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Speaker 1: I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is

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Speaker 1: Hot Pursuit.

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Speaker 2: All right.

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Speaker 3: On this episode, we are focusing in on one.

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Speaker 4: Brand, Laser Focus on Aston Martin, and this is really

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Speaker 4: a celebration. Now we're going to have some critiques, but

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Speaker 4: it's all out of love, right.

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Speaker 3: It's a brand that we love and you probably love.

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Speaker 3: I think everyone loves Aston Martin. But there are important

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Speaker 3: issues from the technology, to the price, to the business

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Speaker 3: viability of an independent sports car maker in this day

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Speaker 3: and age that we're going to talk about with a

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Speaker 3: former dealer.

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Speaker 4: My big question, and I've asked Aston Martin this is

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Speaker 4: I can't figure out why haven't they made profits. I mean,

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Speaker 4: they're not quite profitable yet, so I really want to

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Speaker 4: dig into.

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Speaker 3: Why that is. I want to say before we dive

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Speaker 3: into our interview with Steve Sirio, who was selling these

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Speaker 3: cars for like twenty four years. Yeah, I want to

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Speaker 3: hear what our listeners think about Aston Martin because I

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Speaker 3: assume that we all love it, but I don't really know.

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Speaker 3: And we have an email address. What is it.

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Speaker 4: It's Hot Pursuit at Bloomberg dot net. Hot Pursuit at

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Speaker 4: Bloomberg dot net. And also I kind of want to

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Speaker 4: know about the James Bond thing, like, does anybody still

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Speaker 4: care that James Bond and Aston Martin worth thing or

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Speaker 4: is that really in the past?

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Speaker 2: Right?

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Speaker 3: My question is, if you could have any Aston Martin,

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Speaker 3: and I'm sure most people would like to have one,

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Speaker 3: which one would you take? Right? Would it be the

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Speaker 3: dB five of Goldbingers? Would it be I like the

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Speaker 3: sort of Mustang shaped advantage from the eighties? Yeah, okay,

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Speaker 3: let's jump into our interview right now with former Boston

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Speaker 3: Aston Martin dealer Steve Sireo.

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Speaker 4: Once you were, you know, fully entrenched in Aston Martin, Steve,

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Speaker 4: what was it like working with the company, working with England,

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Speaker 4: working as a dealer, and how did what you see

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Speaker 4: effect where they are now? And I'm asking that with

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Speaker 4: the context of of course, Acid Martin had their IPO

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Speaker 4: in twenty eighteen. They haven't been profitable since we've seen

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Speaker 4: this is now their fourth CEO since twenty twenty, so

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Speaker 4: there's a lot of executive turnover. We know they have

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Speaker 4: cash problems, all of the things that you know you

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Speaker 4: can read about in Bloomberg Intelligence. Can you give us

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Speaker 4: some context about what you saw when you were working

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Speaker 4: with Acid Martin. Compared to where we are today.

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Speaker 5: The pleasure of getting involved when I did was that

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Speaker 5: it was a very small company. It was bigger than

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Speaker 5: Mom and popa it wasn't much bigger. That's in terms

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Speaker 5: of management in the UK. You know, Ford had a

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Speaker 5: great hand in getting the dB seven built, getting you know,

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Speaker 5: the first Gen Vanquished done, the first Gen V eight,

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Speaker 5: dB steven Vantage and then dB nine and at that

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Speaker 5: time a fellow the name of Bob Dover was leading

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Speaker 5: the company.

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Speaker 2: Ian Callum was the designer.

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Speaker 5: I called that sort of the glory days, and I

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Speaker 5: was lucky enough to be part of what was a

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Speaker 5: real fun two way street. I mean you could pick

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Speaker 5: up the phone get Dover on the line or somebody

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Speaker 5: working with him if there was any concern, if there

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Speaker 5: are production problems, if there were paint problems in the

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Speaker 5: car when they got delivered. I mean I remember having

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Speaker 5: a fellow the name of Bill Donnelly who was working

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Speaker 5: under Bob at the time, who I was very close

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Speaker 5: to end up, you know, doing a dealer visit with

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Speaker 5: me here in Boston, and we ended up getting a

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Speaker 5: couple of cars out of a container and they were

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Speaker 5: a mess. They were left outside before the they were

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Speaker 5: packed in a container and they were probably driven on

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Speaker 5: a muddy road and he was aghast. And and then

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Speaker 5: you know, at that time, you could you could make

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Speaker 5: the argument, you could.

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Speaker 2: Make the comment.

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Speaker 5: I was like, listen, this is what we're dealing with

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Speaker 5: on on, you know, sort of on the ground here

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Speaker 5: in the States, and you could work through problems and

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Speaker 5: they were very receptive. Warrant t was great. I mean,

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Speaker 5: the whole thing was really buzzing. And you know, being

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Speaker 5: part of that Premiere you know group at Ford, they

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Speaker 5: had deep pockets. They could get into development of cars.

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Speaker 5: I mean when when the Vanquish was launched, I remember

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Speaker 5: the going to Detroit and seeing the prototype car and

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Speaker 5: bringing a couple of clients, and you know that was

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Speaker 5: like the Marin a five fifty Marinello beat her. I

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Speaker 5: mean that was the car, and you could argue which

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Speaker 5: was more fun to drive. I mean the Marinello is

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Speaker 5: no slouch and is highly regarded today, and I think

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Speaker 5: you know, the Vanquish was It's a flawed car with

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Speaker 5: the wrong gearbox, but it was it was a record breaker.

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Speaker 5: I mean for Aston Martin, so I I was there

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Speaker 5: when management had things tight and they were really listening

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Speaker 5: to all of the dealers on the ground all over

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Speaker 5: the world. And then you come into the era of

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Speaker 5: doctor Betts was a complete maniac, you know, and I

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Speaker 5: don't say that with any love. I mean, uh, everybody

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Speaker 5: was worthless and weak compared to him. And there's nothing

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Speaker 5: worse than an engineer running an automotive company because he

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Speaker 5: had no sense of sales, he had no sense of balance.

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Speaker 5: He was German, and I mean that in the worst way.

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Speaker 5: That he wasn't listening and he tried to grow the

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Speaker 5: company in a direction as an autonomous leader, and the

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Speaker 5: mythsteps were massive. I mean, he believed that the Repeat

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Speaker 5: was a was a great two plus two and it wasn't.

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Speaker 5: It was a hatchback because he didn't you know, he

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Speaker 5: would not listen to anybody about the back seats not

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Speaker 5: being big enough.

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Speaker 4: I remember wedging myself into the back seats of the

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Speaker 4: Repeat when it came out.

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Speaker 5: The signet, which was an absolute flop, which was that

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Speaker 5: you know, rebadge Toyota, which they were going to.

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Speaker 3: Just why did they do that? So all of the

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Speaker 3: other cars up till now and the Repeat. I also

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Speaker 3: loved the back seats were too small for I picked.

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Speaker 4: Up the backseat is theoretical, yes.

