It’s About More Than Cars, EVs Hit Record Share, Fallon Goes To Detroit

Episode #1143: Today, we pause and reflect on the state of the union, in light of September 11th and the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

This industry is about More Than Cars, and its our job to carry that light and that hope forward in how we serve our employees, customers and our communities.

• ​​US EV sales hit another milestone in August pushing EVs to a record 9.9% share of new car sales. With tax credits ending this month, Q3 is on pace to be the strongest EV quarter in US history.
• August EV sales hit 146,332, up from 9.1% share in July, while theverage EV price: $57,245 — up 3.1% from July, flat year-over-year.
• Incentives averaged $9,000 per vehicle, equal to 16% of ATP.
• Tesla’s market share fell to 38%, its lowest ever, as rivals surged.
• Cox analyst Stephanie Valdez Streaty: “The one constant in the automotive business is that fresh product sells well. The market is now flooded with all-new, fresh EVs from mainstream competitors – consumers have more choice than ever.”
  
  
  
• Ford is taking center stage in late-night TV as Jimmy Fallon tapes The Tonight Show in Detroit for the first time ever.
  • The Detroit Opera House, built in 1922, will host Fallon’s one-night show on September 15.
  • Ford is in its fifth year partnering with Fallon and NBC.
  • Fallon previously test-drove a Mustang GT with Jim Farley and filmed skits promoting the F-150 Lightning.
  • Ford-backed segments have included everything from a parody music video to puppies predicting the Kentucky Derby.

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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Transcript

Paul J Daly: 0:00

And if you're like me, you probably woke up this morning already carrying a little more weight than usual. 24 years ago, we watched the world change in a single morning. We all remember where we were. We remember the confusion and the sorrow, and we remember the unity, the feeling of being human, first, of looking out for strangers, of coming together in a time when it would have been easier to shut down, but this year, the weight is a little heavier, because yesterday, we were confronted with another tragic loss, this time, an assassination in our own backyard. Charlie Kirk, a man known for his ideas and convictions, was killed, and while there were many views about who he was or what he stood for, we want to be clear, this isn't about politics. It's about humanity. It's about the cost we all bear when we lose the ability to connect with one another, especially across lines of disagreement. And I'll tell you, I'm a feeler. So is Kyle, yeah. And in moments like these, they hit hard. But I also believe these feelings can be fuel for meaningful work if we let them. So I'd like to share a message that I sent to our entire team at more than cars yesterday, and I hope it reiterates what we care about, what we believe in and what we believe in for this industry and the part that we play in our society and in our culture. Here's what I wrote, good morning everyone. If you know me enough, you know when it comes to people, I'm a feeler, I'll do my best to channel those feelings into a lane that we can all align behind as a group, yes, to build a great company that provides for every single one of our current needs and the needs of those who depend on us, but also I hope you have and continue to see that my heart as a feeler is to truly contribute goodness, truth, love and hope into one another, into our community and into our society. It is the underlying motivation for why I started as an entrepreneur back in 2003 that motivation has only grown and focused over the past two decades. I pray that trend continues, and I truly hope every single person that calls more than cars home is able to connect our work to that contribution. Yesterday's assassination of Charlie Kirk weighs very heavy on me this morning, and I know there are many views on his ideas and convictions, and there's space for all of that in their appropriate venues. This morning, though, I'm compelled to remind us that the work we're doing, the more than cars, mantra that we hold up, is truly meaningful, especially in moments like these. I believe that cultivating true connection between one person and another, especially between who who, between people who disagree on things is one of the most potent antidotes to the separation, angst and loneliness that people often feel and that these types of connection bring us back to the core of our humanity. Yes, we run campaigns and events and create design engaging content strategies. We analyze numbers, manage financial pressures and benefits, and dare I even say the word Asana? If you know, you know. However, I truly believe that the sum of all these things is something much greater it must be when I consider the best vast variety of personalities and views, even inside our own company, all of the hospitality, kindness and care that is on display between one another on a daily basis. When I consider these things, I can truly say we're a living, breathing example of what I'd like to see more in our world. So as we go about our work today and in the future, I hope you can see a glimpse of what I see when I consider what we are investing into the world that is more than and I hope it motivates you to contribute goodness, truth, hope and love through Yes, the auto industry, I'm grateful for each and every one of you, and I'm committed to seeing us be more than together. So yeah, we just felt like we need to start the show that way. I want

