Speaker 1: I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is
Speaker 1: hot pursuit.
Speaker 2: All right, we have I would say a legend on
Speaker 2: the program today?
Speaker 3: Is that a legend and a guru and a doctor.
Speaker 2: Frank Stephen Wallaser is going to join us. He is
Speaker 2: the CEO of Bentley, the new CEO of Bentley, and
Speaker 2: was at Porsche for two decades. I think longer.
Speaker 3: Actually, right now, I think longer.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously we all know him because he was
Speaker 1: the project leader for the nine to eighteen Spider hypercar
Speaker 1: in twenty ten and really developed Porsche's motorsport program. He
Speaker 1: did all the GT cars.
Speaker 3: He really is.
Speaker 1: Kind of the genius behind it. I mean, he's a
Speaker 1: mechanical engineer I think orchestrated Porsche's dominance in that area
Speaker 1: for two decades.
Speaker 2: Also, my favorite Porsche supercar that I've never driven, but
Speaker 2: I've never driven any of them, right, so I would say,
Speaker 2: like the nine to fifty nine, the Carrera GT, and
Speaker 2: then the nine eighteen Spider. Those are the three that
Speaker 2: stick out at least for me. I've never driven any
Speaker 2: of them, but I like the looks, the layout, the
Speaker 2: technology of the nine to eighteen better than any of
Speaker 2: the others.
Speaker 3: It's so cool. It's so cool, you know.
Speaker 1: But also we should say now he's at Bentley, and
Speaker 1: I think we can really expect that some of this
Speaker 1: really tight engineering, edgy perfectly balanced handling is going to
Speaker 1: be transferred over to Bentley, which is exciting to hear about.
Speaker 2: Yes, the question is when are we going to see
Speaker 2: the first vehicle that he you know, from start to
Speaker 2: finish overseas.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a that's a great question.
Speaker 1: And you know we have frank on because Bentley announced
Speaker 1: last week that they are pushing off their electric vehicle
Speaker 1: goals for another five years and we'll be making hybrid
Speaker 1: combustion engines at least until twenty thirty five, which I
Speaker 1: actually received a lot of comments saying how happy people
Speaker 1: were that they're doing that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, delaying that so yeah, interesting times.
Speaker 2: I don't think anyone wants them to kill their internal
Speaker 2: combustion engines and just have like battery powered Bentley's.
Speaker 3: Right yet, not yet.
Speaker 2: Maybe there are a few people out there, but probably
Speaker 2: most of those who will be buying Bentley's would prefer
Speaker 2: the gas powered versions.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 2: So, Oh, I got to tell you something that's amazing
Speaker 2: I don't know if I told you already. So my
Speaker 2: daughter's Edna especially, but also Lola. They love to have
Speaker 2: daddy daughter dance parties. And I was playing Zeppelin and
Speaker 2: Edna was like, I want to see this band. So
Speaker 2: I showed them the song remains the same and they
Speaker 2: loved it. And at one point Robert Plant introduces Jimmy Page.
Speaker 2: He says, ladies and gentlemen, Jimmy Page on the electric guitar,
Speaker 2: and Edna says, Daddy, his guitar doesn't need gas. That's amazing,
Speaker 2: which I thought was pretty funny.
Speaker 1: That's an amazing connection in her head. Yeah, she's been
Speaker 1: listening to you obviously.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Her favorite thing. When I say it's an electric car,
Speaker 2: she'll turn to her other four year old friends and
Speaker 2: say that means it doesn't need gas. So that's as
Speaker 2: far as she's gotten, I think with electric vehicles.
Speaker 3: But I mean, maybe that's as far as you need
Speaker 3: to get.
Speaker 2: Yeah, now she thinks it applies to guitars.
Speaker 3: I guess weren't electric guitars considered quite.
Speaker 1: A revolution and a revelation.
Speaker 2: I imagine, you know, compared, I would imagine they were, I.
Speaker 3: Mean everything before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it changed everything.
Speaker 3: I never thought about it that way.
Speaker 2: But for the good, right, I mean, like everything was
Speaker 2: better post electric electrification in guitars, and you know what,
Speaker 2: that's the case now, you know exactly.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there were a lot of people who thought,
Speaker 1: you know, this is sacrilege.
Speaker 3: Those people were called parents.
Speaker 2: You know, it's probably it's probably true. And there are
Speaker 2: people who think, uh, you know, electrification is a hugely
Speaker 2: beneficial and positive change to driving, even for other reasons
Speaker 2: than you know, fighting climate change. Like people enjoy a
Speaker 2: lot of people enjoy driving their evs. The you know,
Speaker 2: instant torque and uh, you know, just the smoothness, the silence,
Speaker 2: like there are so many things that a lot of
Speaker 2: younger people feel like it's a it's a great change.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Honestly, I will say I do. I hate the
Speaker 1: worrying noise that a lot of evs have that really
Speaker 1: droney were I hate it. However, I also hate the
Speaker 1: young gentlemen who drive their very loud, unmuffled vehicles Hondas
Speaker 1: and the like up to up the hill at like
Speaker 1: five am coming home from a night out.
