Mazda’s First EV, Impel Invests in Automotive Ventures Fund II, Major Stair Fail in China

Episode #1196: Today we’re talking about Mazda finally going all-in on EVs, Impel investing in the next wave of auto-tech innovation, and Chery’s viral stair-climb stunt that went downhill…literally.

We’ll be at Automobility LA at the LA Auto Show next Thursday, November 20 hosting the LA Auto Show Sessions. Thanks to our friends at Cars Commerce and Curbee for making it possible. 25% off registration with code MoreThanCars. https://laautoshow.com/me

Show Notes with links:

• After years of hesitation and a short-lived MX-30, Mazda is officially moving its EV plans forward with its first dedicated electric vehicle now in testing in California. This marks a pivotal shift in strategy as the automaker works to electrify its global lineup.
  • A prototype midsize electric crossover, resembling a smaller CX-90, was recently spotted near Mazda’s Irvine R&D center.
  • Built on the new Skyactiv EV Scalable Architecture, it’s Mazda’s first EV designed specifically for the U.S. market.
  • Production is slated for 2027, with U.S. sales expected in 2028.
  • Mazda is investing nearly $11 billion in electrification, but it has scaled back its EV sales target from 100% to 45%  to 25% by 2030.
• Impel is putting its money where its vision is by investing in Automotive Ventures’ Mobility Fund II, signaling a strong commitment to driving innovation in the auto retail space through early-stage tech.
  • The fund focus areas include AI, robotics, mobility, and industrial tech aimed at transforming how vehicles are sold and serviced.
  • The investment highlights Impel’s strategy to back technologies that boost dealership productivity and experience as they Impel bring their AI tools and vast dealership network to support startups within the fund.
  • Impel joins a group of forward-looking investors aiming to accelerate innovation that benefits dealers, OEMs, and consumers alike.
  • Michael Quigley (Impel): “Our investment... reflects our belief that meaningful transformation in automotive retail will be powered by early-stage innovation... We’re helping to accelerate progress across the entire industry.”
• Chinese automaker Chery attempted to recreate Land Rover’s legendary 999-step climb at Heaven’s Gate—but instead of a viral triumph, the stunt turned into a viral fail that forced a public apology.
  • Heaven’s Gate is a famous natural rock arch on Tianmen Mountain in China, reached by a steep staircase with 999 steps and often used in extreme stunts and marketing spectacles.
  • The Fulwin X3L SUV lost power mid-stunt, hit a railing, and rolled back into a fence.
  • A detached safety rope entangled the right wheel, causing the mishap.
  • Chery admitted to poor risk assessments and promised to compensate for damages and repair the area.
  • The X3L boasts a 422 hp range-extended powertrain and is marketed as off-road capable.

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.

Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/

Transcript

0:00

Good morning. It is Friday November 14, not Friday the 13th. Friday the 14th. This is the automotive State of the Union. I'm Paul J Daly. This is Kyle Mountsier. Today we're talking about Mazda and EVS and the China major fail for a Land Rover. Want to be Hold on, maybe, Can I Can I just say, when you have tech problems early in the morning it really you just got to get over it. I'm so sorry. It's gonna take me a minute to get over those two out, to get over it. It's been a thing that each of us deal with if, if you're used to listening to the pod. About 30 minutes earlier, we were ready. We were ready. Our equipment was not. The equipment was not we'll call road one day. I know our sorrows, but until then, we'll keep shipping content. Did you know today's show 1196 you're gonna have a couple tech problems when you're approaching 100 so I think overall, our percentage is pretty good. We're probably like 95% maybe 90% no tech problems? Yeah, I would give it like 97% once every three weeks. We have a big like, What the heck is going on once every three weeks? All right, we'll take that. We'll take that. We have our next webinar coming up next week, on November 19, optimizing profitability across multiple acquisition channels. Acquisition it's the name of the game right now. Everybody's talking about it. So we have Derek Hansen of the auto and drew Hall used car director at the Cloninger Auto Group to break it down. They have a purview on things across the board. They're doing things in the moment. You can get to this webinar, be there live, or get the recording by going to asotu.com, ASOTU, so you can be there, get all the information be better than your competitors and live happily ever after. What a value proposition. What a value proposition. Hey, you got to check out. We're going to be in LA now. We are thanks to our friends at cars commerce and at Kirby for making it possible. We're hanging out at the LA Auto Show, The automobility la day. If you want to be there, you should go to LA auto show.com, forward slash me. That's LA auto show.com. Forward slash me. Type in the code more than cars, you'll get 25% off, and you get to hang out with us. Probably drive some cool cars, meet some amazing people. We're going to be having interviews with people like the CEO of lucid, of volterra, of cars, commerce, Kirby, all these places you're not going to want to miss it. Did you check the weather yet for next week? It's going to be gorgeous. Is it like? Tell me gorgeous? 68 and sunny? Oh my gosh, that's beyond gorgeous. My next question is, am I going to be hot? No, no, 68 and Sunny is fantastic. LA is never hot. That's not never hot. That is a lie, not, it's for sure. No, San Diego's never hot. LA is never 90. Really, we're gonna fact check this one, because I feel like I've seen people like miserable hot in LA before, but I don't know, because it's 78 and they're like, why did we get up from Syracuse? Let's get to some news. After years of hesitation and a short lived MX 30, Mazda is officially moving its EV plans forward with its first dedicated EV now testing it was spotted in California, marking a pivotal shift in strategy as they're trying to electrify the lineup a little bit. Prototype mid size lecture crossover, resembling a smaller CX 90, was recently spotted near Mazda's Irvine R and D center, built on the new sky active EV, scalable architecture. It's their first EV, designed specifically for the US market, with production slated for 2027 and sales expected in 2028 so they still have a little ways to go. They're investing near nearly 11 billion in EV infrastructure, but they've scaled back the ambitious plans, like everybody else except Toyota, and their target was, we're going to be 100% EV by 2030 I mean 45% I mean maybe more like 25% so we'll see where it lands. Here's a quote from CTO ryushi umashita says we're confident that our EV products will be real Mazda products. Cool, yeah. I mean, for Mazda, it's not a huge deal yet, because they have such good gas mileage and they don't have large trucks, so they weren't ever in the consideration for, like, you know, anything? They rule standards and all that stuff, emissions problems or anything like that. They have a tight relationship now with Toyota, so you can understand why they would be taking a similar measured approach. What's interesting, and this is from a former Mazda guy, is Mazda was actually one of the earliest companies to introduce an EV into the US in the early 90s, couch, those plans went to prioritizing technology around the actual engine. I still, I still am wondering whether or not they can get some mileage out of an eV. It's, it's kind of strange. The first crack at it was like 100 miles of range which the leaf had. And. 2000 10s. Oh, my God. You know 100 miles total range? Yeah, that was the, that was the MS 30. I feel like now that didn't sell, but I feel like now there's so much battery technology that's so far where it was five years ago. I feel like anybody should be able to make an EV that gets 300 miles of range, yeah, if they want to, they'll do fine. They'll do fine. Yeah, you're a Mazda guy. I feel like a Mazda EV would be great for you. Oh, I would love it. Yeah. I mean, the technology is great, the drive style is great. It's just they haven't needed it. You know, you have such great gas mileage, and people love your cars, and you're growing market share. Why change? Yeah. I mean, I feel like the design looks great, and Mazda just naturally, I think, has a great user interface for all their stuff. It's one of the things you love so much about it. And you pair that with some EV technology, it could be a very that's a Zoom, zoom moment. If you know what I mean, you'll find me right there. Let's move on. This is an interesting one. We rarely cover news like this, because maybe it rarely happens. But