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Speaker 3: But that's the case with a lot of two plus

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Speaker 3: two's right. The DV twelve, for example, the dB twelve

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Speaker 3: today that we tested Hannah, the twenty twenty four car,

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Speaker 3: the back seats are useless except for you know.

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Speaker 2: But dB doesn't have four doors doors.

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Speaker 3: But the IQ or whatever it was called, the signet, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: why that said they make a little smart car.

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Speaker 5: Why well, it was the European regulations for miles per

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Speaker 5: gallon across the border of your cars, I guess. I

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Speaker 5: remember standing with the designer who it was the first

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Speaker 5: time the car was launched to us, and a handful

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Speaker 5: of it went in the room and I forget who

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Speaker 5: it was at the time.

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Speaker 2: I think his name was Wilson.

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Speaker 5: He was brought in from Harley Davidson in Europe to

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Speaker 5: help run sales. And he said, what do you think

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Speaker 5: of this? And I said, you shouldn't make it. And

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Speaker 5: he looked at me like, what are you talking about?

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Speaker 5: And he goes, wouldn't this be the perfect car for

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Speaker 5: the wife of somebody buying a brand new acid Martin?

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Speaker 5: I said, no, range over would be the perfect car

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Speaker 5: for a wife if she's not into driving. And he said,

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Speaker 5: well what about students? And I just shook my head

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Speaker 5: at him and I said, where are you going to

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Speaker 5: in Athens or Rome or where do you.

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Speaker 2: Need this smaller car? And he said, well it's green.

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Speaker 5: I said, it's not green because it has leather seat

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Speaker 5: and everything he brought up, nobody had ever had a

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Speaker 5: round table.

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Speaker 2: Discussion with him.

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Speaker 5: This was obviously coming down from Bets, and he was

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Speaker 5: just aping what Bets was saying. So you know, that

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Speaker 5: was a massive disaster, the one seventy seven. They never

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Speaker 5: let journalists drive the car because they never had the

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Speaker 5: car sorted out, which led to the puking of the

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Speaker 5: Vulcan on the public. I mean, the Vulcan is a

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Speaker 5: terrible car. Do didn't have an emergency break in it.

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Speaker 5: It was meant to be a track car only, So

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Speaker 5: you have all of these things that set up failure

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Speaker 5: going out of the Bets period A.

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Speaker 4: It sounds like what you're saying is somewhere along the way,

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Speaker 4: Aston Martin as a company and as a brand lost

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Speaker 4: touch with what it was with its soul and and

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Speaker 4: lost touch with listening to what dealers are saying people

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Speaker 4: want and will want to buy. Is that what you're saying?

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Speaker 4: And then also going into the Andy Palmer era, how

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Speaker 4: did Andy? I mean, obviously he's he's so he's not German,

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Speaker 4: so he's we're back to the Brits. And now we've

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Speaker 4: got you know, of course Adrian hallmart coming in also

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Speaker 4: British walk us through this this part of the evolution,

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Speaker 4: you hit.

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Speaker 5: The nail on the head where they just stopped listening

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Speaker 5: and they became dictatorial.

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Speaker 2: Is that the right word it was?

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Speaker 5: It became the two way street became a one way

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Speaker 5: street that you kind of had the privilege to drive on,

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Speaker 5: and all of the dealers became worthless and week and

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Speaker 5: we weren't doing our job. And this is also the

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Speaker 5: company that stopped making manual transmission cars during that period really,

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Speaker 5: which is what kept the company different. You know, you could,

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Speaker 5: you could, you could get a portion of a manual transmission,

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Speaker 5: but you couldn't get anything else. And if you wanted

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Speaker 5: a grand touring car, they stopped doing that. So going

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Speaker 5: into the Andy Palmer days, now again you have a

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Speaker 5: what was Andy's expertise then? I think transmissions. He was

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Speaker 5: going to be the guy that was going to you know,

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Speaker 5: change the production and bring up quality control, and he

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Speaker 5: would tell you everything you wanted to hear about that

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Speaker 5: none of it really changed.

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Speaker 2: I mean it kind of did.

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Speaker 5: And you know, Palmer's greatest act for Aston Martin was

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Speaker 5: keeping the sales flat and then leaving with a thirty

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Speaker 5: million dollar goals an umbrella when he left, when they

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Speaker 5: came out with their IPO, which we all know is

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Speaker 5: at three percent of whatever that I think could two

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Speaker 5: percent of what the original price was. I went from

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Speaker 5: waiving an Aston Martin flag, you know, for many years

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Speaker 5: being in the top five dealers in the country. Then

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Speaker 5: they expanded the dealer group and that got to be

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Speaker 5: too big and they put some of the wrong people

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Speaker 5: in again because they wanted to grow, and they went

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Speaker 5: from hand to your point. Aston Martin kept getting voted

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Speaker 5: the coolest company, the coolest brand in the UK.

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Speaker 2: In the mid odds.

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Speaker 4: I believe it.

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Speaker 5: And you know, and you come out with the Daniel

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Speaker 5: Craig movies and the DBS being the star of those movies,

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Speaker 5: and you couldn't have gotten more positive press, and the

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Speaker 5: DBS was such a great car.

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Speaker 2: And then they just they just was like, well now

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Speaker 2: we're gonna now we're gonna deal with.

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Speaker 5: A higher volume of car and we want to do

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Speaker 5: the same numbers. They kept gunning, and the edict was

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Speaker 5: always we want to be England's Ferrari. And you know

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Speaker 5: you're you're closer to being you know, Morgan than you

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Speaker 5: are a Ferrari with everything you've got going on, and

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Speaker 5: they had it.

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Speaker 3: With the exception of design. I mean, we have to

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Speaker 3: give credit to Henrik Fisker and Iam Callen. I mean,

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Speaker 3: obviously the glory the real glory days were the dB

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Speaker 3: four and the dB five. But then those two guys

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Speaker 3: made some beautiful cars, and to their credit, they offered

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Speaker 3: a manual transmission and advantage at a time when no

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Speaker 3: one else and everyone else was stopping, so they did

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Speaker 3: some things right. I remember the vantage had really great

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Speaker 3: steering at a time like real hydraulicsys steering when everyone

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Speaker 3: else was going to electric. So for a while they

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Speaker 3: were making some good moves in the two thousands.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, no, I mean it was through the point when

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Speaker 5: they started misstepping, and really the the repeat was kind

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Speaker 5: of the first misstep in terms of what it could

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Speaker 5: have been. It's funny you bring up Fisker because I

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Speaker 5: was reading in the papers about how this company has again,

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Speaker 5: you know, barely treading water. And Heinrich, insider sort of

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Speaker 5: baseball here, would take credit for designs that Ian did

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Speaker 5: before Heinrich got to the company.

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Speaker 2: If you want to know that personality.

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Speaker 5: He took credit for a mid engine car that Ian

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Speaker 5: designed that very few people know about within Aston Martin.