Speaker 3: I also hate that. I'd rather they be in electric vehicles.
Speaker 2: It's Honda civics and late model BMWM cars.
Speaker 1: Oh it's so and they're going fifteen miles an hour,
Speaker 1: twenty miles an hour, and it's like they sound really terrible,
Speaker 1: really bad.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of rattle in there too.
Speaker 2: All right, So we're going to talk to Frank Wallacer
Speaker 2: about a lot of this stuff, and I'm excited for
Speaker 2: our listeners to hear that. I also want to give
Speaker 2: some equal time to Rolls Royce, since we're going to
Speaker 2: focus so much on Bentley, and since you spent time
Speaker 2: in a Rolls Royce in Las Vegas learning to be
Speaker 2: a chauffeur. And my question is like, what do you
Speaker 2: need to know other than like, oh my gosh, shut
Speaker 2: your mouth and dry.
Speaker 3: It's so much.
Speaker 1: I don't even know where to start start with yourself, Like,
Speaker 1: you need to be dressed, not in shorts, obviously dressed
Speaker 1: like a professional. You know, coat, clean clothes, press clothes,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah.
Speaker 3: All of that's fine.
Speaker 2: See isn't it always black suit, white shirt?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean suret Yeah, that'd be nice. If you
Speaker 1: show up on time.
Speaker 3: You're late. You need to show up early. I mean
Speaker 3: all of these things. Seating position.
Speaker 1: Let me back up and say I had this amazing
Speaker 1: day with Andy mccannon, who is the head driver at
Speaker 1: Rolls Royce. He drove Torston around for years and who
Speaker 1: also trains chauffeurs for Rolls's private clients for dealerships. He
Speaker 1: does security and evasive training. Andy is a fascinating guy.
Speaker 1: He's a former pro skier, and so he took a
Speaker 1: small group of us for the day so that we
Speaker 1: could learn to be white glove chauffeurs. And I actually,
Speaker 1: spoiler alert, did get glove.
Speaker 3: I'm showing that now signed by Andy.
Speaker 1: So I did pass. That's that's a spoiler alert. But
Speaker 1: it's it's a lot of things. It's a lot of etiquette.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of you know, how to open the
Speaker 1: car door, like we literally learned how to open a
Speaker 1: door properly, how to load luggage, setting the scene inside
Speaker 1: the car, make sure all the vents are the same direction.
Speaker 1: Where do you put water bottles? Where do you direct
Speaker 1: the rear view mirror so that you don't make eye
Speaker 1: contact with the driver. Where should the lady of the
Speaker 1: house sit. All of these considerations are taken into account
Speaker 1: when you're trained as a.
Speaker 3: White glove chauffeur.
Speaker 2: Fascinating.
Speaker 1: It was really fascinating. And then of course we practiced
Speaker 1: the whiskey, gin and tonic and champagne stops, which are
Speaker 1: just like they sound. You practice stopping so that whiskey
Speaker 1: in a in a shot glass won't spill, and then
Speaker 1: you graduate to gin and tonic and a traditional gen
Speaker 1: and tonic class, and then you graduate to the champagne
Speaker 1: coop full of champagne and try to break so as
Speaker 1: not to spill.
Speaker 3: It's harder than it sounds.
Speaker 1: I realized, Oh, I've been like thrashing my own cars
Speaker 1: around LA with no regard for anything. And yeah, it
Speaker 1: was really a fascinating, fascinating training.
Speaker 2: I mean, I feel like Rolls Royce does have the
Speaker 2: lion's share of ultra high priced chauffeured vehicles, right, because
Speaker 2: Bentley is more about driving it yourself.
Speaker 1: Yes, so, Rolls Royce told me that of the roughly
Speaker 1: six thousand vehicles that they deliver every year, twenty percent
Speaker 1: go to owners who employ full time chauffeurs, and that
Speaker 1: proportion gets dramatically higher for people who own the phantom
Speaker 1: extended wheelbase, which is really a car to be driven in.
Speaker 1: And then on top of that, a lot of rolls
Speaker 1: Royce owners employ part time drivers where maybe they have
Speaker 1: the driver on weekdays to drive them to the office
Speaker 1: in backs that they can work and take calls, and
Speaker 1: then on the weekend they drive themselves.
Speaker 3: So it's really interesting.
Speaker 1: The whole idea is in a weird way that as
Speaker 1: we go deeper into autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, the
Speaker 1: real luxury is being driven by another human. Yes, you know,
Speaker 1: during this class we talked about building a relationship with
Speaker 1: your client, you know, remembering the name of their dog,
Speaker 1: remembering the name of their children, remembering their preferences for
Speaker 1: climate and music and seating position.
Speaker 3: And it's all just about the.
Speaker 1: Warmth of another human who can respond to things in
Speaker 1: the real world and real time that no computer will
Speaker 1: is able to do on that level. And for the
Speaker 1: people who have the resources to employ a driver, that's
Speaker 1: what they're buying. It's like a concierge, right.
