Rivian Referrals, Toyota’s Long Range Battery Plans, iPhone Intelligence

As we turn into Tuesday, we’ve got guest host Daniel Govaer with us in the studio! Today we’re looking at Rivian’s referral program, what the future holds for Toyota’s battery production and recap everything from Apple’s iPhone announcement event.

Show Notes with links:

• Rivian is rolling out its first referral program to help drive sales of its R1T and R1S models, joining Tesla and Lucid in the referral game. This program includes credits and perks, making it more enticing for new buyers and existing owners.
  • Rivian's program offers $750 credits to both referrers and new buyers, plus six months of free charging at Rivian’s Adventure Network.
  • The first 100 owners who make 25 referrals will be rewarded with an exclusive adventure weekend, further enhancing Rivian’s focus on lifestyle and experiences.
  • Currently limited to U.S. owners but will expand to Canada in 2024.
  • Tesla offers referrers a $500 gift card and buyers a $1,000 discount, while Lucid provides up to $1,250 in vehicle discounts for buyers and points for referrers to redeem for merchandise.
  • "These programs appeal to automakers because they’re less expensive to run compared to traditional advertising," said Ivan Drury of Edmunds.

• Toyota has received official approval from Japan's Ministry of Trade and Industry (METI) to move forward with its all-solid-state EV battery development. This certification allows the automaker to boost domestic production as part of Japan’s strategy to reduce dependence on foreign battery suppliers.
  • Subsidiaries like Prime Planet Energy Solution and Primeearth EV Energy will spearhead production.
  • Toyota's roadmap includes launching "Performance" batteries by 2026, offering up to 500 miles of range.
  • The company plans to introduce all-solid-state batteries with 620 miles of range and 10-minute fast charging by 2028.
  • Japan is investing $7 billion to boost battery production and reduce reliance on China and South Korea.

• Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event showcased exciting new updates, including the highly anticipated iPhone 16, updates to the Apple Watch, and new AirPods models, all set to release on September 20th.
  • iPhone 16 adds a DSLR-style capture button and stacked rear cameras for spatial video.
  • iPhone 16 Pro introduces a larger display, upgraded A18 Pro chip, and improved cameras.
  • Apple Watch Series 10 has a thinner profile, brighter display, and apnea detection.
  • AirPods 4 feature voice isolation, improved design, and optional active noise cancellation.
  • Apple Intelligence was another notable feature unveiled at the event, designed to enhance the iPhone 16 lineup with new AI capabilities. Including that users can search their photo library by simply describing the image they’re looking for, create personalized emojis using AI, and Visual Intelligence, which can recognize objects in photos and perform actions, such as adding events to your calendar when you snap a picture of

Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier

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Transcript

Kyle Mountsier: 0:05

Good morning. Welcome to Tuesday. I got the infamous, infamous host of the wheelhouse, DG, sitting next to me this morning. We're talking a little bit of rivian Toyota and iPhone. Of course, people really want to know who I is and who ID. They stop when they see infamous. Hey, you know what I gotta ask you, because I think what we're we're like, three episodes into the three or four episodes now into the new season of the wheelhouse, is that, right? We're

Daniel Govaer: 0:37

coming up on on the second episode. It tricked you because we did an hour we did an hour long one. That's

Kyle Mountsier: 0:42

what it was. I mean, that one was great because it basically was three episodes in one. I really, I like the new format. It's good.

Daniel Govaer: 0:50

Thank you. Yeah, shout out to Nathan and Jordan that helped figure that out. Yeah,

Kyle Mountsier: 0:55

it's good. It's like, you know what I appreciate about it is, you've got the, you've definitely got the ability to kind of capture the attention. You're like a Joe Rogan, you know, you're coming up into your Joe Rogan age. I foresee two and two and a half hour podcast sometime in your future. We'd have to find

Daniel Govaer: 1:15

a lot of salacious things to talk about for that. You know,

Kyle Mountsier: 1:20

you would have to get, you would have to be okay getting canceled by some people. You know, it's just the way it is. Well,

