Lithia and the Queen, EV Home Charging Woes, KIA’s Swivel Seat EV

The Automotive Troublemaker w/ Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier

It’s Thursday and we have a full charge as we talk about Lithia’s entry into Great Britain. We also cover JD Power’s new report indicating waning satisfaction with home charging, as well as KIA’s new EV SUV with swivel seats. Yep.

• Lithia Motors has become the third public auto retail with holdings in the United Kingdom, joining Penske and Group 1, with its recently announced purchase of Jardine Motors Group which includes 40 new-vehicle franchise points in the UK, including luxury brands including Aston Martin, Porsche and BMW, according to Lithia CEO BryanDeBoer said.
  • According to Britain's Sky News, the cost of the deal was between $361-482M and it will add around $2B in annual revenue to Lithia which already jumped 24 percent to $28.23 billion
  • During an interview DeBoer called the deal "more affordable than what we typically find ... in the United States” and continued "... more importantly, it gives us a foundation to grow more in the United Kingdom, which is helping us drive towards our $50 billion target for 2025
• Customer satisfaction with their EV home charging solutions have taken a shock as the JD Power 2023 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Home Charging Study indicates a noticeable decline due to a combination of slow charging speeds, rising electricity rates, and lack of consumer education on charging programs
  • Satisfaction is measured across eight factors: fairness of retail price; cord length; size of charger; ease of winding/storing cable; cost of charging; charging speed; ease of use; and reliability.
  • When factoring cost, the index dropped more than 30 points
  • New EV owners were one of the primary reasons of the drop in scores due to charging speed of installed level 2 chargers
  • Only 51% of those surveyed were aware of programs that helped with the cost of install and charging costs
• After weeks of teased photos, we finally got a first look at the first EV in the 3 row segment with the flagship Kia EV9 that features an aggressive design, three rows of seating plus cargo space, and yes, the middle row seats swivel
  • Built on Hyundai Motor Group’s 800V E-GMP platform, the release says the vehicle features “technology for life” design philosophy throughout that “promotes intuitive interactions between humans and machines.”
  • More performance details will be released next month however the design is very close to the concept presented last year but many tech and convenience features like generous screens and charging points throughout will be standard
  • How about those 180 degree swivel seats in the center to bring us back to the 80s.

Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier
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