Automotive State of The Union

Scaringe vs The System, Teslas Get Grok, Starbucks Forced Kindness

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Episode #1092: We unpack how Rivian views legacy OEMs as “adversaries”, Elon’s plan to put Grok in your Tesla, and why your next Starbucks smiley face might be powered by pressure, not personality.


Show Notes with links:

  • ​​Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe came out swinging against recent federal policy changes that gut EV incentives. But while the industry might stall, Rivian could gain room to thrive as legacy players backpedal.
    • Scaringe called the rollback of EV tax credits and subsidies “bad for the world, bad for the U.S.,” and a blow to U.S. tech leadership.
    • Ironically, fewer incentives could benefit Rivian, opening space for it’s R2 and R3 rollouts.
    • Scaringe didn’t blame Congress alone—he sees legacy automakers like GM and Toyota, and their lobbyists, as Rivian’s “biggest adversaries” on everything from EV registration fees to direct sales bans.
    • He accused them of resisting change to protect outdated business models: “It’s reflective of their desire that this whole EV thing would just go away. [They can suddenly say], “fine, I just won’t sell those EVs.”
    • “The folks we spend the most energy fighting against in D.C. are actual car companies,” Scaringe said. “It’s very telling.”


  • Elon Musk has confirmed that Tesla vehicles will get a native dose of his irreverent AI chatbot, Grok, starting next week “at the latest,” merging Tesla’s in-car computing power with conversational AI.
    • Grok 4, the latest model from Musk’s AI startup xAI, was just released.
    • Tesla vehicles will run a smaller version of Grok locally using their onboard computers.
    • Musk previously teased Grok integration but had not set a firm timeline—until now.
    • This comes amid backlash after Grok shared posts on X containing antisemitic content.
    • “Tesla will probably have the most amount of true usable inference compute on Earth,” Musk posted on X.


  • Those cheerful messages on your Starbucks cup might not be as heartfelt as they seem. A push for personalized notes is raising questions about authenticity and pressure on baristas.
    • New CEO Brian Niccol wants to bring back cozy, in-store vibes by reversing mobile-heavy trends.
    • Cup messages are now a “standard” meant to create human connection—but not all employees are thrilled.
    • Baristas say it slows them down, especially during rush hours, and some report pressure from managers to comply.
    • A few enjoy the creativity, but many feel it’s another task disguised as joy.
    • One Redditor shared, “I was told I’d get a final warning if I didn’t write on cups.” Starbucks disputes this claim.

0:00 Intro with Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier
1:01 What a sarcastic car might sound like
1:55 Announcements
2:20 Rivian CEO Goes After Legacy Automakers and US Tax Policies
6:35 Tesla To Get Grok AI

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.

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Paul J Daly:

What's up, everybody? It's Friday, July 11. Yes, this is the automotive State of the Union. I'm Paul Jay Daly. It's calm out sear today. We're talking about RJ scaring versus the system. Tesla is getting grok, just what you need, a sarcastic vehicle.

Unknown:

That's a great way to put it just what you need

Paul J Daly:

is vehicle I know, see now that want to talk about. Have you tested grock four? Let's we'll wait till we wait till we rock for you. Okay, okay, but it'd be really sweet if I could make turn my cars mode on to give like, sarcastic commentary on my driving and on people around the car,

Kyle Mountsier:

like, that's a mode. What you doing walking out there?

Unknown:

Look this guy on the left, 1980s called they want their flip flops back, right?

Paul J Daly:

It's like, that would be unbelievable. That's a, that's a sort, that's a

Unknown:

you had a honk or what? Yeah, are you gonna wait

Paul J Daly:

for grandma to pass you, too? Oh, that's a video waiting to happen. Oh, man,

Unknown:

just want to write like, like memes on that all

Paul J Daly:

day. No, you could literally get in a Tesla and the headline would be, I turned grok sarcasm mode on in my car, and then just make it up, right, like that. It's saying things absolutely that would be viral. It'd probably get picked up by an outlet before it got debunked. You know, instantly I know whatever we got, if we got we got a business to build, got work, unfortunately,

Kyle Mountsier:

things to talk about, you know, what do

Paul J Daly:

we got? What do we got new Auto Collabs episode? There you go. Another podcast, Auto Collabs. We have Sanjay varnwall of spine talking about overcoming merchandising challenges with AI. If you can go back to the Auto Collabs library, and you can just scroll through there and find somebody that you want to something you want to learn about.