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Speaker 5: And he took that because nobody knew about it. He

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Speaker 5: said it was his idea. And I've never seen Ian

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Speaker 5: so upset when this got back to him. And he

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Speaker 5: also took credit for the Vank, which was Ian's baby.

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Speaker 5: I have the sketch still in my office of the

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Speaker 5: original sort of silhoueut of the car.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean Heinrich is Heinrich. And you know, I.

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Speaker 5: Think with me being incredibly harsh, a lot of this

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Speaker 5: fallalls on Merrick Reichman. Now because within the dealer group,

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Speaker 5: we would say, you can't keep exaggerating the same line

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Speaker 5: and call that design. If I'm going to be a

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Speaker 5: credit critic of what the cars I used to sell,

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Speaker 5: they became cartoony versus elegant off of these original shapes.

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Speaker 5: I mean, the original V eight that was done, you know,

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Speaker 5: was an Elegan a little car. The dB nine you

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Speaker 5: look back at it is aged beautifully, and you get

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Speaker 5: into the dB eleven.

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Speaker 2: I always just there was like driving a pool table.

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Speaker 3: I want to get your take on this, Hannah, we

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Speaker 3: both give the dB twelve. My first impression and my

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Speaker 3: continued thought is it's gorgeous. I mean, it's absolutely beautiful.

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Speaker 3: In fact, car prettier than almost anything else. The dB

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Speaker 3: twelve has a V eight. I thought it was gonna

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Speaker 3: be a twelve. I feel like that's that's a little

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Speaker 3: bit of a disappointment, right, I mean, plus, it has

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Speaker 3: the same ZF eight speed transmission that my Dodge has. Now,

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Speaker 3: I love my Dodge, but it's not an aston Martin.

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Speaker 3: I was hoping for a DCT or a manual transmission,

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Speaker 3: but that's not available. What, Hannah, what did you think

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Speaker 3: about the dB twelve.

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Speaker 4: I agree, I think gets one of the best looking

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Speaker 4: cars on the road. My quibble with it, I'm like,

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Speaker 4: we've talked about this before. I'm fine with the vaight.

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Speaker 4: I'm not bothered by it. It's got plenty of power.

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Speaker 4: It's almost seven hundred horse power. That's that's fine. I'm

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Speaker 4: not gonna quibble about that. You know, it's fast, but

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Speaker 4: it there's something about it that feels, like you say,

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Speaker 4: it's just really it feels big. It feels it's not lumbering,

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Speaker 4: it's lumbering. There's and the interior. There's something off with

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Speaker 4: the space because it feels like a wide, big, heavy

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Speaker 4: car to drive, and yet inside you're feeling a little

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Speaker 4: bit cramped, like you're in kind of a pod with

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Speaker 4: this huge, you know, center console separating your two little pods.

280
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Speaker 4: It just doesn't feel spacious and nimble in the way

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Speaker 4: that a nine to eleven does. And I'm sorry to

282
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Speaker 4: keep bringing it back to, you know, the other two

283
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Speaker 4: from Stuttgart, but at the end of the day, in

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Speaker 4: my opinion, things from Aston Martin need to be as

285
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Speaker 4: good or better than things from Portie and Mercedes in

286
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Speaker 4: order to be competitive, and right now it feels like

287
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Speaker 4: it's maybe the third option.

288
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Speaker 3: And the powertrain I think is a Mercedes powertrain, right,

289
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Speaker 3: it's a twin turbo charge four liter V eight. Yeah,

290
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Speaker 3: I'm I'm happy with the power but I'd rather have

291
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Speaker 3: my Challenger six point four Leader. It only has four

292
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Speaker 3: hundred and eighty five horse power, but at least it's

293
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Speaker 3: I feel like it sounded better. It was more responsive somehow. Yeah,

294
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Speaker 3: and the leather in the Aston Martin I felt very

295
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Speaker 3: GM And the infotainment system is nothing like the Mercedes,

296
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Speaker 3: not as good, but I thought they sourced that technology.

297
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Speaker 4: Me too, I mean, confused about it, Cereal, Maybe you

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Speaker 4: can enlighten us. Aston Martin has so much going for it.

299
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Speaker 4: It's got a lot of money from very rich Saudi

300
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Speaker 4: Arabia in backers. It's got a glamorous Formula One team.

301
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Speaker 4: It's got a charismatic billionaire leader. It's got a heap

302
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Speaker 4: of brand awareness and fans and people who want it

303
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Speaker 4: to succeed, including myself. I mean, the whole reason why

304
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Speaker 4: we're talking about this today. And maybe it feels like

305
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Speaker 4: a bash fest, but it's because we love it. And

306
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Speaker 4: I literally cannot figure out why is it being held back.

307
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Speaker 4: I don't know, I can't figure it out.

308
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Speaker 5: Before I answer that, it's interesting that you don't put

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Speaker 5: the Bentley Continental GT in the same breath as the

310
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Speaker 5: dB twelve because.

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Speaker 4: Certainly not, certainly not, it's on a higher level.

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Speaker 5: Okay, So that's interesting because that was always a dealer level.

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Speaker 5: I mean, and you know, Hannah that I have one

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Speaker 5: for the reason of hitting in it. When you're sitting

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Speaker 5: in it, you feel like you're hitting in at just

316
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Speaker 5: a bucket of well, I mean, just engineering, proudness and

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Speaker 5: everything that tactile makes you go.

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Speaker 2: This is why this costs a lot.

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Speaker 4: Of money, quite a bit more expensive.

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Speaker 2: Can we fair enough? But the Aten should It's not

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Speaker 2: as good, but Steve, it's not as good.

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Speaker 3: Also the Bentley I love too, despite the way it looks.

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Speaker 3: I love also, you know, the leather, the quality is high,

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Speaker 3: you know, the responsiveness is great. It doesn't look nearly

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Speaker 3: as beautiful as yet the as Martin is gorgeous.

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Speaker 5: Well, the Aston Martin is more elegant. It's it's the

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Speaker 5: Bentley's brutish. It's it looks you know, it looks like

328
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Speaker 5: a cinder block coming down the road.

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Speaker 2: I mean it, it is what it is.

330
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Speaker 5: And the athen Is They've always built just gorgeous things,

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Speaker 5: which I think is what books a lot of people.

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Speaker 5: It's kind of always been the problem with the small

333
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Speaker 5: car company. I mean, you look back at their history.

334
00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:53,720
Speaker 5: They always made beautifully flawed cars. You know, for a

335
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Speaker 5: period of the the v Advantage from the eighties was

336
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Speaker 5: a brute gorgeous thing.

337
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Speaker 2: It was from the sixties.

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Speaker 5: So if you look at the history of the car company,

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00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,200
Speaker 5: they were always playing the game of we're gonna build

340
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Speaker 5: a beautiful car. You don't buy them for the technology.

341
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Speaker 5: You buy them for the beauty and the brutishness and

342
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Speaker 5: the fact that it's handmade and you can and for

343
00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:17,919
Speaker 5: a long period of time, you could have got it

344
00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:22,240
Speaker 5: in any color combination with exterior color and leather trim.

