That's 2 million EV owners that are only buying EVs moving forward. So if you're not selling an EV, they're out the door. There's a massive shift happening in electric vehicles from what car brands are making and what consumers are buying. But a new narrative is defying everything we know about the car market and presenting the car industry with a huge opportunity.
Today I'm speaking with David Thomas, director of content marketing at CDK Global, an automotive data and technology company serving thousands of dealers nationwide. Don't forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode.
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Lastly, I'd like to thank CDK Global for coming on as a guest and also sponsoring this episode. David Thomas on the CDG podcast, David, welcome. Thank you, Yoshi. Great to be here.
Great to have you on, David. It's funny because I was looking through some of your background, and I knew you were in the content game, but I did not know that you predate me by so much into the content game. And you've done some great things. I saw you were the founding editor of Auto Blog, which I did not know. So I would love to know a little bit about your background before we dive into lots of EV talk. And you're one of the people that has been very close to this topic. You've put out some great content, white papers with the CDK team. So I'm excited to drill into that. But like I said, yeah, can you give us a little bit about your background?
Yeah, I started in the auto industry about 20 years ago. I had been a reporter and journalist covering entertainment, actually, and was looking for something to branch out into. And I had a love of cars, and I was approached by a company to launch a new site, and a new type of site blogging wasn't a thing really in 2004. And so that became Auto Blog. And the first six months of that site, we basically became the most popular automotive news site in the world in a pretty short order. We were more popular than car and driver, auto week, the players at the time. So yeah, so that was a really exciting time. And then I went on to cars.com. I spent a decade there as a managing editor.
是的,我大约在20年前开始进入汽车行业。那时我是一名报道娱乐新闻的记者,正在寻找新的发展方向。我非常喜欢汽车,一家公司找到我,邀请我创办一个新的网站。当时在2004年,博客还不怎么流行。于是这个网站就成了Auto Blog。在网站上线的前六个月内,我们迅速成为世界上最受欢迎的汽车新闻网站,当时我们比《Car and Driver》和《Auto Week》这些大型媒体还要受欢迎。所以,那段时间非常令人兴奋。后来,我加入了Cars.com,担任了十年的总编辑。
And that's where we did a lot of the early work on EVs, actually. And then I went to the agency side of life after cars. And I worked on the OEM side. I worked with Nissan and Harley-Davidson. And most of that work, even though it was content, was on electric vehicles. And now I'm here at CDK, helping the content side of things here. And like you said, developing some terrific white papers that help inform dealers. Yeah, we're big fans. You know, we really ingested that a lot. And we like to share it. It's just really great insights. But I think you said something interesting that it kind of surprised me. But you said you were writing about EVs 20 years ago. You know, my brain just kind of disconnected what you said that. What was the situation back then? Was that even a thing to write about back then or topic to discuss?
Yeah, so I mean, it is kind of funny that people kind of forget history. A lot of the folks in our industry, in the auto retail industry, have only been around at a short amount of time. And even if you've been around a decade, it's kind of a short amount of time when you talk about the longevity of this industry and seeing failures and successes and things like that. So yeah, to your point, some people don't remember the great recession.
But in 2008, gas, there was a recession. Gas prices went to $4 a gallon. And when that happened, it's hard to understate or overstate or whatever you want to say, how huge that was. With inflation, just think that's about six bucks a gallon now. So a few automakers said, well, we better find another way of propelling a vehicle that doesn't use gas. Nissan was well ahead of everyone else and developed the Nissan LEAF. And that was because their CEO at the times, like he just said, we're going to do it. There was no, you know, it kind of went for it.
And then GM developed the Volt, which was actually an excellent car. And that was plug-in, right? So both those things just didn't exist. And now we know that technology pretty well today. So yeah, when I was at cars.com, we bought one of each. This is around 2010 when they finally hit the market. Unfortunately, when they hit the market, gas prices had gone all the way back down. So the demand for them was not high. And the LEAF range was like 80 miles.
So you think people are complaining about range today? 80 miles range anxiety was something else when I would drive that to work every day and all that. So yeah, it was an interesting time for sure. And then, yeah, with gas prices and people going back to big trucks, the EVs just kind of disappeared.
Let's fast forward to today, right? Give us just an overall state of the market. Like we will get into, there's many different topics that I want to cover from, how this is impacting dealerships, the outlook for dealerships and EVs, consumers, foreign affairs, you know, China and stuff like that. But I want to just start with like a, with a highlight, you know, you put out this scorecard, which I also follow pretty closely, where you just talk about this, the state of the market, right?
So give us a, let's just start there in the table set. Tell us where we're at as a car industry right now. So in terms of just overall sales in the market, we are seeing people that have been, you know, on the sidelines coming back, you know, the SARS, you know, in that 15 and a half range, and it's been there for a while. And I think we got back to that from the pandemic pretty quickly. And actually, if you track how quickly we came back to it versus the recession, it was in like half the time.
So the industry overall should feel pretty confident that we can do that, right? That there are that many people willing to buy a new car. There's a lot of talk about affordability and things like that out there. But for the most part, you know, we do this study. 87% of the people we survey every month, the last two months, it's been at 87% have said it's easy to buy a car right now. And that speaks, you know, to that dealer, you know, focusing on the customer experience, working on their technology to make sure it's easy to get people to sign paperwork, all that kind of stuff.