Kyle Mountsier:

List, I'm telling you, did you say

Paul J Daly:

cheese? Cheese? I thought you said there's real cheese in that list. I was like,

Kyle Mountsier:

I mean, there's some good cheese to find, too, if you like the mouse, the cheese, you know, that type of thing similar. You

Paul J Daly:

know, there is whatever you metaphor. I can already feel this one going the wrong way. It's going to be sideways.

Kyle Mountsier:

Let's get into it.

Paul J Daly:

Our rivian CEO, RJ scaringe came out swinging against federal policy changes that got EV incentives. But while the industry might stall, rivian could still gain room to thrive as legacy players backpedal scaring called the rollback of EV tax credits and subsidies, quote, bad for the world, bad for the US, and a blow to us tech leadership. Ironically, fewer incentives could benefit rivian opening space for its r2 and r3 roll outs. I forget. Just didn't realize it was called r2 just thought of Star Wars anyway. Scares didn't blame Congress alone. He sees legacy automakers like GM, Toyota and their lobbyists as revisions biggest adversaries on everything from EV registration fees to direct sales bans. He accused them of resisting change to protect their outdated business models. Wow. He said, quote, it's reflective of their desire that this whole EV thing would just go away Fine. I won't sell those EVs. That's, that's basically what he's saying.

Kyle Mountsier:

Well, he here's why, and he never really said exactly why he felt like it would, it would gain rivian. There were, like, some kind of hints, but I think that he's right in the fact that the legacy automakers, at some level, were depending on these tax credits to incentivize purchase behavior. And part of this is like the political system, the broader culture, even the manufacturers are going, Hey, if we get rid of these EV tax credits, maybe we don't have to make as many. Maybe we can go back to making these gas or hybrid power vehicles. But I think where, where he stands as a differentiator, and any net new EV automaker does is they're building brands that are like they are fan favorite brands that can stand in their enthusiasts, that can stand in the face of the lack of EV incentives and still create increase, right? And that's where I think he's saying, like, that's the opportunity matrix for me, is I'm gonna still create raving fans. I know what social looks like. I know what creating a net new technology platform looks like. I'm gonna gain market share again, because I'm not competing with automakers that are relying on something outside of themselves to build brand. That's

Paul J Daly:

right. You know, if you think about that, rivian even scout on the way up. Slate is making a pass at it. But you know, they've

Kyle Mountsier:

all said, I'm telling you, they've all hit I'm starting to see it's crazy, like, literally didn't see a single ad on a social platform for any of those three for months, they're hitting me every

Paul J Daly:

day. Well, they're smart to do that with the incentives going away, because I think you're right on the money, and the fact that the brand hasn't, you know that will attract the drivers, not because of the EV platform, because, like, look, when you're looking at a brand like rivian, who has an r2 and r3 they the brand actually stands for something specific, right? Versus Buying like, you know, say, an EV blazer. Nothing against GM, the EV blazers, really cool car, but GM is about something much broader, right? Right? Yes. And usually if you you affiliate your I'm a GM person, right? Like, no one really says that. You might say, like, I'm a Silverado person, you know what I mean? Or I drive Cadillacs. Yeah, you're right, but, but no one's like, I'm a Chevy Blazer guy. You know it's like, but I'm an equinox person. That's all only Equinox. So I do think that there's a lot of blue sky in this for them, because they do focus on enthusiast brand mentality, and they build it. And so, you know, it is interesting. He said the folks we spend most energy fighting against in DC are actual car companies. I don't know who does someone fight against in DC, if you're a business right, like the other business interests, right? But I get what he's saying Right? Like these, actually, what he's saying in there is, like, these people don't want cars to be sold, which is not, I mean, no, they don't want them to be sold by you. Back to consumers, direct to consumers. They want a level playing field. So, I mean, I know there's multiple perspectives on this, but we'll we'll see. He seems a little little angry, but got a little charge under his belt, but he's not, I mean, got a really cool brand. The cars are gorgeous. They have either figured they are factoring they're making everybody have to get better, right? That's what good competitors do. Yep, keep fighting the fight, man. Bring them on. Speaking of bringing them on to bring on. Grog into a Tesla. I wonder if Elon and RJ are friends. By the way, I doubt it. Elon Musk has confirmed that Tesla vehicles will get a native dose of his irreverent AI chat bot grock starting next week at the latest, he said, merge. I've never heard Elon say that before. We'll see merging Tesla's in car computing power with conversational AI grock for the latest model from Musk's AI startup was just released. Tesla vehicles are going to run a smaller version of grok locally using their onboard computers. That's pretty cool. He previously teased grok integration, but had not set a firm timeline until now. This is coming amidst backlash after grok shared posts on X containing some anti semitic content before it got shut down and re recalibrated. We'll say he posted on X quote, Tesla will probably have the most amount of true usable inter inference compute on Earth, right? Start putting that in the cars,