345
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Speaker 5: I think they fall on there because there's still a

346
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Speaker 5: small car company thinking like a big car company, and

347
00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:33,639
Speaker 5: they don't have the leadership. I mean, the leadership of

348
00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:37,240
Speaker 5: the United States was comical after a while, and I

349
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,480
Speaker 5: could name names, and you know, you probably would just

350
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Speaker 5: get everybody in trouble on the other end of the

351
00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:45,800
Speaker 5: pod here if I went down that road. But you

352
00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:47,679
Speaker 5: look at the people they put in charge, and it's like,

353
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:50,400
Speaker 5: how did you pick these people? And it was kind

354
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:52,840
Speaker 5: of endemic of what was going on in the UK.

355
00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:57,520
Speaker 5: There's always been misery at the top of the food chain.

356
00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,480
Speaker 5: I get out of it because when they put all

357
00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:04,920
Speaker 5: of their eggs in the DBX basket and they thought

358
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,960
Speaker 5: they were going to sell I think when I left

359
00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,199
Speaker 5: in October of twenty twenty the DBX was about to

360
00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,600
Speaker 5: come out. I had no interest in selling it because

361
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:16,560
Speaker 5: it was just not my cup of tea. It's not

362
00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:18,720
Speaker 5: why I got involved in the car world, and I

363
00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,359
Speaker 5: think it's been in terms of volume, I would say

364
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:26,600
Speaker 5: a failure compared to Earth Bentega, the Ferrari.

365
00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:33,160
Speaker 2: Thank you, Chris, and they were constantly trying to play

366
00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:33,600
Speaker 2: catch up.

367
00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:36,320
Speaker 3: Well, and I'm glad. I'm glad you bring up the

368
00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:39,040
Speaker 3: DBX because and this is what makes a market. I

369
00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:40,000
Speaker 3: adore it.

370
00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:41,320
Speaker 4: The seven O seven I loved.

371
00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:46,040
Speaker 3: I love the DBX and I love the way it drives.

372
00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:49,399
Speaker 3: I love the way it sounds. The DBS impressed me

373
00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:51,640
Speaker 3: in a lot of ways that the dB twelve doesn't.

374
00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,200
Speaker 3: And I'm more of a soccer mom maybe than you, Steve,

375
00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,360
Speaker 3: So I like the room in it. I think it's

376
00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:04,520
Speaker 3: better look then almost all of its competitors. I just

377
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:05,000
Speaker 3: think it.

378
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,080
Speaker 5: And you get the same engine in a G Wagon

379
00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:08,240
Speaker 5: for how much more money?

380
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,159
Speaker 3: Right, Well, they're all four Leader, they're all twin turbo

381
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,600
Speaker 3: four Leader VH. Right, they're using the Mercedes. I had

382
00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:16,520
Speaker 3: that same engine in my g Wagon and I loved

383
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:18,040
Speaker 3: it in that For some reason, I don't like it

384
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:22,040
Speaker 3: in the dB twelve. But I think the DBX is

385
00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:24,480
Speaker 3: great and it's been a disappointment in terms of sales.

386
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,760
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe it's the price problem. They just are priced.

387
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,880
Speaker 5: Too high problem yea, yeah, yeah, Well if you priced it,

388
00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:35,440
Speaker 5: if you priced it right at the G sixty three,

389
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:37,360
Speaker 5: you'd probably sell three.

390
00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,760
Speaker 2: Times as many of them for another one hundred thousand dollars.

391
00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,080
Speaker 5: How do you justify it with the old Mercedes peck

392
00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,520
Speaker 5: in the car if their business plan when Andy Palmer

393
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,640
Speaker 5: was getting you know, his golden umbrella was to lean

394
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,439
Speaker 5: heavily on the new facility and Wales and for the

395
00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:58,520
Speaker 5: longest time when Palmer first got involved, he wore up

396
00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:00,000
Speaker 5: and down. They were never going to build that car.

397
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:03,880
Speaker 5: So here is in essence the problem with the company.

398
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,280
Speaker 5: You tell your dealer network when you become the head

399
00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:07,119
Speaker 5: of the company, you're.

400
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:08,400
Speaker 2: Never going to build an suv.

401
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,080
Speaker 5: You might build something called a crossover, but you're never

402
00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:13,159
Speaker 5: going to build an suv.

403
00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:14,200
Speaker 2: What did they do?

404
00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:16,840
Speaker 5: They built an suv and then they hinge the whole

405
00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:20,800
Speaker 5: company upon it. So if it fails, now you've got

406
00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,560
Speaker 5: a backpedal and go back towards get all your engineers

407
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:29,040
Speaker 5: now refocused on Refreshing Vantage Refreshing dB eleven and where's

408
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:32,920
Speaker 5: your halo car the Loure. Oh my god, I love that.

409
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:38,199
Speaker 5: I love it, but it's not in what kind of volume?

410
00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:39,080
Speaker 5: For how much money?

411
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:39,320
Speaker 2: Well?

412
00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,000
Speaker 3: Please please make more of them, Please make more v

413
00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:44,879
Speaker 3: Twells with a man transmission that looks like, you know,

414
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:48,040
Speaker 3: a throwback to the original advantage. I love the Valor,

415
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:52,320
Speaker 3: but for I want to get handles.

416
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,040
Speaker 1: You men, yes, And I will own up to it

417
00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,200
Speaker 1: because I've reviewed that last year and I actually said

418
00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:01,240
Speaker 1: in that review that you should drive it before you

419
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:06,360
Speaker 1: drive the Lamborghini Urus, because I think it's interesting, and

420
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,000
Speaker 1: I'm talking specifically about the seven oh seven model.

421
00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:12,480
Speaker 4: I just think it's interesting and different. The problem with

422
00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,680
Speaker 4: that is that it's like fifty thousand dollars more than

423
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:18,359
Speaker 4: the others in the competitive segment, which is what you

424
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:20,840
Speaker 4: guys just said. But that's part of Asen Martin's current

425
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,960
Speaker 4: strategy to raise profit margins, to try to bump it

426
00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,520
Speaker 4: up into something profitable. I mean, their whole strategy.

427
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,000
Speaker 3: Is a big problem is ra if I could get

428
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,760
Speaker 3: a Cayenne Turbo for so much less, then I'm gonna

429
00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:33,879
Speaker 3: Even if I like the Aston Martin looks better. The

430
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,359
Speaker 3: Cayan Turbo was obviously gonna work better and last longer.

431
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I thought the seven oh seven actually

432
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,240
Speaker 4: was exciting to drive. It just was interesting. It's something different.

433
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:47,240
Speaker 4: You know, I love a g Wagon, but frankly, the

434
00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:52,639
Speaker 4: Portia SUVs are wonderful, but they are really ubiquitous. So

435
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,919
Speaker 4: part of my attraction to seven oh seven is I

436
00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:59,000
Speaker 4: thought it looked very cool and it's something different. If

437
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,639
Speaker 4: you have the cash just and you're not, you're not

438
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:02,639
Speaker 4: going to be disappointed.