So it's, it's, I don't want to say it's super positive, but there are positive elements going on. But I think when you're in automotive retail, the thing I've noticed, you know, really focusing on it versus the OEM and consumer side, it's a negative group, right? I mean, it's, it's for some reason they want to look, you know, they want to focus on the negatives. And I think that's mainly because they don't want to miss something that could in the end hurt them, which makes sense. But I, I, I never thought of myself as that positive, but when, when you're on my side looking at data, it is a little more positive than I think we hear.
It's funny you say that things are better than maybe some people are making it seem or sound. And I'm not referring to, you know, the quote unquote normalization with, you know, dealership profits for tracking to closer to pre-COVID levels. And to be clear, they're not there yet or still above, but stuff like that, that's just going to come with a normal market. I just found that interesting given what you just said, because it is pretty eye-opening when you really, you know, when you really extract the right pieces of data, you can just, it's crazy how, you know, if a person truly has a narrative, they can paint such a different picture with the right set of data. And when you see something like this, it just, we're like, wow, this is very interesting.
And it gives you a different perspective. I 100% agree. And that's part of my job is we have this terrific research team delivering all this great data and all these findings. And it's like, well, what's the story in this data? And it's up to, you know, me and my team to kind of figure that out, connected with the trends that are going on, to ensure that it doesn't paint the wrong picture, right? And it's not, we're not trying to shine things up. The most recent white paper on, on dealer sentiment is not positive, because that's what the numbers told us.
But, but yes, I think, you know, as, I was trained as a journalist, you know, I went to journalism school and there used to be a saying, if it bleeds, it leads, meaning like the worst, horrible, you know, car accident, that's what you put on the front page, right? And I think right now what you're seeing in all media is if it enrages, you know, let's get it out there. So we get clicks, right? So we get engagement. So it's like this engagement rage type thing. And it's, it's a little, you know, depressing in some ways, coming from that field. But it's definitely what's going on these days.
Yeah. And this is a funny tangent. And you, I say it's funny, like, you know a lot about this, you've been in the game for so long. And so it's, it's, it's cool to talk to you about it. But there's what I think people don't realize is that that I consider that kind of stuff like it's short term hits, a long term, it doesn't benefit the overall media, right? So the reality is, yeah, like you can write the craziest thing right now. I know it'll go viral.
But what happens is, every time that you do something like that, and it does not, it's not substantiated, you've just lost a little bit of credibility. And so to your point, it's so important to try to be objective about ever. And it's, it's hard. I can tell you like, trust me, we have an entire process with, with even, you know, my content and stuff, where we really think about it, like, you know, with topics that are political, which just have become like, like your vehicles and stuff, like, how do we really go down the middle?
And I think one of the beautiful ways is when you're not beholden to any manufacturer, that really gives you a lot of that liberty to speak freely, and kind of say what you think, because it doesn't matter, you know, you don't have, you don't have to stick to an hour. So that's, that's my tangent on the content and media game, which great, great insight.
You said 87% of consumers right now are finding it easy to buy a car, right? So my two questions there are, what does that mean? Like, what is easy? And secondly, how does that compare to a year ago, six months ago, like, where are we out right now from that perspective?
Yeah, that's a great question, Yossi. And the reason we came up with, with, I mean, we framed the question on purpose, because anecdotally, the auto retail industry not viewed so highly outside of the industry, correct? So, you know, people say negative things about their car purchase pretty regularly. So we wanted to say, what's the data? Is it really that bad? So that was a simple question we asked, like, did you find it easy or not? And so, you know, you could hem and hong complain to your neighbor about it. But if someone does ask you point blank, was it easy? The number at the, not the onset of when we started this two years ago was around 80%, right? It went high 70s, low 80s.
And it would vary depending on some, some outside factors, right? Or I shouldn't say outside factors, but factors in terms of the process. And certainly because of inventory at the time. So, so there you go, right? So the consumer actually feels like it's easy. They're telling us that now some say, you know, the expectation on how long it took was longer than they thought. But that number, which is a huge pain point in our industry, even that number is under 20% most of the time.
So, so overall, it's like we're seeing the sentiment being positive, but we're tracking the number of that process, right? A number of key steps in that process and what's really easy. And the funny thing recently is that price negotiations, which is one of the lowest scoring, has improved as has trade in negotiations, both have improved on this list. So, they're up in the high 60s now, they used to, there were some months where it was in the 50s, in terms of people saying that was an easy part of the process.
And then the one that I think everyone's kind of aware is that's dropping is credit application. So, and getting the credit that they need to buy that car and keep it affordable. But are these scores, right? As you're measuring our industry and how dealers are performing, are these scores driven by like approval rates or I got what I wanted, right? Or are they, or is it driven by the actual experience, right? Because I can tell you that, talk to any subprime dealer, right? You get a bad credit customer, they don't get approved for a car, they're pissed. And I'm not saying they're not necessarily leaving you a bad review, but like, you know, it's like, they can't get what they want, they're angry. And it's like, hey, it's not my fault. Like your, it could be your credit, it could be that whatever. I mean, but you got the idea.
