 80% that are sold in the US are manufactured in North America.
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So it's really to go through and kinda educate, like, hey, I, I think being a, you know, Japanese company in Toyota, the main thought is everything's imported.
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Well, we wanted to show what actually was built here, and a lot of them, being an Indiana dealer- Mm-hmm... are really close to home in Indiana and Kentucky.
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So that was kind of the, the crux of it and the principles of it, but also to make sure people knew, hey, if you are looking at something and you're 90 days out and we have it on the ground, this is gonna be the cheapest it's going to be.
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It may stay the same price if the, if the, the manufacturer steps up and eats some of this, but it's not going to be ever less than what it is today. As, as kind of the stats you showed before are.
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You know, you have-- You're a general manager, so you oversee everything in the store. Uh- Yeah... yesterday Kyle and I were talking to Brian Kramer a lot about reconditioning, a lot about- Mm...
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you know, c- fix stops, parts, parts, you know, surprises in the service lane.
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And, uh, I stopped by, there's a, a small local shop that, um, is right down the street, and I stopped in and I asked him, I was like, "You know, I do a lot in the franchise space. What are you experiencing?"
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And basically, um, the guy said to me, "Well, our big parts supplier to Unito- United Auto Parts around here," he said they had... He was talking to the owner, had a $5 million shipment coming in
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and, like, they missed some cutoff, and it immediately became over a $6 million shipment. Same parts. It's crazy, isn't it? And so- What? Yeah.
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And so he said, he's like, "I haven't seen it yet in my pricing," but they've been communicating about this for, like, the last 60 days that it's possible- Yeah... that this is coming.
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So what are you seeing in the service bay? Are you making adjustments to reconditioning? Like, how are you approaching it from that side of the business? Yeah.
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So the biggest thing we've seen so far is parts suppliers throwing out ETA delays. Like, they're saying, "Hey, 30, 60 days, we don't see anything."
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But if you're ordering anything that could be 90 days out, they're not even giving us an ETA like they had been.
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So they're already saying, like, "Hey, we're pausing everything to figure out what's gonna happen tomorrow."
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And I think that's the uncertainty that, unfortunately, I think some people will take advantage of that uncertainty and go, "This is our opportunity to get more." Yeah.
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This is gonna be about who serves the customer more. And it's gonna go all the way, like you said, through parts, reconditioning, and it's gonna be who can stabilize.
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And I think that's the big crux of what we're trying to do with, you know, Roman Toyota, what we're trying to do with the Roman Automotive Group, is to make sure that we're out there sharing good information.
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And that's why we started social media, that's why we started LinkedIn, and really posting more than just what's going on in our day and not saying, "Hey, so-and-so who works for us sold a car and he did great this month."
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Yeah. It's like, how can we actually get behind the curtain and show a customer what's going on and be that direct to consumer versus allowing everything else in the media to go out there, so.
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Well, in so many studies, consumers, the reason why is that, why they want to do business with a dealership is because they're looking for that extra tidbit of information that they can't- Mm...
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find online quickly, right? Yeah. A relevant resource that can get the information that they need really quickly.
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And so that's where, like, your LinkedIn video or educating the salesperson or educating the parts desk employee, the, the service advisor- Yeah...
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is extremely important right now so they can pass that education on to the consumer. And not feeding misinformation, not feeding sensationalism, not- Yeah...
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freaking out because we don't actually even know what's gonna happen tomorrow. But being measured and resolved in, in the education is just gonna- Mm. That's what the consumer is looking for.
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They're looking for a trusted advisor in the car business. For sure. Everybody wants their car person, you know. Okay. Yeah. We have a great comment right here, Zach. I, I, I see a cowboy hat in your future, by the way.
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Oh, boy. John Roper says, "Zach Kinch on the show now from henceforth to be known as the Tariff Sheriff." [laughs] Love that. "Thank you for the insights." I'm telling you, that'll run. Let's go, John. You gotta... Yeah.