439
00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,200
Speaker 3: I like it better than the Audi Urist for sure too.

440
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:06,280
Speaker 4: The Audi Arsts.

441
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:07,600
Speaker 3: Yes, that's not a Lamborghini.

442
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:12,240
Speaker 4: I actually like the.

443
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,600
Speaker 5: Big anchor around the neck of modern Aston Martins is

444
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:18,920
Speaker 5: what itsual value. So you're going to get the guy

445
00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,560
Speaker 5: that goes and buys the first dB X and he's

446
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 5: gonna use it for four years and then he's going

447
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:25,680
Speaker 5: to come in be told it's worth nothing and he's

448
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:26,760
Speaker 5: not going to buy a second one.

449
00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:27,000
Speaker 1: Good.

450
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,200
Speaker 2: That's another problem with overproduction and cars.

451
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:34,720
Speaker 5: I know the local dealers sitting on cars that have

452
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:36,119
Speaker 5: probably had three birthdays.

453
00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:39,040
Speaker 4: I did want to ask you about that because I

454
00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:41,639
Speaker 4: you know, when I was in Seville driving the vantage.

455
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,840
Speaker 4: I was asking, you know, the Aston Martin folks there,

456
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:49,480
Speaker 4: tell me about your production discipline, and they were very

457
00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:52,960
Speaker 4: above board with the fact that they were not disciplined.

458
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,960
Speaker 4: They didn't handle production well. It sounded like and you can,

459
00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:58,960
Speaker 4: you can share your experience, but you know they would

460
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 4: they would just overproduce things and in an impredictable manner.

461
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:10,640
Speaker 4: Are unpredictable and unpredictable manner, and which made it impossible

462
00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:14,720
Speaker 4: as a dealer to really run a business with a

463
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:20,080
Speaker 4: high priced luxury object because the whole blure is not

464
00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:22,760
Speaker 4: being able to get one well.

465
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:26,159
Speaker 5: And that is the last That was the that was

466
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:29,200
Speaker 5: the last hell in my cough. And I was, as

467
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,199
Speaker 5: you can imagine, a pebble in the shoe of the

468
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:34,439
Speaker 5: company for a long time because I would speak up

469
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,920
Speaker 5: along with a handful of other dealers, and when they said,

470
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:39,760
Speaker 5: we don't want you to carry three million dollars worth

471
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 5: of DBX is we want you to carry six And

472
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:42,720
Speaker 5: I said, Okay, where do I go?

473
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:43,720
Speaker 2: How do I get out of this?

474
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:47,240
Speaker 5: Because you're never going to You're never going to put

475
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,280
Speaker 5: that many cars and in the philosophy is a simple

476
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:53,280
Speaker 5: one and it's the biggest mistake out of any manufacturer

477
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,399
Speaker 5: they have a factory. Subsequently, the factory should be making something.

478
00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,119
Speaker 5: So if we're if we're opening our doors and and

479
00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:04,320
Speaker 5: we have employees that can build, well, we need them

480
00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:07,720
Speaker 5: to build. And it doesn't matter if the if the

481
00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 5: consumer is not high on the uptake, We're gonna build them.

482
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,600
Speaker 5: And you're the problem if you can't sell them. And

483
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:19,199
Speaker 5: that's that goes back to the management mindset of the

484
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 5: dealers are all wrong, and you know you can stop

485
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:28,520
Speaker 5: the company by looking at Valkyrie or Valhalla. Now, Valkyrie

486
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:32,680
Speaker 5: was announced and Valhalla was announced while I was still there.

487
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:38,640
Speaker 5: And if the Valkyries are getting delivered finally Valhalli's never

488
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,000
Speaker 5: as far as I know, other than the one in

489
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,960
Speaker 5: the James Bond movie in the background in the wind

490
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,679
Speaker 5: tunnel thing that they had in the last movie, I

491
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 5: don't I wouldn't.

492
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:51,879
Speaker 2: Know anymore either. Maybe it's about to get launched.

493
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,760
Speaker 5: But those were the two things that were going to

494
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:58,480
Speaker 5: be the massive Halo Enzo fighters, La Ferrari fighters. These

495
00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:00,520
Speaker 5: are the things that are gonna go after nine eighty team.

496
00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:01,960
Speaker 4: And make a lot of money.

497
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 5: By the way, Yeah, and there are lawsuits about who

498
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:09,400
Speaker 5: put up the money to again inside Baseball Acid Martin

499
00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:11,760
Speaker 5: dem the money to build Valkyrie, so they had to

500
00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:15,720
Speaker 5: borrow the money from people. And okay, now when those

501
00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:18,840
Speaker 5: people don't get their return on their money, the lawsuits,

502
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:23,560
Speaker 5: lawsuits start, you know, flying, because hey, they're not building

503
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:24,879
Speaker 5: the car the way they said they were going to.

504
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:29,680
Speaker 5: And now you've got customers that you know, when Valkyrie

505
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 5: was built, you would have to buy a tariff in

506
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:35,120
Speaker 5: order to jump the line on the Valkyrie.

507
00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:36,399
Speaker 2: And think about that for a second.

508
00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,120
Speaker 5: So they're going to play the Ferrari thing of well

509
00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 5: you want in eight twelve, you have to buy everything

510
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 5: else underneath it, and preferably from dealer's stock in multiples,

511
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:48,600
Speaker 5: and you ask them, can't play that.

512
00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:57,800
Speaker 3: Let's talk about the cars for a minute, and I

513
00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,480
Speaker 3: want to do two things, Hannah. I want to get

514
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:05,040
Speaker 3: you to tell us about the new Vantage, because again

515
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 3: I think it's beautiful. In fact, Barry Ridtholtz when it

516
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:10,639
Speaker 3: first came out, messaged me and said, please put me

517
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 3: in touch with Aston. I want to put in my

518
00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:14,480
Speaker 3: order for this already, so I want to know what

519
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,920
Speaker 3: you think about that. And then Steve, I want to

520
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,560
Speaker 3: talk about Volor for a second because I didn't even

521
00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,480
Speaker 3: know about it until like last week, and it's been

522
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:26,200
Speaker 3: around for a year, and to me, it's like perfect.

523
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 3: So Hannah Anna, first the vantage.

524
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:32,680
Speaker 4: Okay, the vantage. I drove it on the track and Spain,

525
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:34,760
Speaker 4: and then I drove it on like one hundred mile

526
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:40,680
Speaker 4: road course outside Sevilla. Beautiful car. We've covered that this

527
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,560
Speaker 4: is the third generation starting price at one hundred and

528
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,000
Speaker 4: ninety one thousand, which I actually thought was relatively fair

529
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,240
Speaker 4: compared to the nine to eleven Turbo and the AMGGT.

530
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,520
Speaker 3: I want it an orange, by the way, the same

531
00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 3: way the picture that you have in your story. It's awesome.