So, when you say, when you mentioned, you know, credit, act negotiation, is it simply because there is more supply in the market and people are getting to slower prices? Or is it the anything, like, how do you kind of, you know, how do you define that? Sure. Well, the data is the data and we can't really, you know, say, you know, exactly the numbers and how they change, but we get tons of verbatim from these survey takers. And we read them all. It's mostly lines up with the question that we ask when they respond. It's like, yeah, I got my credit approved instantly. Like those will be the verbatim or it took too long in the F and I office. You know, it's basically lines up with what we're asking.
So, to your point, at least the people responding aren't saying I was a dummy and didn't know I had bad credit. Got a 15% interest rate, right? So we're not seeing that kind of response in the verbatim either. So I do think it is, it is really, you know, what the questions line up for was it easy to get the credit or not? This episode is brought to you by my very own car dealership guy, industry job board. CDG jobs.com, my industry job board connecting the best talent and automotive with the best companies will remain absolutely free for CDG listeners to post and fill available roles at their companies. This free job board is for anyone in automotive vendors, dealers, lenders, manufacturers, auto tech, everyone already over 100 companies have posted open positions, including lithium motors, recurrent credit acceptance, Vero's credit, cars commerce, shift digital plug, full path, Westlake trade pending, you get the point. The best part is that when these companies hire through CDG jobs.com, they are hiring the most informed candidates in the marketplace. So don't hesitate.
You can add your open roles today by visiting CDG jobs.com or clicking the link in the show notes below that's CDG jobs.com. So transitioning to EVs, right? Ford recently announced or losing about $100,000 per EV on a net basis. Pretty crazy, right? We've gone through these last couple of years where market share has risen really quickly. It's sort of plateaued. I've been pretty vocal about the fact that I do think that long-term EVs will continue rising, just objectively speaking. I think that it seems like, by the way, it seems like the data that's coming out increasingly supports that. I think that similarly to the broader industry, that the way the time horizon that automakers had initially anticipated, adoption would occur, was way off. And I was actually quite vocal about this pretty early on, especially when it came to the whole hybrid, the growth in hybrids and just the increase in market share. We were talking about this like six, seven months ago. I think the Wall Street Journal suddenly ran an article like three months after that. And then it was like, then people started to wake up. And when I say people, I don't mean dealers, dealers were talking about this for months. It was actually the automakers. And so with all that said, I think just starting high level, right? Where are we at right now? How do you view the status quo of the market with respect to electric vehicles?
Yeah, it's an intriguing moment right now. There was a ton of early adoption. And what happens when people own an EV is they love it. So all these early adopters were buying either a Tesla or some of the early EVs from the OEMs from traditional OEMs. They had all this positive sentiment about it. They tell their neighbors like over 80% of owners tell a family friend or a family member or a friend, you know, to go buy one. 73%. Say they're only going to buy EVs moving forward. That was in one of our recent studies. So I'm sorry, 74% of who who says that current EV owners? Correct. They're only going to buy EVs moving forward. And I can do some great math on that for you if you want in terms of what that means. In terms of what that means to unit sales. Okay. I'm not, I mentioned I was trained as a journalist. So math is not my forte. But this is some pretty easy, you know, back in the napkin math, right?
So in the past two years, we sold 2.7 million EVs. All right. So if three out of four EV owners say we're only going to buy EVs going forward, just let's just assume all those vehicles went to one person. That's 2 million EV owners that are only buying EVs moving forward. So they buy a new car every three to five years, like a lot of new car buyers do. Three years, that's 2 million people coming into your dealer. What are they looking for? They're looking for an EV only. So if you're not selling an EV, they're out the door, where they're going to, you know, the OEM next door that does have an EV or multiple ones for them to choose from.
So when you think of that, that number to your point, it's only going to grow. It might be incremental, right? That 2 million in our market share is only 6.8% right now, whatever it is. That number is only going to keep growing. And eventually, it'll be everybody at one point, one day from now. It might be decades away. But once you get in the EV, it's very hard for them to go back. Why do you say it's very hard to go back? Why? Why is that? What's driving that?
And by the way, I want to lead that to digging deeper onto the stat you just mentioned and how that's kind of bifurcated through the country. Because I think that if I'm in a state where EV sales are just completely like anemic and you really don't have much of those, I might have a completely different consideration. Yeah, we can talk about the needs assessments that dealers should be doing with the people that walk in because there are some simple things that should sway someone to an EV. And the way I put it, and I'll get back to why they love it, but the things I point to EVs are a superior vehicle if you have two factors going for you as a buyer. You own a home with a garage, okay, and you have a second car.
So if you have that second car that runs on gas, the range anxiety for the road trip, which is a huge deal in the US, disappears. If you own a garage, you can plug it in every night and you don't have to worry about range at any time. We're finding that it used to be you had to plug in every night. Owners aren't plugging in every night anymore. They're going a couple days, even though they're just pulling their garage. That's how much range the vehicles have now. So if you're a dealer in suburbia anywhere, you're likely talking to people that meet those two criteria. If you meet those two criteria, there's not a better vehicle than an EV, period. I mean, it's just not. You're going to save money. They're quiet. If you're in the north, you can preheat it like so you have a hot car because there's no exhaust.