Kyle Mountsier:

true usable inference, compute words that you just never thought explain that well, basically like they will have a ton of local compute power, or connected compute power to like other ecosystems. So compute is all about the number, the amount of data that's flowing in and out of any ecosystem and so that. So here's give me the fun version why you will be in Tesla. This is asking grock for buckle up buttercup, because here's the fun, turbocharged tale of while super cruising inside your Tesla like a sassy sidekick in a sci fi road trip movie picture this, it's a dark and gloomy storm of night in the Tesla HQ garage. Okay, maybe it was sunny California, but pajama sells. Elon Musk is chilling in his cyber chalk barking commands at the current voice assistant. Play some tunes. It responds with a bland robotic playing elevator music. Elon face bombs navigate to Mars. It glitches. Did you mean McDonald's frustration levels over 9000 look. Grock is just on point. I'm just telling you, right? Well,

Paul J Daly:

I saw a benchmark yesterday that grok four is the most intelligent AI model that is out there.

Kyle Mountsier:

It makes sense. I saw that the way he develops companies is totally different.

Paul J Daly:

It is and it's trained on the most real time. I mean, the access to x is, is a little stroke of brilliance. Look, I am super looking forward to having an actual localized AI voice companion in the car. I can't say it enough. I have never met a voice command like it. They're all terrible. They're all slow, they don't understand what I'm saying. They all certainly can't do the things I want them to do. It's like, Oh, I know the exact command I need. And now that Siri is so far behind in the AI voice was gone like all hope is gone, except for maybe everybody else can win. Unfortunately, the only way you're going to do this is if you have a Tesla like,

Kyle Mountsier:

you mean closed, vertical as ecosystem.

Paul J Daly:

That's exactly what I was thinking. That's exactly I don't know. Hey, if you have a Tesla or hold on, Nathan has a thought. He's typing in it as we speak, oh, the Tesla phone, that's never happening. I I think, I think the Tesla phone will happen if the Tesla phone happens, and you got to test the car, and you got grok, and you have Starlink, they're coming after Apple, and you have Starlink hard, and then they start processing payments and all that crap. And then they're like, let me take you to Mars. No big deal, but Tesla's a car company. Kyle,

Unknown:

yeah, right, yes,

Paul J Daly:

get out of it. Speaking of writing, Oh,

Kyle Mountsier:

I see what you did with that little homonym. There you go. Those cheerful messages on your Starbucks cup might not be as heartfelt as they seem. A push for personalized notes is raising questions about authentic. Authenticity and a lot of pressure on baristas. We've talked about this before. The new CEO, Brian Nichol, is trying to bring back some cozy in store vibes by reversing mobile heavy trends. The cup messages are now a standard feature and create human connection. But not all the employees are feeling so thrilled. The baristas are saying that it slows them down, especially during rush hours, and some report pressures from managers to comply. Some of them enjoy the creativity it's noted, but others feel like it's a task disguised as joy. One redditor shared, I was told I'd get a final warning if I didn't ride on the cups. Starbucks obviously disputes the claim.