532
00:27:57,880 --> 00:27:59,840
Speaker 4: You can have orange. I won't fight you for it.

533
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 4: I'll have the silver please. So beautiful car. And I

534
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 4: was so happy that they have swapped out those buttons

535
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:10,720
Speaker 4: that you push to put it into drive and neutral reverse.

536
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 4: They put in an actual lever to shift gears as

537
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 4: it were.

538
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:16,600
Speaker 3: I like the button.

539
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:24,200
Speaker 4: That's an improvement. And you know it's certainly fast rear

540
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:29,880
Speaker 4: wheel drive zero to sixty and three point four or so.

541
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:34,719
Speaker 4: I mean, it's competitive. It Actually my takeaway on driving

542
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 4: that car was I am so used to driving cars

543
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:41,880
Speaker 4: that now have rear axle steering and that really make

544
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:43,720
Speaker 4: me feel like I'm a better driver than I am.

545
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 4: And sure, call it a crutch if you want, but

546
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:48,640
Speaker 4: you know, I kind of love it because I feel

547
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 4: like I'm an incredible driver when I'm in those cars.

548
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 4: So then when I get into the Vantage and it

549
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:57,640
Speaker 4: does not have that you know, bumper system so to speak,

550
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 4: it really feel it can get squarely and that's exciting

551
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 4: and it's also taxing. So when I was on the track,

552
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 4: you know, I'm doing laps and there is the A

553
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,400
Speaker 4: pillars are a bit of a blind spot when you're

554
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,280
Speaker 4: turning deep into a corner. I mean, I'm looking right

555
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:18,320
Speaker 4: at an a pillar, which is not great when you

556
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 4: want to see where you're going. But you know, very

557
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:26,680
Speaker 4: thrilling car to drive. But again, it honestly just feels

558
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 4: wide and it feels It's not as heavy as a

559
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 4: nine to eleven Turbo, but it's it feels heavier because

560
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,720
Speaker 4: of what's underneath. Okay, Steve, go, Steve.

561
00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 3: And I Steve, do you have a take Steve, do

562
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:41,840
Speaker 3: you have a take on because obviously it's brand new

563
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 3: or it's a twenty twenty three months our generation yep,

564
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 3: So do you have a take Steve because I think,

565
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,800
Speaker 3: I mean, it looks beautiful, and I love hand I

566
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 3: love Hannah's review and even the things that maybe she

567
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:56,480
Speaker 3: thinks are downsides. Yeah, I wanted to get squirrelly on me.

568
00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,800
Speaker 4: You certainly not bad, just an observation.

569
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:03,160
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, I mean again, they always sold the cars

570
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,280
Speaker 5: on the fact that they were more analog than they

571
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 5: were high tech, and I would put rear real steering

572
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,320
Speaker 5: as high tech. I just giggle at the fact that

573
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 5: I don't know what the percentage is, but I would

574
00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,040
Speaker 5: bet it's less than ten of Aston Martin owners that

575
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,880
Speaker 5: take their cars on the track. And I still, I

576
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:21,720
Speaker 5: still marvel at the fact that they'll do a press

577
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:24,840
Speaker 5: launch at the track. They should do it crossing the Alps,

578
00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:28,200
Speaker 5: and they should do it in real world driving situations

579
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:29,240
Speaker 5: so the press can go.

580
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:30,720
Speaker 2: Oh, this is what it's like to own one.

581
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 4: The dB twelve launch was in Monaco, and that was

582
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 4: a beautiful drive, so you're exactly wait.

583
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,520
Speaker 3: Wait, Hannah, can you get it with a manual transmission?

584
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 3: The new vantage?

585
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:46,840
Speaker 1: Oh, come on, come on, I don't let's kill the

586
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,960
Speaker 1: company further, Biden. No, I don't think anyone's asking for that. Sadly,

587
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:53,640
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but I do not think I've been hearing

588
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 1: people are asking for it.

589
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 3: I don't believe it. Look on bat which vantages bring

590
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:01,480
Speaker 3: the most money. If it has a manual transmission, it's

591
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 3: instantly got a premium instantly. This is a real to me.

592
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,240
Speaker 5: Well, my, my, my market was always the anomaly because,

593
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:11,880
Speaker 5: unlike the rest of the country, we would sell seventy

594
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,800
Speaker 5: five percent UH coupe versus Valante, and we would sell

595
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,480
Speaker 5: eighty or eighty five percent manual in set of automobile

596
00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,240
Speaker 5: now and if you compare those numbers to the dealers

597
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:25,760
Speaker 5: in California, they're completely backwards. And when they stopped building

598
00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 5: manual transmission cars and our sales, you know, fundamentally were

599
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 5: halved overnight. The marketing people were like, how come you're

600
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,480
Speaker 5: selling fewer cars? Is because you took the manual transmission

601
00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:36,280
Speaker 5: box out of them.

602
00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,240
Speaker 4: So maybe it's the northwest coast thing.

603
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,200
Speaker 5: It's an East coast all the way to Chicago to

604
00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:47,120
Speaker 5: go back to the Loore, Matt, it's the second gen Victor.

605
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,360
Speaker 2: Did you see the Victor that was made the one

606
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:49,719
Speaker 2: off car.

607
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,480
Speaker 3: I saw the Victory. I saw it in one of

608
00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:55,160
Speaker 3: Schmie's videos. You know the YouTube kid.

609
00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 4: Yes, he's he's really video on this podcast.

610
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,440
Speaker 3: He's prolific. He went to somebody's he went to somebody

611
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:08,400
Speaker 3: had a collection with like all of these continuation cars

612
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:14,160
Speaker 3: and some weird like chopped top ast in And this,

613
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 3: what I think is absolutely beautiful of a lore which

614
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,320
Speaker 3: has a five point two liter V twelve, It has

615
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 3: a manual transmission, it's got that eighties kind of Mustang

616
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,240
Speaker 3: look of a I just thought it, why not make more?

617
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:27,560
Speaker 3: But I think they only made one hundred and ten

618
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 3: because it was an anniversary car, right, well.

619
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:32,920
Speaker 5: And how much are they they're they're they were like

620
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,680
Speaker 5: one of that, I think, yeah, I mean, and how

621
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 5: many of them can you sell?

622
00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:38,840
Speaker 2: That?

623
00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,240
Speaker 5: That's still you know, that was always a thing where

624
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:46,680
Speaker 5: when the first V twelve, the Gatto came out, that

625
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 5: car was the six seven hundred thousand dollars right at

626
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,200
Speaker 5: the worst time, when when you know, the economy was

627
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:56,440
Speaker 5: taking a tank nine and instead of selling one hundred,

628
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,920
Speaker 5: they sold sixty one. And that's that's the thing. It

629
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,920
Speaker 5: was with the same problem with my shooting break that

630
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,120
Speaker 5: I have. Why do they only sell fourteen of them

631
00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:07,719
Speaker 5: in North America out of the ninety nine cars. Well,

632
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 5: there were eight hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. And

633
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:14,560
Speaker 5: that's always you're always chasing that. It's too much money

634
00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,959
Speaker 5: for for people that know cars. You can sell things

635
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:22,880
Speaker 5: to small markets when the markets are hot, whether that's

636
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 5: the Chinese market or you know, the the Arab markets.