Like no one's going to die of, you know, carbon monoxide poisoning, all those things make them superior to a gas vehicle. Now there's some other issues in terms of they are generally more expensive. But again, you're meeting those two needs. You're probably in a place where you can afford it. And in the long run, they're going to pay off. I mean, you're talking about 1500 to 3000 a year depending on what car you're moving out of in terms of gas costs. And besides California, electricity is rather cheap to fuel them, especially they all have technology where they charge only at the off peak hours to save you even more money. So, you know, EVs are by far the superior vehicle. If you take out that range issue. But given that logic, what you just said, if that's a dot, you know, the perfect like archetype for this type of purchase, what does that mean that in the craziest scenario at like max adoption, we'd be at 50 percent?
It almost comes out to about 50 percent. 50 percent of households in the country have a garage and about 50 percent have two cars or more. So, yep. Which would still be a massive massive change to our economy and industry, given the fact that today we're not even close to 10 percent, that would be very impactful. Yeah. And so the reason is that people love them that 73 percent number we talked about never going back is a lot of what I just mentioned. When you drive an EV, it is quiet. And there's something to be said and there's been some studies here and there, you know, I don't always put too much stock into them that people are just happier driving them because they're so quiet. It just makes it a serene space that, excuse me, that a traditional, you know, gas vehicle or anything with an engine doesn't have.
So there's and just talk about like, oh, the torque is so great and things like that. That's generally not what people point to as being why they like it. And the thing that a lot of people bring up all the time, never having to go to a gas station again. That comes up time and again. You know what I think is just important to put a disclaimer here that you have no horse in this race. And I think that's beautiful. You're not representing the EV council of the world. You are simply looking to keep dealers as efficient and effective as possible, the industry that you serve. And so I think that's just, you know, I was as you're speaking, it's like it sounds convincing. And I like it's important. I think that people know that you are not like, you know, up down, right, like you don't care. Rather, you're just trying to deliver the information. So I do think that's, you know, that's an important note to just make there. That's right, Yossi.
And, you know, you and I are online a lot having online conversations. And if you put me in an EV conversation with EV, pro EV people, I am at the bottom of that. I am on the, I am on the pessimistic side of that group, right? They are, they are way, way up in Lala land. I try and keep it real. And what, you know, if we're going to make this transition, how do we do it? And that's what I focus on. All right. So talk to me about dealers, right? Like, where are we at right now? This is changing. This has been changing quickly from the entire like sentiment, investment, right? Everything you just said, let's assume that every single dealer in the country listens to it and really internalizes it and says, wow, there is, you know, I want my business to future proof my business. I need to think about this segment of vehicles and how I'm serving it, right? So what is sentiment right now with dealers as it stands today?
It's, it's pretty, we call it pessimistic, right? We just came out with a new study on, on how dealers are facing this transition. And the key takeaway, the big stat was 65% of dealers are pessimistic about the future of EVs on their business. Only, only 19% are optimistic and the rest obviously neutral. So that's not good. The other, some of the other stats that came out of it, only 5% of the dealers are extremely confident in their OEMs EV strategy. All right. It's like, so we have like a range. Are you not confident all the way up to extremely? And only five do we know? I'm sorry, do we know which, do we know which franchises are confident? I knew you'd ask that.
It's interesting because the way we survey too many dealers have multiple rooftops and different brands. So we didn't, we weren't confident breaking it out with the number that we had. I knew that question would come up because that 5% could be Toyota, which isn't a big EV, right? They could be confident in Toyota, right? But 41% are not confident at all in their OEM strategy. So that to me is a huge flare going into the sky over the Titanic for, for OEMs, right? They need to focus on their dealers. They're the ones that are on the ground selling the EVs. If they're not confident in their OEM strategy, this is a salesperson. How do you like pick yourself up to be confident, right? To talk about that EV? So yeah, there is extreme pessimism and it is different in different parts of the country and we can talk about that too. Yeah, let's talk about it. Yeah.
So one of the things I always point out about the EV conversation in the US, when you see a trend about EVs and it's taken at a national level, it is totally out of whack because of the state of California, right? 50% of all the sales are happening in this one place in the country and Oregon, Washington, they sell a lot too. And even New England, these coastal areas, they tip those scales way too much for a national dealer conversation because dealers operate at a local level. So hearing a trend, and I would always warn a dealer when they see a story about EV trends, it's like it's very hard for a dealer in the Midwest in the South to look at a national trend and see it applying to them in the same way.