industry partner impel is putting its money where its vision is by investing in automotive ventures mobility fund, two signaling a strong commitment to driving innovation in auto retail through early stage tech. The fund is focusing on areas including AI, robotics, mobility and Industrial Tech, looking to transform how vehicles are sold and serviced. Investment, also highlighting their strategy impels to back technologies that boost productivity and dealerships and experience as well. Impel bringing their AI tools and network to support startups within the fund. So it seems like good synergy. You know, they already have, you know, if you know Steve Greenfield and his funds, a lot of forward looking investors that are already in the industry. Michael Quigley from impel says our investment reflects our belief that meaningful transformation in automotive retail will be powered by early stage innovation, and we're helping accelerate progress across the industry. Steve Greenfield, you know Him, you love him. He says, we're not just investing in startups. We're shaping the future of how vehicles are sold, service and experience. So there's two side notes on this. One is that we invited Steve Greenfield to be on the show this morning, but he found another stray cat and is taking it to the vet. Actually, what a guy, I believe the word he used was caught, caught. He caught another cat off to the vet and to where we said, I need more details on that. And he said, I'll try to get a video. It's unbelievable. So the other piece of this is you've seen impel over the last six years. One, they changed their name from Spin car to impel. They acquired one, a small startup in a Georgian company to enhance their AI communications ability. And then they acquired outsell for leveraging big data. They're thinking about, how do we build a network ecosystem of early stage startups and acquire net new technology? And thesis, and my, my thought for this is like, hey, why not? If you're a growing international company. Impel is international. Many people don't know that. I think they're in like 40 or something countries. Wow. I don't realize they were in that many Exactly. Wow. And so when you're thinking that broadly investing in in tech startups makes a ton of sense, because you know what can happen when the right tech startups get together, that's right, and they're right here in Syracuse. I mean, their building is about two miles from where I'm sitting, so Wow, very cool. I should go knock up. Be like, I'm long time friends. I was the early adopter of that technology. Back in 2012 or 13 at our dealerships. I think it was like second year, first year that there they were out, and then I was actually, I helped build the company that the Georgian company that they, that they later acquired. So it's always cool to see that, speaking of being everywhere, this one actually takes a little close to home, because we just drove a bunch of Chinese vehicles. We're in Kazakhstan a few weeks ago. So this really caught our attention. All right, we're gonna give you the little basic overview, and then we're gonna watch a video. But Chinese automaker cherry, which we saw a lot of Kazakhstan, attempted to recreate Land Rovers legendary 999 step climb at Heaven's Gate. Many people know about this, but instead of a viral triumph, the stunt turned into a viral fail that forced a massive public apology and is gonna have them spending dollars they the the full win X 3l SUV lost power mid stunt, hit a railing and rolled back into a fence a detached safety rope and tangled the right wheel causing the mishap. Cherry admitted to poor risk assessments and promised to compensate for damages to repair the area. They market this vehicle as a range extended power train, and is marketed as off road capable. Let's, let's check out exactly how it went down. Here it goes, vehicles bumping inside. I don't know. Is it halfway up? You think? Not even, yeah, not even halfway up. And it just like backwards. And then. Yeah, like a, I mean, that is like a historic fence. Well, it looks like a historic fence. It looks like this fence on both sides is made of stone. And if you're just listening 1000 steps, or 999 steps, it literally goes up so high. And this is on Tiananmen mountain in China. It's like a 45 degree angle, and it goes up so far that it disappears into the clouds. So like, you literally can't see the top of it. Let's do we have the Range Rover one now the Range Rover, I bet, I bet cherry was recording this version, like the high production version. But you know, obviously you're not releasing the yet, but Range Rover, you have to go watch the whole video. We'll link it up in the show notes. But notes. But watch the end of it, because the whole thing is like intense, where they're showing the 45 degree angle. You have people sitting at a table, like, if this goes wrong, the driver could die. Basically show the ending. Let's roll the ending. So it's this Range Rover, beautifully shot, driving up ridiculous steep incline on stairs. I mean, that is a steep and now he's disappearing into the clouds, where you can no longer see the Range Rover, and we're at the top, and it's quiet, and it just launches up over the last couple steps. Obviously, very exciting. You know, we were driving so many Chinese vehicles when we were in Kazakhstan. And I thought at first, this was the tank. There's a brand called tank, look it up, right, right? But this is, like, one of those things China's showing up and saying, like, No, our vehicles can compete with the best vehicles in the world. You know, they had a mishap. I don't know if that's because of the vehicles capability or just the safety ropes got in the way because they weren't tensioned properly. So they're definitely, I don't know you think they're going to retry it. I think is this the kind of thing where it's like, like, from, from an honor standpoint, they have to retry it.