637
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,960
Speaker 5: When those go quiet, where's the rest of the world

638
00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:30,920
Speaker 5: picking up the slack?

639
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:33,600
Speaker 2: So Steve, I love the Valore.

640
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:37,640
Speaker 4: My last question for you really is over everything. It's

641
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:41,800
Speaker 4: if you are now, if you're now top dog at Aston,

642
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 4: how do you fix this?

643
00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 3: If Laurence Stroll hires you after hearing this podcast, right, right,

644
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:48,640
Speaker 3: what do you do right?

645
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 4: Because we do want to fix it. We do believe

646
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:55,320
Speaker 4: in this company and this brand. We're big fans. How

647
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 4: do we fix something that we love?

648
00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:02,800
Speaker 5: The unpopular answer if I were the omnipotent king of Aston,

649
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:07,200
Speaker 5: Martin would be years ago become part of Mercedes Benz.

650
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,120
Speaker 5: You have to be part of something else. You have

651
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,680
Speaker 5: to be part of another car company or you're going

652
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 5: to be left in the dust.

653
00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 2: Rolls Royce is part of.

654
00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:18,440
Speaker 5: BMW, Bentley is part of Fulkswagen, Lamborghini's part of you know,

655
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:22,240
Speaker 5: you know, the story, and Aston Martin is sitting there going, well.

656
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:23,920
Speaker 2: We're the last independent company, yes, and.

657
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 5: You're suffering because of it, so swallow your pride. But

658
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:31,160
Speaker 5: I don't think. I mean, over the years, there have

659
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:34,600
Speaker 5: been many companies that have tried. I mean Deely tried

660
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:37,560
Speaker 5: in China and they put up this whoop, Nope, we

661
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:40,040
Speaker 5: don't want to do that. So you can keep taking

662
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,000
Speaker 5: money from the Emirates. I mean they lived off Kuwaiti

663
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,040
Speaker 5: money forever. Then that ran out, so they went to

664
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 5: the Saudis and now they're sticking money in and the

665
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:51,399
Speaker 5: Saudi's essentially saving McLaren and Aston from if I got

666
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,600
Speaker 5: that right, So how long can you keep doing that?

667
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,319
Speaker 5: The world moves it too fast to pay to be

668
00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:57,640
Speaker 5: independent anymore.

669
00:34:57,680 --> 00:34:58,480
Speaker 2: So I would try.

670
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 5: To look for, you know, a sugar daddy manufacturer, and

671
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:07,720
Speaker 5: if there isn't one, well how long can this redink

672
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,719
Speaker 5: go on for? And I could go, Hannah, I think

673
00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:14,120
Speaker 5: I've said to you. Lawrence Stroll will look like a

674
00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:17,799
Speaker 5: genius on one hand, because his Formula one team will

675
00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:22,120
Speaker 5: be worth billions of dollars or billion dollars anyway, where

676
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,319
Speaker 5: the car company's not going to be worth the dirt

677
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:26,920
Speaker 5: that it's standing on because no one's going to care

678
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:27,439
Speaker 5: after a while.

679
00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,840
Speaker 2: But he'll still come out with his friends who put.

680
00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:32,600
Speaker 5: Money in the company, looking like a genius because of

681
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:36,080
Speaker 5: you know, for me one and that's a whole different thing.

682
00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:38,440
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what I would. You know what I

683
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:42,879
Speaker 3: wonder Steve is you may comment that they make their

684
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,520
Speaker 3: money on or that their reputation is being more analog

685
00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:49,160
Speaker 3: than high tech. And that's what I loved about. The

686
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:52,440
Speaker 3: first Advantage that I drove, maybe fifteen years ago, was

687
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:56,200
Speaker 3: that it had a stick, the steering was on point,

688
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,680
Speaker 3: and there were no turbos. It was rear wheel drive. Like,

689
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:04,480
Speaker 3: what if they went all that direction? Because their infotainment

690
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,920
Speaker 3: is no good anyway, and they're not gonna have the

691
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:11,319
Speaker 3: money to do the rear wheel steering thing. They don't

692
00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:14,640
Speaker 3: need to use a ZF auto slush box? Like, what

693
00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:19,360
Speaker 3: if they went all analog, wouldn't that be a coupe?

694
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,600
Speaker 2: Well that was when the V eight first gen came out.

695
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:25,759
Speaker 5: The Vantage Rather, it was meant to be a ninety

696
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,160
Speaker 5: nine thousand dollars car, and you just describe what they

697
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:31,920
Speaker 5: wanted to build, and then doctor Betts kept creeping it up.

698
00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:34,920
Speaker 2: Thank god he didn't name the Volante the Reverso.

699
00:36:34,719 --> 00:36:37,520
Speaker 5: Because that's was his first that was his first name

700
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:41,960
Speaker 5: for the car dealer network went reverse though, Wait, that's

701
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:44,320
Speaker 5: not gonna play with a car that goes forward.

702
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:47,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just hit the nail right on the head.

703
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:50,520
Speaker 5: And it's a conversation I just had with Donald Osborne

704
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:54,680
Speaker 5: when he rented a Lotus elease in England when he said,

705
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,920
Speaker 5: this was what I want Portia to build, or I

706
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:01,400
Speaker 5: want Lotus to build just this. I want a simple

707
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 5: car that's all analog. And I just said, Donald, you

708
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:07,480
Speaker 5: know those days they're gone. But Matt, you hit the

709
00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 5: net right on the head. If you could dumb it

710
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:13,560
Speaker 5: down tech wise and put all the grunt in it

711
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:16,759
Speaker 5: and build, for lack of a better analogy, a better

712
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:21,760
Speaker 5: Mustang with great style and great you know, the quality

713
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:26,239
Speaker 5: of the materials in the car, where everything is, you know,

714
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:27,719
Speaker 5: making you go back to it and drive it and

715
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:29,080
Speaker 5: drive it and drive it and drive it and go

716
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:31,920
Speaker 5: after the drivers instead of the posers or whoever.

717
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:36,200
Speaker 2: I don't know. The boulevard years sure idea.

718
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:40,040
Speaker 4: So that was Steve Cirio. We're so grateful for his

719
00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:43,080
Speaker 4: insight and perspective as always. You know, it's always great

720
00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:45,520
Speaker 4: to be able to follow the sort of trajectory of

721
00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 4: a brand.

722
00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:48,879
Speaker 3: How many brands has he dealt with, by the way, I.

723
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:54,200
Speaker 4: Don't know, But there's Lotus, There's Spiker, Spiker, Remember Spiker.

724
00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:57,520
Speaker 3: Yes, my neighbor Eric really wants a Spiker.