Daniel Govaer: 1:25

I have been and I am so, you know,

Kyle Mountsier: 1:29

been done that

Daniel Govaer: 1:33

this one that's coming up, plug it, plug it. So it's, it's so it happens to be Hispanic Heritage Month. And one of the things that I've been wanting to talk about is how many dealers are, how many of us are not even tapping into the Hispanic market anywhere around us, or the belief systems that like, I don't have a Hispanic market near my dealership, or whatever, and spoiler alert, you do. And so we've got an absolute All Star slugger panel on that to explain to us exactly what you're missing and how to do it right, and just how easy it is, you could tap in to anywhere up to probably 38 to 40% of your market in a way that a lot of your competitors aren't yet doing it. So anyway, it's going to be pretty

Kyle Mountsier: 2:15

cool. That's awesome. Yeah, I've gotten the opportunity to kind of work with a couple dealers that are deep in the Hispanic market. And it takes a unique personality, a unique understanding of the market. But like you said, every single market has a Hispanic it's not just like Miami and California have to have to advertise, you know, like, get that out of your mind, right? Like, it's everywhere at this point. Yep, that's awesome. Hey, if you haven't heard we're having a soducon Again, you should go to asotu con.com and get on the early list. We've got little bit of brand update. We are going to be releasing things like tickets and schedules and speakers and all that. Your boy, Daniel, is probably going to be there. Maybe we'll do a little wheelhouse. We'll bring it back from two years ago. So yeah, I think

Unknown: 3:02

from the crash table, that's yeah,

Kyle Mountsier: 3:05

let's the craps table. Oh man. Well, I guess you know, speaking of live from the craps table, we always throw a few things around every single morning. So let's jump into it. First story is, rivian is rolling out its first referral program to help drive sales of its R 1t and R 1s models joining Tesla and lucid in the referral game, the program offers $750 credits to both the refer and the new buyer, plus six months free charging on rivians Adventure network, the first 100 owners Who make 25 referrals will be rewarded with an exclusive adventure weekend, further enhancing rivian Focus on lifestyle and experiences. So you got to make 25 referrals to do it. Currently, it is limited to us owners. Right now, Tesla is offering a $500 gift card and buyers $1,000 discount, while lucid offers up to $1,250 in vehicle discounts for buyers and points refers to redeem for merchandise. Ivan jury of Edmund says the programs appeal to automakers because they're less expensive to run compared to traditional advertising. This isn't something that's all that new to to the automotive ecosystem, but they're trying it out in a different way. And, man, this sounds like a pretty hefty cost rebate, or, you know, cost of marketing, interesting kind of move.

Daniel Govaer: 4:31

They're making it easy. That's the thing, right? I mean, and Tesla's had, like, a referral. I mean, I remember, I remember how many years ago this was, I'm sure someone in the teslarati will will correct me on this. But like you used to be able to, if I refer, if I had a Model S, and I referred somebody who bought a Model S, I could unlock a special set of wheels for my Model S, and then come in and get it as a part of the referral program. And while you're and they make it easy. That's the thing is, like, say, what you want about, about, you know, the rivians and the Tesla, they just make it easy. So and. Isn't this something that we should all have as dealers anyway? Shouldn't we have a way to turn, like our best, our best clients, into ambassadors, and give them really incentive to have somebody else coming into the brand and reward them for it? If we could just make it easy. But how many times have you sold a car dealership and it was hard just to get your referral check for it, right?

Kyle Mountsier: 5:18

You know? Right? So

Daniel Govaer: 5:20

we're just, we're making it easy, and

Kyle Mountsier: 5:21

they're like, 100 150 200 bucks, and they're one sided referrals. They're not two sided referrals. So you only, only the referrer gets the referral bonus and this, but all of these networks are giving two sided referrals, so they're referrer and referee, which is greater incentive to kind of move forward with a purchase for sure and

Daniel Govaer: 5:42

and I think they are 100% right on it is, it is an incredibly cost effective and just generally very effective way of advertising, as opposed to, you know, any other type of advertising is to just give your current customer base, let them be a rolling showroom and an ambassador for the brand. I couldn't, I mean, couldn't agree more, well,

Kyle Mountsier: 6:00

because also the like life cycle marketing cost of something like this is a lot stronger than you know, maybe you do have a 250 300 $350 cost per car sold, and you're, you're looking at now, you know, anywhere between 1015 $102,000, in customer acquisition cost. Well, the lifetime value of that customer is going to be so much higher than a net new customer, at $250 cost per acquisition. So I think when you look about it over, you know, over a time span of both of those customers probably being adherent to the brand, it's a lot higher possibility.