So when we looked at dealers, we broke it down even when you take the West, we took the Pacific and we separated from the mountain, right? So we knew Idaho, someone, a dealer in Boise is not the dealer in San Jose and that specific mountain group is one of the most hesitant and reluctant towards EVs, not a surprise. The other area is the part of the South that includes Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, that is very negative. And it's almost out of whack because when you think of Texas, it's a big state with major cities that generally are more favorable to EVs. And it's something like, it's in the 90s when you ask them what their shopper sentiment is coming in the door and it's on the negative side of EVs and it's in the 90s and most of the other areas are far superior to that. So that whole Texas concern, I mean, yes, it's the land of pickups, but it's a very multifaceted state. So that's a big concern there. So that's when you got to look at the map and where the differences are just because that California is such an overbearing part of the country. Yeah, look, I think that here's the tricky part. This got so politicized because with the crazy stuff, with the crazy supply from OEMs, right, when it came to EVs and sort of dealers being, shoved all these cars down the first, hey, you got to sell these cars. I think lots of dealers found themselves in a situation almost being allergic to these vehicles. And here's the issue, I see, right? We don't know what's going to happen in the future. I think there's lots of very, and I'm not referring right now to present day demand or supply. There's no doubt that there's lots of indicators pointing to increased adoption over, let's just say five, 10 years, right?
And when I think from a straight business perspective, right, how do I grow my enterprise value? How do I future proof my business? I do think that if I was running a large group right now, I do think that I would be focusing a lot on my EV investments. And having looked at some of the data that you put out, I did see, there's like 11% of dealers said they'll never sell EVs. Look, I get it. They may be in some estate that's super low adoption right now. Yeah, it's the north. Yeah, and I don't know how staunch that 11% is. It just makes me wonder, like, you know, I view business like, you know, follow the data, follow the anecdotes, kind of see where things are headed, future proof your business. It just makes me wonder, right? For the other 90% that are, you know, really considering what the future of this could look like, how do they set themselves up for success, given all the uncertainty? That's my question.
Yeah, I mean, that is the million dollar question, right? And I gave you a very reflective monologue. Yeah, that was a great monologue. But I mean, so you're right, so the 90% are going to go there, right? But three quarters of all the dealers feel it's going to have a negative impact on their bottom line, right? Three quarters of them think EVs, one way or the other are going to have a negative impact on their bottom line, which is interesting because we did some work on the service side of things a few months ago. And the store is actually servicing EVs currently that have them in say they're actually bringing in more money. Now that's because there's a lot of there's a lot of recalls and things like that right now in warranty work. But when you think of the service side of things, if you have a GMC Hummer, there's nowhere you can take that vehicle to get service besides the GMC dealer.
So there is a that's the thing I think dealers need to focus on is on the service side, especially you have a window where you are the only source of service and you could win over these shoppers by delivering excellent service, right? I don't I've been in business a long time. I don't think they've ever had that opportunity ever. So on the service side, there is a lot of opportunity, pure opportunity going on. Now, one of the things I talk about a lot, you know, is this product mix of EVs that's available right now? It's not necessarily what the mass car shopper wants. Just on, I'm not talking about the EV part, I'm talking about like the body style. People look at a Ford Mustang Mach-E, a Kia EV6, they're basically hatchbacks. They're not really compact SUVs.
Compact SUVs are the best-selling non-trucks in the country. CRV, Rav4, Rogue, best sellers have been for, you know, probably 15 years where they supplanted the cameras and accords, right? So if you're not making the right body style and you're charging 40, $50,000 for a hatchback, no matter what's under the hood or floor or whatever you want to say on the EV, it's going to be hard to sell them. So the product mix isn't right for mass adoption. It was right for early adopters and that's what we got.
But we're past that stage and we need products at mirror what people want. And, you know, they've got to get that form factor right as well as the pricing to get people to buy. When you're talking about a mass audience, you've got to aim yourself at that mass audience. I mean, I think hatchbacks are pretty much phased out of every automaker, you know, years ago. I think, you know, you can name on one hand who makes a, you know, a gas hatchback in the past five years, right? So it's interesting that people don't really connect it to, but that's what those things are. The IANIC 5, all those things.
The IANIC 6 from Hyundai is the sedan, which again, not the most popular body style out there. Who do you think from an automaker perspective, do you think any like any automakers right now are tackling product mix in a smart way for EV, right? Or ask differently, let me even take it one step further. If you have to place your bet on like one automaker that and say, you know, I'm going all in on this automaker with regards to their EV strategy, like who are you bullish on, who are you betting on? So you like to say, you don't know about any automakers. I really can't choose favorites myself, but I think what you can say is the luxury automakers are far ahead.
They have the luxury of consumers and customers that don't worry about the price as much, right? So and also like tech and, you know, want to be kind of seen and status and those things as well, which is how Tesla was built. So a BMW, let's say, doing very well with their electric strategy, you know, adapting, you know, it was kind of on the EV side of things, there was a little bit of negativity of taking an existing car and just making it an EV. BMW did it really well, you know, so there's seven series, the i4, the new five excellent adaptations of EVs.
And then they've got this whole other new Klaus, the thing that's coming in the future, like they seem to have it all buttoned up and they're being successful with what they're selling. And I believe Audi expects to sell more EVs this year than last year in the US. So the luxury automakers have it right. What we're seeing the issues with is really the mass market brands. You know, Ford, you know, a year ago, everyone said Ford, they got it, they nailed it, right? They had it all, they had the truck, they had the Mach-E.