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That'll- You have to get a cowboy hat. That'll run you at least a couple months. There you go. Oh, easy. The Tariff Sheriff. [laughs] That's, that's amazing. I like it. I mean, it'll go away- I'm in...
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as soon as the car- tariffs are gone, but, I mean, you're gonna get a good run out of this one. [laughs] For sure. But, but I think the next time Wall Street Journal calls, you're like, "There's one condition."
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You have- Oh, yeah. Let me go get my hat. No, you have to re- And you're gonna get a follow on here... you will refer to me as Zach Kinch, [laughs] the GS. Yeah. Otherwise, AKA, the Tariff Sheriff.
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Tell Austin, tell Austin his nickname has nothing on you. No, he's gonna be- Yeah, no joke, right? Well, he's gonna be the sidekick now. Like- I know. He's- That's a big, big upgrade for me. [laughs] Absolutely.
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Uh, Nathan, bring the graphic up. Uh, one of the coolest parts about this is that Zach is going to be at ASOTU CON. Look at the handsome devil on that picture. Look at that guy. May 13th- Goodness...
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through 15th, and, um- Photoshop... uh, it was AI, but, you know, same thing these days.
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[laughs] Um, so look, we hope that you come out and spend some time in person with Zach and Austin and all these other dealers who are trying to help one another, uh, be better. And we'll see.
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Maybe you're gonna have to figure out how you're gonna fly with a cowboy hat. You've probably never had that challenge before. Hey, we'll get it done. Spirit Airlines, baby, hook me up.
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[laughs] Well, Zach, as always, thanks for doing the work. I know you got a busy month and a busy week. Um, probably it's only gonna get busier with all this, uh- For sure... with all this news.
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So thanks for joining us today and, and being part of this community, and can't wait to see you- Thanks, boys... in, uh, May. See ya. Oh, by the way, make sure you go... Oh, he's back. Make sure- [laughs]...
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you go to Zach's LinkedIn. It's- Yes. Check it out... Z-A-C K-I-N- Yep... C-H. Look him up on LinkedIn. Make sure you check out that video and follow along. He has a lot of great content that he puts out on the regular.
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But, like- Hey... let's- I want Sheriff Tariff in the comments. Let's go. Sheriff Tariff. Yeah. [laughs] Sheriff Tariff in the com- Sheriff Tariff... Tariff Sheriff in the comments. Tariff Sheriff. Tariff Sheriff.
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There we go. Tariff Sheriff. There we go. Done. [laughs] Just put Tariff Sheriff in his comments and you'll know we came from here. [laughs] Done. There you go. Thanks a lot, Zach. Have a good day.
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See you guys.All right, keep it rolling.
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We're looking at Amazon as they are diving into AI with what they're calling Nova Act, a semi-autonomous agent designed to operate both online and in the real world with capabilities like browsing, shopping, and task, uh, uh, execution.
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Nova Act is aiming to be your new digital helper. So, uh, a few things that they... Nova Act can do, it can complete tasks like finding rentals, placing orders, filling out forms.
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Um, it also, and, and probably more broad in use, is going to be allowing developers to build bots for things like hotel bookings, food orders, and more.
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Comes in text generation tiers, micro, light, and pro, and supports image, uh, it's called Canvas, and video, Reel, creation.
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Uh, nova.amazon.com puts the power of Amazon's frontier intelligence into the hands of every developer, says Rohit Prasad, uh, s- SVP of Amazon AGI. They're giving it out.
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All right, there are a few terrifying things about this. [laughs] This may be the most terrifying development in AI since, since I've started paying attention.
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Number one, leave it to Amazon to find a way for people to buy stuff automatically. Just boom. Right? It used to be one click, but now this thing can just go buy stuff.
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Second, if we can create bots, can I create a bot that hinders my wife's shopping ability on Amazon? [laughs] It's like the anti-bot, right? Rolls it back. A couple more are you sure prompts. It's like, "Are you sure?"