Daniel Govaer: 6:35

So yeah, and what if, what I mean, we're still trying to figure out in different dealerships, like, how much a service advisor should get paid for referring, you know, to helping put together a new car deal, right? And in here it's like, we really should be talking about, like, your point, like, with it, with a two way referral system. How about, hey, you're, I see you have, you're thinking of getting rid of your third car, like, you should sell it to my this dealership that I work with, right? Because here, let me refer you to them, because I'll get something, plus I know that you'll get taken care of. And then now you've just got a whole new way of acquiring vehicles before you know it's happening organically in those discussions, in the driveway, before it gets anywhere on the internet. And so the more they push, keep pushing, because hopefully we'll we'll continue also to catch up. Yep,

Kyle Mountsier: 7:16

speaking of catching up, stop segway. Obviously. Over the past couple years, everybody's been on Toyota on whether or not they are going to be able to catch up to the EV market, but they've been working on something behind the scenes that now has received official approval from Japan's Ministry of Trade and Industry. They are moving forward with their solid state EV battery development. The certification allows the automaker to boost domestic production as part of Japan's strategy to reduce dependence on foreign battery suppliers, subsidies like prime planet energy solution and prime Earth EV energy will spearhead the production. The Roadmap includes launching performance batteries by 2026 offering up to 500 miles of range. They also plan to introduce all solid state batteries with 620 miles of range and 10 minute fast charging by 2028 solving a lot of problems there. Japan is investing $7 billion to boost battery production and reduce the reliance on China and South Korea. This follows a story the other day of Japan investing in multiple modern manufacturers, but Toyota being one of them, and Toyota putting that money toward their solid state development.

Daniel Govaer: 8:28

And the thing is, is, like, even with this article, there was a lot of chatter about, like, oh, it's supposed to be 21 then 22 and then maybe now 20 No, no, just remember that Toyota are fast followers. They're not going to put a step forward until they have it all figured out. And, and they're not even saying that solid state batteries is going to be the end of it, but they're saying that, like they didn't see a point really, in the pit stop along the way with some of these other battery systems, and that this is really a better kind of segue to where they want to go. I think you're also going to see lucid with some interesting stuff, I think with Panasonic and solid state batteries and and overall, remember that Toyota strategy still makes their vehicles a in high demand and low supply. And also the fact that the cost difference between anything that they electrify to the ice model versus anyone else in the industry is always going to be that much lower, right? So, I mean, anyone's going to be, I mean, I'm certainly a fan of this. I think it's definitely good for the entire industry. I think it's definitely good, you know, for the direction they want to go in, and it's following along with exactly what they said they were going to do.

Kyle Mountsier: 9:27

Yep, yeah, kudos to Toyota for just always staying the course. You know, they had a lot of pressure. Last year, the chairman had a lot of pressure after Toyota was moved out from or the President had had a lot of pressure, but kind of kind of stay in the course, and I'm excited to see what a solid state battery does, because everybody's kind of been the chatters been all about it. Speaking of chatter, segway, well, DG and I both went ahead and. Set our pre order for our iPhone, not because, you know we had to, or anything, just because we feel obligated to, if we're running this story. But it's glow time. The event that Apple premiered yesterday showcased exciting new updates, including the highly anticipated as almost every year is iPhone 16, some updates to the Apple Watch new AirPods models all set to release to the wild on September 20. The big things on the iPhone 16 is a DSLR style capture button and stacked rear cameras for spatial video. And the 16 pro introduces a large display and upgraded a 18 pro chip, which is going to handle the apple intelligence software. Then the watch is thinner, bigger, better battery. You know, kind of the way that most of Apple releases go a little voice isolation on the AirPods for the big thing though, being the apple intelligence. And I know a couple of people that have downloaded the developers beta, and they're just stating how flexible the apple intelligence is and what is possible with like the voice recognition and the you know, the frame of speech, the access to your apps, your data that it has, it allows personalized emojis, Visual Intelligence, and can recognize objects and photos, perform actions, add events to your calendar. Even when you like, snap a picture of a photo with an event, it can add the event to your calendar. So a lot, a lot is baked into like the Apple intelligence stuff, which actually still won't get released for a couple months in late fall. So

