Here are highlights from the latest Automotive News 'Daily Drive' podcasts, May 2-5, hosted by Jamie Butters.
“I think it’s a two-horse race when you talk about the volumes and at least from Ford’s standpoint, when they’re thinking of customers, they’re thinking of largely their traditional truck customers, people who are going to use this thing for work at job sites, carrying stuff. Jim Farley made a point of saying that the Lightning launch, they expect to be No. 1 in electric pickups. So they don’t want to give up any ground. GM’s come in with more nameplates than them. It’s going to be a good race.” -- Hannah Lutz and Michael Martinez, Automotive News reporters, on the looming EV pickup battle
They’re going to start out with a move to hybrids. Then they’re going to all the while study EV. And [Dave] Gardner said that not every dealership in every region would come online with battery-electric right away. That it made more sense to study changes that needed to be made in states like California, where volume is very high.” -- Carly Schaffner, Automotive News reporter, on Honda’s desire to become more efficient
“They have an actual vintage Wagoneer in the showroom so that customers can sort of compare it to the current models. And they were telling me that it’s a really nice icebreaker. So, it’s not starting with that sales conversation. It is more of a, ‘Hey, my parents used to drive that Wagoneer.’ And then from there, you build that relationship, and then you can move into possibly buying a car.” -- Vince Bond Jr., Automotive News reporter, on Stellantis’ push to promote Jeep by encouraging dealers to build separate showrooms for the off-road brand
“What’s really impressive about this is it’s not so much that Toyota is installing these things in Princeton, Ind., which is their initial one that they are going to install. They’re going to go across their factories in North America with these things. That kind of tells you what they feel is the potential and the fact that Toyota is doing it, and they are the granddaddy of this production philosophy. You can’t help but think that other automakers are going to look at this, especially if it’s as revolutionary as what as what they believe it is.” -- Larry P. Vellequette, Automotive News reporter, on measuring efficiency with artificial intelligence
— Listen to these and other shows at autonews.com/dailydrive.