725
00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:00,240
Speaker 4: Still still yeah, I mean where would you even find one?

726
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:04,960
Speaker 3: Do you see them on vat? Do they classic cars? Maybe? Supercar? Blinding?

727
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:08,360
Speaker 3: He will, yeah, oh yeah, yeah. In any case, he

728
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:11,359
Speaker 3: has a wide range of experience, and I think he

729
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 3: may become one of our regular guests because he has

730
00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:14,960
Speaker 3: such incredible knowledge.

731
00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:18,360
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I actually kind of liked his idea about

732
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:21,600
Speaker 4: how he would fix the company. It actually makes sense.

733
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:23,440
Speaker 3: Selling it to a big conglomerate.

734
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:26,360
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, then you get protection and money.

735
00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:31,399
Speaker 3: I like, brace yourself. I liked my idea. I thought

736
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:32,480
Speaker 3: my idea was brilliant.

737
00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:33,920
Speaker 4: Would in doubt go analog?

738
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:35,759
Speaker 3: You know why? I think I've been thinking about this

739
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,240
Speaker 3: a lot lately because the Bronc, the New Ford Bronco,

740
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:40,600
Speaker 3: which is a shape that I love, but a lot

741
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:42,000
Speaker 3: of people want to put a V eight in it,

742
00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:45,680
Speaker 3: and apparently it's too difficult because of the computers and

743
00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:48,720
Speaker 3: the wiring and all the technology, and I want somebody

744
00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:51,560
Speaker 3: just to rip out the wire, harness and the screens

745
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,640
Speaker 3: and just put an old motor in it with no abs,

746
00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:57,719
Speaker 3: no traction control, and just go totally analog on that thing.

747
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:01,680
Speaker 4: I'm sure there are some resto mods in California doing that.

748
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:03,000
Speaker 3: And no one's done it yet.

749
00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:05,120
Speaker 4: I don't think any this is find that impossible.

750
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,719
Speaker 3: This is something I'd love to get our listeners to

751
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:12,080
Speaker 3: chime in on. Has anybody Vight swapped a new Ford Bronco?

752
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:16,560
Speaker 3: Surely I don't think so. Our email address is Hot

753
00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:19,680
Speaker 3: Pursuit at Bloomberg dot net. Message me if you think

754
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,799
Speaker 3: anyone has swapped Vight swapped a new Bronco. I don't

755
00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:23,680
Speaker 3: think it's possible.

756
00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:24,640
Speaker 4: We'll find out.

757
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:27,000
Speaker 3: What have you got going on next week? What are

758
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:27,920
Speaker 3: you doing? Oh? You know what.

759
00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:30,239
Speaker 4: I'm going to Italy next week a little bit of

760
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:34,319
Speaker 4: a vacation. But I'm also going to Villadeste end of

761
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:35,040
Speaker 4: next weekend.

762
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:37,600
Speaker 3: So I've heard you say Villadeste, and I've heard other

763
00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:39,319
Speaker 3: wealthy people say it, but I don't know what it is.

764
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:40,279
Speaker 3: What is Villadeste.

765
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:44,680
Speaker 4: Villadeste is a car show on Lake Como. Picture it

766
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:48,799
Speaker 4: like picture it like a very very small version of

767
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,720
Speaker 4: Pebble Beach. It's a car Concore and it's on Lake Como.

768
00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:57,400
Speaker 4: BMW is going to be unveiling some concepts. It always

769
00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:01,640
Speaker 4: BMW kind of it's kind of their thing. They're gonna

770
00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:04,920
Speaker 4: They're gonna unveil an art car and a concept car there.

771
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,319
Speaker 3: So yeah, do you know if you talk to them

772
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:11,520
Speaker 3: before you go, you should try and get uh, the

773
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:15,200
Speaker 3: new BMW R nine T. So it's a motorcycle.

774
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:17,840
Speaker 4: Yeah, the motorcycle. But I have I've had.

775
00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:20,719
Speaker 3: It, Yes, No, I have had two R nine t's.

776
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:23,200
Speaker 3: It's one of my favorite motorcycles. But they have a

777
00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:28,040
Speaker 3: brand new version of it, which has a slightly different name.

778
00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:29,080
Speaker 3: It's kind of the same thing.

779
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:29,640
Speaker 2: Uh.

780
00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:33,600
Speaker 3: But the reason I say that is that Villadeste or

781
00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:36,880
Speaker 3: Le Como is in Sewed two Roll and it's one

782
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:39,680
Speaker 3: of my favorite places in the whole world to ride motorcycles.

783
00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:42,359
Speaker 3: All Right, Well, I'm uh, I don't think I'm doing

784
00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:45,160
Speaker 3: anything special. I've been diving deep into the Subaru world.

785
00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:49,120
Speaker 3: So I've been driving across trek.

786
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:51,160
Speaker 4: Im speechless, I'm speechless.

787
00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:53,120
Speaker 3: Well, you know what the reason is. So, first of

788
00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:55,720
Speaker 3: all because one of my buddies gave me a cross

789
00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:58,840
Speaker 3: track to drive for a while. I really like it.

790
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:00,839
Speaker 3: It's kind of a dog one hundred and eighty two

791
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:05,200
Speaker 3: horse power flat four, but I like the motor even

792
00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:07,920
Speaker 3: though it's zero sixty and like ten seconds. So then

793
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:10,160
Speaker 3: I started looking at the what do you call it,

794
00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:14,279
Speaker 3: the BRZ, which has a more powerful version. I think

795
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:17,960
Speaker 3: it's a turbo charge two point four Leader with two

796
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,640
Speaker 3: hundred and twenty eight horsepower. So I'm gonna drive that

797
00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:22,879
Speaker 3: to see. I've never driven a BRZ. They've been around forever,

798
00:41:23,440 --> 00:41:27,040
Speaker 3: and I want to get my mom into an outback

799
00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:30,319
Speaker 3: because it's like a great mom wagon and they have

800
00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:33,719
Speaker 3: I think an even more powerful motor available in that.

801
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:37,080
Speaker 3: So and I'm loving the thirty thousand dollars price tag

802
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:40,480
Speaker 3: because I think everything is too expensive. And after I

803
00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 3: saw the BYD Seagull that's the Chinese electric car that

804
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:46,680
Speaker 3: goes for ten grand, I was thinking, why do we

805
00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:48,360
Speaker 3: have to pay so much for cars?

806
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:49,080
Speaker 4: It's not fair.

807
00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:52,160
Speaker 3: Part of it is tariffs and protectionism, and that's obviously

808
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:54,920
Speaker 3: going to increase, but man, I think we should be

809
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:58,359
Speaker 3: able to pay. We should get cheaper cars, all right,

810
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,399
Speaker 3: that's all we have for hot pursuits this week. We'll

811
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:02,160
Speaker 3: see you back, same time, same place next week.

812
00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:04,840
Speaker 1: I'm Matt Miller, and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is

813
00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:05,440
Speaker 1: Bloomberg