然后,他们还有一个全新的 Klaus 未来即将推出,他们似乎一切准备就绪,并且他们销售的产品很成功。我相信奥迪预计今年在美国销售的电动车将比去年更多。所以豪华汽车制造商做得很对。我们看到的问题其实更多出现在大众市场品牌上。比如说福特,一年前大家都说福特抓住了机会,他们做得很好,对吧?他们有卡车,也有 Mach-E。
And now we're seeing, you know, that's not what's, you know, they're not selling. I don't know if that's all Ford's fault necessarily. I think there's been just a long year of very negative coverage of EVs and not enough talk about what they can do for you. So I mean, pretty much every EV on the market is a fantastic vehicle. I've been in almost all of them. I mean, I drove that first Nissan Leaf, I told you with 80 miles of range.
I mean, the fact that you can go 250 without even an issue, like you don't have to drive it into special, you know, special way to get that range. You drive it normally, drive it like you want. You're probably going to get 250 miles, right? So that's just astounding. And it, so for most people, when you get in those vehicles, they're great. So it's interesting what's holding them up from pulling the trigger. And I think it's just not understanding basically the benefits on them. What are you seeing as far as the best practices or like when you look at dealerships that are preparing for servicing more EVs, really thinking about how can they capitalize on the opportunity?
What are you seeing as the best practices when it comes to the actual dealership, you know, equipment, installation, and just give us like a high level thought? Yeah, I think it's the ones that kind of put themselves in the place of they're the expert, right? So this is where training is so essential. And I don't mean just training like a service person to service an EV. I mean, training across the dealership on EVs and like I said, the benefits etc.
Because people, customers are coming to the dealer physically to learn about EVs. So again, you've got this moment in time where you have a captive audience and that you can make a difference. And one of our studies on the ownership side, 54% said the salesman helped them make the decision. Like they pulled the trigger because of the salesperson.
So it really does come down to, are you eager? Like I mentioned, it's like not confident their OEM strategy is like, you've got to have some, you know, positivity about this and come off. If you don't, why would they buy an EV from you? Right?
So I think that's a lot, a big part of it is make sure the whole dealership across the board understands, you know, that they're great. Like you're not selling a bad vehicle in any way, right? So why would you, you know, not promote it to the people coming in that have even a slight interest in it? Yeah, I think the tricky part is, where I could see some hesitancy is, is making large investments before seeing a compelling product mix. Right? Look, we all know Tesla's the leader right now and they're not immune either from price cuts, right? They've dropped their prices very significantly, right?
So no one's immune for that. But they've clearly proven to have a compelling product mix. And I think if I were to make a large investment, I could have conviction in the future, you know, potential of EV related sales and service, sure. But I also want to have conviction in my automaker and my OEMs, you know, product mix.
And I think you met, I think you hit the nail on the head there. And it's funny when I asked you the question about automakers that are, you know, maybe shifting strategy and doing it right. Where you said, I actually don't view it like that. I view it as like luxury versus mainstream brands. And you're right. That's a really good way to look at it. Now, again, obviously, the luxury brands have an embedded advantage because, you know, those consumers behind those vehicles are, they have more disposable income. And, you know, they can, you know, really buy what they want. Like you said, it's, it's a whole different price point. And so you can create a better product per se.
But nonetheless, I do think that having conviction in that product mix, it's like, man, like, it's like to make such a large investment. I want to know that I actually think this vehicle will sell regardless of where the industry is headed. I think that's a huge pinch point. It's like checking in the egg, man. It is, it is, it is a difficult spot we're in. Because even, and again, I won't, I won't take sides. But let's, let's say a Kia, right? Or a Hyundai that have, you know, multiple EVs in their, in their mix currently, well reviewed cars of the year, all that kind of good stuff. They're discounted too.
So it's not like, you know, the dealer's still having to sell those EVs at a big discount to get them off the lot, even though that brand per se is seen in the, you know, in the press and is being super terrific about EVs. So you're right. Even if you take that example of probably the, the mass market brand with the biggest halo right now, or brands, those two, it's tricky. And then we mentioned, you know, as a joke that on confidence, maybe they're, maybe the dealers are the most confident as Toyota dealers, right? They'd only have the, the one EV out there. But Toyota is just, I mean, they've made a huge investment in battery plants in the US. It's coming. And so, so maybe it's just this idea that like, it doesn't sound great. It's not the way I'd go into it, but it's inevitable, right? It is, you know, you might not want to put the investment, you might, you might go, you know, you might be dragged into it, you might, you know, curse under your breath. But it's going to happen. So, you know, maybe you just start, however you do your budget is like, you know, pushing off a little bit to the side on, onto your green side of the business, right? And, you know, in a smart way that doesn't hurt, you know, today as much as, as, as, you know, making a huge chunk at a time, because it's going to be a long time. This is going to be, you know, the dealers tell us it's, it's, you know, way over 15 years before we hit 50%. That's what they're saying. I'm kind of with them with the way we're seeing things right now. You know, takes three to five years for a new vehicle to hit the market. I'm looking at the pipelines of all the automakers. We're not hitting 50% by 2030. So, I think the dealers have it right. It's going to be a while. So, just like saving up for a rainy day, right? Save up for that EV day. And it's not the best way to look at it, but it's probably the, the, I won't say the smartest, but it's one, it's one avenue to take.
