00:00Ford and GM are really consistent across several fronts.
00:03I think the fact that SUVs and pickups have been so strong in this market,
00:08the fact that the Trump administration has so relaxed emissions standards and fuel economy rules,
00:15they're really able to sort of go whole hog and sell as many SUVs and pickups as they possibly can.
00:22And that does a heck of a deals that sort of heck of a boost to their bottom line.
00:29What surprised you the most when you look at Ford and GM and what they've managed to show as they
00:35double down on what works?
00:37Yeah, I think the execution has been strong.
00:41I think, you know, they have been trying to sort of, you know, pivot in a way that has to
00:48be really dramatic,
00:48considering the degree of change from one administration to the next.
00:53The fact that the Biden administration wanted these companies to sell a heck of a lot more electric vehicles and
01:01they built the plants to do so.
01:03They not only built the car factories to do so, but the battery plants.
01:07And Ford has been trying to sort of, you know, make lemonade out of lemon in the fact that Americans
01:14were not ready to buy electric vehicles at the rate everybody was hoping for.
01:19And, you know, both of these companies are trying to sort of maybe turn some of these battery plants into,
01:25you know, factories that can actually make sort of storage units,
01:29which we've seen Tesla turn that into a tidy little business.
01:32So I think there's still, you know, some sort of show there that we need instead of just tell that
01:39they're going to be able to make that transition.
01:41But that's going to be something that we're going to watch in, you know, the months and maybe even years
01:46to come.
01:47I mean, if I'm Ford and GM, I think I have to.
01:52This is just kind of opinion.
01:53I think my strategy has got to be maximize shareholder value.
01:56The way I do that is making pickup trucks and SUVs.
02:01And my EV strategy has got to be driven by the marketplace as opposed to policy.
02:07If that's the case, I'm not sure we're ever going to get to a big EV percentage in this country.
02:12How are they thinking about it?
02:14Yeah, I mean, I do think it's interesting that you still do hear Mary Barra, you know, say that she
02:21thinks that electric vehicles and batteries are just the better powertrain.
02:26And I think, you know, candidly, if you sort of drive, in my experience, if you drive, you know, the
02:31same vehicle, one with a battery in it and the other with a combustion engine in it, it's actually a
02:36lot of fun to drive an electric vehicle.
02:38You know, the instant torque and the sort of, you know, get up is actually pretty great.
02:43And I think avoiding, you know, the gas pump right now is also a big positive.
02:49So I think they're really stuck in the situation of, you know, a lot of consumers still not being ready
02:54for this transition.
02:56And yet there is this sort of looming.
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