Daniel Govaer: 11:40

I am, because you know what? First of all, let's not underestimate the flood of scam contest that you're gonna get on every platform about winning new iPhone 16. And that's gives them a whole new platform for that. But, but in in seriousness, though, like the reason we went to pre order is because, look how easy Apple makes it to stay in their ecosystem, right? I mean, it's like, go ahead and pre qualify now, get it all set up ahead of time, right? So it's easy to order your phone, right? Again, some a lot of time to still struggle with. Let's go ahead and get all your financing out of the way. So when you come in the dealership, you just have to pick up your car with Apple. Let's like, get ready so that you can get up at 6am Pacific Time and be first in line to just hit submit and get your new iPhone. And then trade ins, they make the trade in process easy. Not even just about the iPhone. I was just looking randomly the other day when I was on the Apple Store app, it told me, like, hey, check out these trade in offers on your devices. And it had all the devices that were there. I pick one that tells me this is how much you can get towards what. And again, it's just making it easy. And I think also the iPhone, I think there is some type of economic index. I'm not exactly sure the name of it, but in relation to consumer confidence, it's just how likely people are to sell, you know, buy iPhones, and however many and iPhones are sold, and at the rate in which they're sold, like it or not, it is an economic indicator, still not, still more than what androids are. Sorry, sorry for the green bubble family. But this, you know how this launches and how it gets adopted, how much and how many of them get sold? Not only is it keeping us glued to our phones a little bit more, but also just how ready consumers are to make that transaction happen with as easy as it is, I think that's actually a sign, you know, that is a sign that we look at for, for what our economy is, is headed for, and I'm generally speaking, yeah, I think my iPhone has, you know, it stopped auto correcting a while ago, right? Like, it just said, like, obviously, you don't know English. I'm not going to try and teach it to you, so just go ahead and hit that fine. So it's hit its planned obsolescence time, and I'm ready for a new one. Yep, yeah.

Kyle Mountsier: 13:38

I mean, the the one, yeah, got an email this morning before I woke up. Quick Link right into the Apple Store. Had all of my stuff already there. The kicker was after I set up the first three when it said, Do you want us to go ahead and place an event on your calendar to remind you to do this when it comes to it like, if that's that's like scheduling your next service appointment, do you want us to go ahead and put this event on your calendar? Not just like scheduling our random system, but get it on your calendar so that they're owning my trade channel management, it's

Daniel Govaer: 14:12

nuts. Would you like us to add this what we're calling an event, not even a transaction? Would you like us to go ahead and schedule this event in our calendar that we have on your current device,

Kyle Mountsier: 14:21

right? Genius, yeah. And then I, obviously, you know, when I, when I think about the regression of a phone, I'm actually back on the 14, you know, you start to recognize a little bit of battery, slow down, you recognize, you know, just, you know, a couple little bugs here and there. But I am excited about the Apple intelligence. Because I think it, you know, Siri's been long due and update. And I think this brings it kind of into, you know, the voice assistant 21st century.

Daniel Govaer: 14:51

Yeah, how I didn't realize, like, that Siri had such a bad name amongst some of the, like, all these tech writers, right? Like, yeah, she's ditted Slow. So talking about it like it's somebody's actual assistant, right? It's wild, yeah, kind of pretty, but, yeah, it looks good, but, you know, it's kind of dim witted, it's slow. It doesn't really, you know, because it doesn't really keep up with the time. So we're like, oh my gosh, this was, and I'll just want to mention that a while ago, on a on a different social platform, a person followed me, and in their bio was like, I was, I am the first voice of Siri. And I was like, what? That's so cool. And then I thought, actually, that doesn't do anything for me, but that was just neat to say that, like Siri follows, no, it wasn't. I thought it was.

Kyle Mountsier: 15:37

That's wild. Oh, well, hey, we took you on a little journey. And you know, around around the world ended with the iPhone. You know, if you haven't checked out that experience, make sure you do it. But have a great day. Serve some people, love some people, and sell some cars,

Unknown: 15:52

because