So, let's transition to just foreign imports. And the one thing that can really derail lots of these conversations, right, which is cheap EVs coming in from overseas, specifically, we've talked a lot about China, the options there, what could happen. BYD has grown a large presence in Mexico, the potential for China to, you know, produce EVs in Mexico and bring them into the US. I mean, there's so much conversation right now happening, you know, in behind the scenes within the dealer community and the car industry in general. What's your overall view of the potential for cheap EVs from China? And yes, of course, we know tariffs, you know, the Biden administration is raising tariffs. So, you know, they're going to be taxed a lot higher, blah, blah, blah. There's a ton move going on. But what's your overall take on this topic? Well, there's two things to take. Number one thing that I take issue with, and this is mostly from media coverage, is that people want to cheap EV. Okay. And what cheap means, and they usually point to a number, which is $25,000. Now, you can get a brand new EV for $25,000 right now. It's called the Nissan Leaf. You know how many Nissan Leafs they sold in quarter one of 2024? I mean, it was just over a thousand. So, I mean, you can go get one. And it's again, terrific vehicle. I used to joke like, you used to have this type of car, we called it the commuter car, right? The car you bought to get you to and from work. The Nissan Leaf has been, and is today, the best commuter car. No one wants a commuter car. It turns out, and they don't want a commuter EV. So, the cheap Chinese EVs that will come might be a little funky you're looking, but they're not going to be an Audi. You know, you're not getting into, I'm not quite sure what people are envisioning this $25,000 Chinese EV to be. Because it's just, it's not going to outpace everyone.
You know, it might have some flashier things here and there, but I just don't know if that's where the interest is. Now, if you want to talk about China entering the market, this is really intriguing. And people have used a tariffs and it does get political. There's no question the current administration's moves and recently are all political because there are no Chinese EVs, being sold. So, there's, I think, one on the market that even hits any of these regulations in this new way of a tariff. It's the Polestar II, right? So, and BOID and some of these other big Chinese automakers, they've kind of said we're not coming to the US right now. So, that tariff doesn't need to exist today except for a political reason, right? So, and maybe to show to the world, you know, we're putting the brakes on the Chinese.
So, then you look at China and the rise in EVs, it is not a fair fight. That country is not a capitalist freedomocracy country and they've put a number of levers in place to create that industry, to accelerate that industry. And I mean, you're talking billions of dollars of, or, you know, Chinese currency, billions of just money, they have a lock on the minerals that go into the batteries. I mean, it is just so outrageous how much advantage they have. So, the fact that they're here is planned, they've been planning it.
And you talk about the idea of forcing EVs on consumers in the United States and push back on that. That's what they do in China. You can't push back on Chinese government when they ask you to buy an EV, right? So, why, you know, there's all these things that happen in China that people don't kind of think of, you know, oh, it's accelerated so quickly and people buy them, buy so many. Yeah, yeah, they do. And it's, and it is a different world.
So, the United States is a very different market. And to say that, you know, again, going back to that great recession, we bailed out the automakers because if we didn't, the impact across the country would have been devastating. You know, 5% of all employment in the country is tied to the automotive industry in this country in some way. And dealers are a big part of that.
Five percent of employment, you said? Yeah. I mean, it's about the same of the GDP, right? So, you know, because there's suppliers. Again, dealers, I mean, think of, you know, all that ancillary stuff going on. So, to think that you wouldn't protect that in some way, because of, and we already bailed them out, I mean, that was why they were bailed out is because it was to protect the economy moving forward, which worked, right? It worked. So, to think that we're not going to protect our own industry against a threat from a country that is not our friend, that's the other part.
It's like, everyone's like really happy to get some cheap Chinese EVs. It doesn't make a difference. Like, they're not, they're not our friend, right? So, it's okay to be a little, you know, negative towards them. And I tell you what, if it was a different administration, you know, we have an election coming up, I don't think it's going to be a friendlier administration to China on this topic. So, you know, this isn't, this isn't, you know, a left or right side. This is protecting an industry that is vitally important to the country. And so, I find myself, it's funny when I say these things, this isn't wherever I thought I'd be saying, you know, we should be a protectionist country. But in this instance, it seems like the right move right now. And it's just a different, if you're not in it all the time, and you haven't studied it, and I'm not the biggest student of it, by the way.
But if you haven't dug a little deeper, it might seem a little strange to have that viewpoint, but it's a valid one. You know, I think something super interesting that I heard are it was, I was actually, I just had a CNBC thing yesterday. And before me was actually Michael Wayland, who's a reporter for CNBC. He's a fan. I was listening to him. Yeah, Michael's great. And I was listening to him. And he said, he was asked, why haven Chinese vehicles made it to the US like historically? Forget electric cars, regular cars, you know, internal question. And I never thought about this, you know, at this level. But he said that one of the largest hurdles was actual manufacturing expertise with engines.