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[laughs] Does Paul know about this? Should he? You know, um, this, this is a pretty amazing development I think because Amazon- Yeah... has put it into a very practical retail sense.
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I think with, um, OpenAI's, uh, what's their agent called? What's the, um, what's their thing? Is it just agent? It's just agent. Yeah, just agent. Right? That can like- Yeah...
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go through tasks, and browse the web, and, and carry out functions, and take stuff from website, put it in spreadsheets, all these things. Amazon is such a clear path to a functionality that everyone understands. Yep.
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Booking a hotel room, find... And I think that they're probably gonna be best at it because they understand consumer behavior on retail sites better than anyone else.
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So I think this is gonna get quick traction because they have so much understanding, and it's already the clearest path that people have to purchasing things.
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And now once they get into the booking space, I think it's gonna be a massive window of opportunity for them to lean into airlines, and hotels, and so on and so forth. Yep. Well, and if you look at the...
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So o- one of the interesting things that maybe not a lot of people really recognize about what Amazon has at its fingertips, one, it is, um, one of the top three leaders in cloud services and database storage, uh, m- mechanisms in the world.
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Um, you basically sit, whether you're in like Google Cloud or Amazon's Cloud, um, that's, that's where like the world's data, the world's development resources, like deploying things all comes from that as a resource.
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And then you couple that with one of the most impressive databases when it comes to consumer information, as well as consumers', like address, right?
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Because that consumer's always updating their address to make sure they get, they keep getting their packages. Ooh. Like it's probably better than your lender, honestly. Um- Without a doubt it is. Yeah.
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And so, like you couple...
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You, you like line all those things up and then deploy AI over the top of it and allow it to use that data to get into, like booking things for you or buying things for you, and the relevance that it can create, it's quite staggering, honestly.
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It, it really is. And- Because like m- Google doesn't have my address in all of its, in, in- No... the accounts, right? And all of your credit cards that you actually use- Yep...
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and the multiple addresses you ship, place your home address, your work address, if you have a vacation thing. It's crazy. It has it all. So that's a really great insight.
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You know, I do think as this applies to the auto industry, obviously Amazon making waves, selling new cars, about to start selling used cars.
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This is all going to become part of, at some point, the car shopping process where people are gonna deploy these bots- There it is...
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to figure out what is best for them, ask for recommendations, ask for dealer recommendations. So the industry should be paying very close attention to this.
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Hey- And by the way- We're gonna be talking about gen- generative engine optimization at Sodacon. Dang. There is a full panel on GEO. It's the, it's a new acronym that you gotta know.
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It's not SEO, search engine optimization. It's generative engine optimization. And so thinking about that right now is gonna optimize you for some of this stuff that Amazon's doing.
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Right, which is how you're building your website, how you're creating other content so that when someone types into GPT or this Amazon tool some- asking about a car or something, it prioritizes- Yep... your stuff.
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Also, Amazon Autos is going to be at Sodacon. They're one of our industry partners. Um, they're gonna... Actually, they, they've taken the Northwood sponsorship. So did we announce that yet? We just did. We just did.
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Okay. You just did it. I did. Yeah. There we go. Um, I was actually on a call with Northwood yesterday.
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They're super excited, and it's showing that they're looking to invest in the future of automotive leaders and technology.
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So look, if you want a firsthand, you wanna meet some of these folks for the first time, have some real conversations, Sodacon is gonna be the first opportunity you have to do it in person this, the rest of this year.
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So, um, look, I think that's enough for a show today. We had guests. That's it. That was a hot show. We had tariffs. We named Zach Kinch the Tariff Sheriff.
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Make sure you go check out Zach's LinkedIn today, and also make sure you get your tickets at sodacon.com. We're all for the ride, and we'll see you here tomorrow. [laughs] Bye.
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