Kyle Mountsier: 3:59

to start with one. I want to thank you for leading us, leading our industry well in like taking these moments, taking these these, these times where we need to slow down just a minute and consider humanity. It's important for me, it's important for our team. It's important for the entire industry. I think it's important for the world yesterday. You know, it's it's so interesting because at breakfast yesterday or lunch, actually, at lunch yesterday, was sitting down with a dealer and a couple other business people, and there was kind of this realization in the room that we were all going to fly on 911 today. And there was this just brief moment where we all just sat in that and what was so cool was right after that, one of the dealers had done the best idea contest, and they got to share with the room how they were about to give away $100,000 to 16 classrooms across their city. Yeah, and the like, the pairing of this weighty moment, but understanding that, like this industry also has this such unique ability to connect people across divide is it's so important what we are doing. You know, if you sell a car to someone, if you service someone's car, the relationship is that there's never a point where that political thing or that race thing, or that whatever cultural narrative is trying to trying to separate that never comes into play, and it's a place where we can really see humanity across the table for what it is. And I think that in these moments where we also, two hours later got the text, someone was standing there and got the text about Charlie Kirk, and we sat in that moment once again, and the next thing we were talking about was actually the more than cars show, and it's, I didn't even realize it in the moment, but I think we crave this level of redemption in society so much that our only pivot from moments of tragedy is where to Find hope. That's right. I think that as an industry, if we can be looked to in these moments, for when tragedy hits, when hard times hit, whether that be, you know, localized, individualized hard times of I got in a total accident, or these, these much more, these much broader things that we can be looked to as a place for hope. I think that's something that we can all look around and know that we have the opportunity to be to this culture, in this society.

Paul J Daly: 6:51

Man, that's that's a beautiful insight. And I think you're right on the money we talk about, like, can hope come from inside the automotive industry? And I think the resounding yes is something that we believe deeply in. And you know, they say it's very difficult to to harbor feelings towards someone who has different beliefs in you when you know the names of their children and you know the needs of their family, like their practical needs. And I think the auto industry is one of those where we're face to face with the practical needs of our communities every day. And there is no shortage of strong views, political views, views on faith within this industry, and that's no secret, but I will say there I don't think there is another concentration of professionals, of people who care on the front lines, all the way up through the executive ranks, of those who are willing to build bridges and to serve one another, regardless of what those views are. And we could, you and I could go on for an hour on the list of people who have very differing views about life and faith and politics, who we've built close, intimate friendships with based on this, this collective humanity. So we hope we can sow some of that, more, more of that into the industry. We hope we that we can encourage you to do the same and realize the place that you have and the responsibility that you have in the midst of all the other things that we talk about, in the midst of all the business and the technology, which is so important, because the opportunity doesn't exist unless we do those, do those things well, but we hope that we can all remember that a little deeply and lean into that more than cars mindset and movement a little bit more today, knowing that this, this really is something that

Kyle Mountsier: 8:30

matters. One more little story from last night. I was sitting with Sean Hopper, and you may know the story I'm about to tell, but he said he would walked up to the lobby at the win and was checking in for NAMAD and you and Erroll and someone else. I don't, I don't know, who were standing there, and you were explaining what ASOTU, and more uniquely, more than cars, was. And I think he said that he overheard a moment where you said to the person, it's so intense because people actually wear the movement they wear, they believe something about it, that it says something about them. And this person said to you, no, there's no way that's crazy. And he walks up with the wristband. Love people more than you love cars on and goes, no, no, it's a wearable.

Paul J Daly: 9:14

Yeah, it was. There was actually his name is Emmanuel Boykin. He goes by email, and I just connected with him at the Detroit airport. I haven't seen him in 15 years. I used to repair wheels for him when he owned two Saturn dealers in Syracuse, but now he lives in Detroit, and he is a F and I vendor

Kyle Mountsier: 9:32

that's so wild. So I think, like, what one thing that we want, we want everybody to know that's a part of this community that listens to this podcast, that might piece this grab, this piece of content that ever comes in contact with us. Yes, we believe in this deeply. And yes, this is a it's a brand. It's a thing we put on our shirts. There's some coolness to it, but we hope that if it connects with you, you take some ownership in it. It's not just ours to hold. This is something that we want to give back to the industry. This mental. Reality that says there's hope in the industry, and there's hope in the giving back and the connections and the way that we serve our customers and our employees. And there's hope in the statement love people more than cars. And when Paul says more than blank, it just it's a statement that you can latch onto and you can grab hold of and and prolific proliferate in your realm of influence, that's right. And as that happens, as these little these places of Hope Happen all around our country, people will look to the industry for more than just what their next car is.