Paul J Daly:

All right, I have a little personal tell here. Ready Give it to me. I brought a prop. It's okay. It's my trash can. All right, got it? Hold on. We got

Kyle Mountsier:

start. Oh, you got what do they say?

Paul J Daly:

Have a great day. Have a great day. So telling, enjoy with a smiley face. Okay, let's see. It's third Friday. Sure. I should have four of these in here.

Kyle Mountsier:

Oh, none of them. Hold on, nothing. Let

Paul J Daly:

me fix this one. Hold on. I'm gonna fix this one. Well, I'm almost there. You're almost there.

Kyle Mountsier:

Something, love, something, love, love people love something, you know?

Paul J Daly:

Oh, that was nice in the right more than cars. Oh, more than cars. See? That would have been personalized right there. And I pretty much wear the shirt every day. And then we got to enjoy Thursday, Friday. I've got four of these off one more by the end of today. I actually really enjoy it. Yeah, I enjoy, like, the little the little thing on the cup, actually, I started looking for it because sometimes they get actually clever those, those aren't as clever. We got a new Starbucks across the street. They're still trying to figure out how to get the thing rolling. So

Kyle Mountsier:

rolling. Well, here's, here's, what I would say is there is something visceral about getting something handwritten. I would say if 98% of the messages were exactly the same, and on 2% of your cups, you got something unique to you, right? Especially if you were a loyal customer, especially if there was something unique about your outfit, or the way that they had a conversation with you, or anything else like that, it would be really, really shocking and surprising and that that just little essence of handwritten doesn't matter if it's normalized across all of them. It's like when I say thank you at Chick fil A, and they say, My pleasure, that's normalized, but it still feels great. And I think that that's the culture moment that Starbucks is going to have. They're going to have to figure out, like, what's the pressure here? Is the pressure to create handcrafted notes, or to create handcrafted consistency, right? And that's, that's a totally different mechanism. I mean, you go on

Paul J Daly:

Reddit, right? And you're going to get the and you're gonna get the typical Reddit fodder. People, yes, what do you mean? They What do you mean they could get fired for not writing on the cup. It's like, what do you mean? They can get fired for not doing the job that the company says that this is what do you mean by that. It's just writing out a cup, right? Again, I think this translates into the service drive experience to dealers all across the country. Because I think some level of little surprise and delight that doesn't really cost anything. It just costs some intentionality and process could make a massive difference. Because you have all these opportunities of people coming in. I don't know what it would be, but a little gift, a little something with a handwritten card sitting in the cup holder when you know, instead of just, you know, leftover paper mat on the ground that, you know, says, Have a nice day, or a little coating of grease on the steering wheel from the technician that drove it out, like little handwritten note, I'm a huge fan, a little something. I'm a huge fan. It doesn't it's just not hard. What would you write on the cup? What would be your go to?

Kyle Mountsier:

That's a tough one, right? I would. It is a tough one, but I feel like it would be something about how they're going to go the rest of the day.

Paul J Daly:

Yes, right? Great one. Yeah. Enjoy is like, okay, that's like, the base level. Enjoy

Kyle Mountsier:

is very, like, insular to that moment, right? It's like, enjoy this, yep. But like, go, go, do good, right? Like, that would be

Paul J Daly:

Nathan. Nathan's, he's weighing in appreciate you as one. That's a good one, right? Like, make someone feel a little appreciated, yeah, Nathan's, for sure, that would be your yes, yeah, that's true. You

Kyle Mountsier:

know what I would write? You know what I would write? And I this is like a teaser for more than car Season Two. Okay, I

Unknown:

would write do good recklessly. Oh, that was tough to write, but that

Paul J Daly:

would get people fired up. I'm telling you right now I think do good. You could just shorten that up, do good, unless you had a little extra time you write the word recklessly in there. Look, I think that's a great final word for today. I don't want to give away the teaser, but look, you're gonna find out. But whatever you can do, do good recklessly. And guess what? Everything else will fall into place. We'll see you here tomorrow morning.

Unknown:

President, you're.

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Kyle Mountsier

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Paul J Daly

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