And what happened was this shift to electric, you know, China had already has the battery materials, the manufacturing expertise from tech sectors, right? Because, you know, specifically building phones. And so this was an extremely opportune time for them to get into the vehicle sector, because they don't have to create engines, right? And electric vehicles not have an engine. So I just found that very interesting, because you're right, like, when you go to first principles and you think like, wait, like, why now? Like what changed? What about the last 40 years? Are you why you haven't vehicles come there? And why will they now? Well, that's the big change. And that's what made way for this opportunity in the market.
That's 100% accurate. And they're, I mean, they have a, they had a plan. I mean, it wasn't hidden. This was their strategy. They knew that it would take more effort to catch up on gas than to start fresh with EV, whereas a level playing field. And they knew it. And the other thing that is often not talked about, you know, foreign automakers went into China to build cars to sell to the Chinese market, because it was a big market, even though not as many people there can afford vehicles. There's just so many people there. So the, so the US automakers and the other foreign automakers that went in to sell and manufacture cars there, they had to partner with a local company. They weren't allowed to do it alone. So they were sharing their knowledge of manufacturing and technology for well over a decade now. I don't even know how long it's been to get those units sold, right? To make a little more profit. Now, all those companies are being pushed out. Like we don't need you anymore. Everyone knew this was going to happen. They wanted the profit, you know, at the time. So yeah, there's some, there's some problems all across the board of how we got here.
So, you know, when you look back at it, it's like, you know, as the outside observer, you're just kind of baffled. Like, I don't know, how do we get here? And we saw it all happening and it's like, yeah, now we're here. So, so just, I want to wrap it up, give us, first of all, give us the outlook, give us your short term outlook for how, how all this stuff, you know, how this the EV stuff, the man, I mean, how do you think this transpires over here the next six to 12 months?
Yeah, one of the, one of the things we got to do is you introduce a new vehicle, you better start selling that vehicle. These timelines of introductions, and it's happened since Tesla and they started it, like showing it for the first time to the time it hits the dealer, just takes years now. And it used to be, you go to an auto show, you see a new car, you would be at the dealer in three to six months. I mean, that's what came out. Was that the dealer in three to six months? I mean, they kept it under wraps. I mean, obviously the same timeline to build the darn thing. But this whole EV thing and trying to be first and look cool against the, you know, for the stock market, whatever.
So, so the minds of the consumer, when they see the first, you know, let's take the VW bus, right, the cool looking electric bus that they're coming out with, it's been like five years. I mean, it's been an extremely long time. You know, if you saw it five years ago, your life has changed probably, right? So we got to change that and we've got to get the vehicles out faster. Like we've got to come up like the why is that though? Why do you think that? Because there's nothing on the mark. I mean, the Machi and all these other vehicles are two to three years old. Like you need new product, just like you need a new Tacoma, you need new EVs, like you need new stuff. And they're not the things that are being sold right now are years old in some instances. And there's not enough of the variation of the model. So that needs to happen. We need to get that ID buzz, which I think even though it won't, I mean, it's going to be limited in terms of volume that they can sell. But you need it on the street for people to see it.
I think the EV9 is similar where it just stands out. You're like, yes, I can, I can put my family in an EV and those people could did it. I can do it too, right? So you need that stuff on the road to just influence, right? Overall. But we need that product mix. And so the six to 12 months, we better get that stuff happening. And my main issue is I don't see enough, I haven't seen enough in the pipeline to think that a lot of it's going to happen. So we might have the remainder of 2024 being very similar to the first half of 2024 in terms of EV sales. And it's not going to be good and then it's going to slow everything down. And then consumers are going to, the headlines are going to be negative. And it's going to be tough. It is going to be tough. So yeah, that's unfortunately my outlook there on the six to 12 months.
Now, it's going to be tough, and it's going to stink and all the words I can't say. But we're going to come out the other side. The next group of vehicles that do come out, that aren't currently in the pipeline, these will be more advanced. They will have ranges where no one worries about a road trip. The infrastructure is going to grow. Obviously, you know, in Illinois with this new, you know, incentive to build infrastructure, there's not going to be, you can't go 50 miles on the highway without charging, right? That's what it'll look like. Just for an example, Illinois said, this is how we're doing it. You can't go 50 miles on the highway without having that accessibility. So in that next two, three, four, five years, that will catch up.
The technology will be better in the vehicles. The prices will come down a little bit. That's where we're going to see this adoption start going back up. But yeah, it's going to be a tough year or two. All right, David Thomas, fascinating conversation. Thanks for coming on. This has been really great. If anyone wants to learn more about the studies that you and CDK put together EVs, everything really just discussed. Where can people go to learn more? Yeah, definitely. Thanks for having me, Yossi. They can go to CDK.com slash insights, all our research is there as well as our blogs and other content. So yeah, it'd be great if they checked it out there. Highly, highly recommend it. Like I said, we are avid readers here at CDG. David, thanks for coming on.
And I should mention, we'll also link it in the show notes below. So if anyone wants to check it out, you can see the show notes below. Terrific. Thanks, Josie. All right. Hope you enjoyed that episode. Please give the podcast a rating. Consider subscribing to the show and check the show notes for links to what we talked about. Thanks for tuning in. I'll see you guys next time.