Unknown: 10:34

That's what our belief is, and we can only do a good job at that if we do a good job at the business side. That's what gives us the opportunity? So we're going to talk about some of the business side, like we always do, and we hope that you'll follow along with everything we're doing, because that's, you know, it's not just touchy feely hope that's the foundation, but all the stuff on top of it is technology and best practices and people and culture and leadership, right? So we're going to talk about a couple stories here to round out the

Paul J Daly: 10:59

show today. Thanks for being with us for this first 10 minutes. We just minutes. We just felt the need to share those things, because if we can't share the things that truly matter, then what are we even doing here? All right, but it wouldn't be a show unless we talked about EV so let's do that us. EV sales hit another milestone in August, pushing EVs to a record 9.9% share of new car sales with tax credits ending this month, q3 is on pace to be the strongest EV quarter in history. US history. August, you. EV sales hit 146,000 over 146 up from a 9.1 share in July, we're at 9.9 now average EV price, $57,245 which is also up 3.1% from July and flat year over year. Incentives average$9,000 per vehicle, equal to 16% of the price. Tesla's market share fell to 38% its lowest ever as its rivals surged and Cox analyst Stephanie Valdez streety says, quote, The one constant in the automotive business is that fresh product sells well. The market is now flooded with all new fresh EVs from mainstream competitors, and consumers have more choice than ever,

Kyle Mountsier: 12:12

and that Tesla hasn't changed much I can I remember sitting, we were sitting at MRC, and we were looking, we were staring down the barrel of like a 73% US market share with Tesla, this was only a few short years ago. It's kind of wild. I mean, the other one that's wild is to continue to see the EV sales growth with the price being absolutely obscene. The fact that 10% of new car buyers are affording that $57,000 average price from an EV and a lot of times a lot higher, is still staggering to me.

Paul J Daly: 12:43

Well, actually, actually, if we think about that for a second, if the incentive is not, does that price include the incentive or No, what's the ATP?

Kyle Mountsier: 12:51

Oh, that's average transaction price. So it may have been, it may actually be closer to the

Paul J Daly: 12:56

it's a little cheaper because the new car price, they have that cool little tracker on the auto News homepage, and this morning that's at like 49,000 something, something. So there's still a tad cheaper.

Kyle Mountsier: 13:06

Just interesting. It's so much cheaper. But we may. We're going to see all of those incentives go away, so we'll see. I mean, I think September is still going to be ripping really well for EVs. We'll see what happens as we get into October, and whether the pace is able to keep up at any level of of consistency. All right, going

Paul J Daly: 13:23

to do a segue. Nathan, get it ready. Speaking of keeping up with pace,

Kyle Mountsier: 13:32

Ford is taking center stage in get this late night TV as Jimmy Fallon is taping the Tonight Show in Detroit for the first time ever, the Detroit opera house built in 1920 2022 will host Fallon's one night show on September 15. That's going to be cool. It's coming up. Ford is in its fifth year, partnering with Fallon and NBC found previously test drove a Mustang, GT with Jim Farley and film skits promoting the f1 50 lightning Ford back segments have included everything from a parody music video to puppies predicting the Kentucky Derby, and this just after they are releasing a whole new brand effort across all of their stuff. So, yeah,

Unknown: 14:12

in Detroit, this is great. I mean, we love seeing when the auto industry makes its way into pop culture. Jimmy Fallon is obviously one of our favorites. You know, we have our own Tonight Show version that we did, and he's just one of the most likable people in the world. So I think Ford's doing a really smart thing by tying with him. They're gonna have special guests that they haven't released, but they say have deep Detroit roots. I have a feeling we might see Eminem on the show. I don't know. Did you ever see that when? When he did the collab with Ford, but they did that little skit, the song, junk in my frunk.

Kyle Mountsier: 14:43

Yes, yo junk in my front is amazing. Yes, absolutely, yeah. And, I mean, yeah. So the the brand refresh actually launched yesterday, so this is like five days after. It makes a lot of sense to bring Jimmy Fallon, who's been a part of the Ford brand for a while, back into that. So I. Yeah, I'm excited to watch it. It's Hey,

Unknown: 15:01

and if you're a Ford dealer out here, I think this is a great opportunity for you to lean into this national level attention and get little Jimmy Fallon cardboard cutouts, put them around your showroom, do some little, you know, do some little skit videos with it on, you know, you shoot it on a phone and get it out there. Opportunities like this don't come around very often, and I think the savviest dealers will take advantage of it. And just like draft off this for spending a couple of bucks on bringing

Paul J Daly: 15:27

Jimmy Fallon to Detroit. That's right. I like it. I All right. Roll it. Roll it. Roll it. Kyle is finishing up his day at the CM, friends and families. I'm holding it down over here. Listen, we hope you will join us in what we're doing. Go to asotu.com, sign up for the email. Moving close to the more than cars mentality. We're truly making a difference. You.