Speaker 2: Well, and those people probably also have fabulous wealth, so
Speaker 2: maybe they need a bodyguard. Does the chauffeur often double
Speaker 2: as a bodyguard, as Andy packinheat.
Speaker 1: You know what, I'll have to ask him. He does
Speaker 1: offer courses on evasive driving. We did talk about driving
Speaker 1: in security threat areas, and he mentioned that, you know,
Speaker 1: in urban areas versus rural areas, and urban areas they're
Speaker 1: gonna try to take what's in the car, like a
Speaker 1: watch or a handbag. In rural areas, they're gonna take
Speaker 1: the car itself. So he does train people to do that.
Speaker 1: I didn't do part of that training with him, but yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know, the other interesting thing is Andy actually
Speaker 1: just came from spending two weeks in Dubai training drivers
Speaker 1: in Dubai for a high net worth individual. And he
Speaker 1: also runs a program to train women drivers in Saudi Arabia,
Speaker 1: which is obviously a really big deal because women up
Speaker 1: until a few years ago could not drive in Saudi Arabia,
Speaker 1: but now there's a very big growth market for women
Speaker 1: who will drive other women and children to stores, on errands,
Speaker 1: to school, that sort of thing. So, having been to
Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia for the first time earlier this year myself,
Speaker 1: I find that really fascinating.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is really interesting stuff, and your story on
Speaker 2: that is going to come out later later.
Speaker 1: I'm taking it as a very good thing. It was
Speaker 1: supposed to run this weekend and now they're going to
Speaker 1: hold it until Thanksgiving. And hopefully make it into a
Speaker 1: bit more of a feature, which means that I get
Speaker 1: to write longer and then.
Speaker 3: We include more words. So I like the sound of that,
Speaker 3: So stay tuned, all.
Speaker 2: Right, I look forward to that. And now I want
Speaker 2: to talk about the car you're driving right now, which,
Speaker 2: by the way, Mercede has so many different variants.
Speaker 3: It's so confused.
Speaker 2: They're no longer divided easily between Mercedes and AMG products
Speaker 2: because when they put out the GT you know they had,
Speaker 2: it was just an AMG thing.
Speaker 4: Yea.
Speaker 2: Now they're bringing it all together. And by the way,
Speaker 2: the coops can have two doors or four doors.
Speaker 3: Yeah, nothing mean nothing basically.
Speaker 2: And I have issues with Mercedes like alphabet.
Speaker 3: Soup and BMW does too.
Speaker 2: I feel like they're trying to confuse the public to
Speaker 2: some extent, which I don't know why that works in
Speaker 2: a marketing sense, but.
Speaker 3: I don't get it.
Speaker 2: But they still make amazing vehicles. So tell me what
Speaker 2: you think about this. You're driving the Mercedes AMG S
Speaker 2: sixty three E Performance, which is not only I think
Speaker 2: their most powerful S class, but like probably the most
Speaker 2: powerful car that they make overall.
Speaker 1: Yes, first, let me say that this car on the
Speaker 1: Maroni that I got starts at just under two hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Now I'm looking online and it's the MSRP
Speaker 1: says one hundred and eighty six thousand.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 1: But I'm telling you, on the Maroni that I have
Speaker 1: in the car with me, it's like high one nineties.
Speaker 1: And then the car that I drive personally with all
Speaker 1: the extras, it's at two hundred and sixteen thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: which I was shocked to find out. It's that is
Speaker 1: so expensive to.
Speaker 2: Me, he really think, I guess I've got that's so expensive.
Speaker 3: That's that's to me.
Speaker 1: Like Bentley Territory, and in my mind, Bentley Occupy is
Speaker 1: a place that's higher than Mercedes.
Speaker 3: Although I know we think you're going to.
Speaker 2: Find that it's going to be half of what a
Speaker 2: Bentley costs.
Speaker 3: Bentley Continental.
Speaker 2: The Bentley Continental GT that I drove was about four
Speaker 2: hundred and whoa and.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's star it's arts at.
Speaker 2: Lower fifty at.
Speaker 3: No, no, it starts at to something hmm.
Speaker 2: Right, I'm gonna go ahead and look at Bentley dot com.
Speaker 3: It'll be in my review.
Speaker 2: So the price in your Bentley Continental review was I
Speaker 2: think a price for an old Bentaga.
Speaker 1: Okay, three hundred thousand dollars, you're right, Yeah, it's three
Speaker 1: hundred into all.
Speaker 2: Right, Prices are just much higher than we thought they were, right.
Speaker 1: It's so wild to me that this car costs that much.
Speaker 1: Someone asked me over the weekend what I thought of it,
Speaker 1: and I just didn't really feel like talking at the moment,
Speaker 1: and I just said, it drives great, and that is true.
Speaker 3: It does drive great.
Speaker 1: To me. It's a little bit like having a nightclub
Speaker 1: and a hotel, and I don't think that often works
Speaker 1: because if you want to go to a club, you
Speaker 1: go to a club and then you go to your hotel,
Speaker 1: and I just want to like sleep and chill at
Speaker 1: the hotel. And this car is kind of like that.
Speaker 1: Like it's a big, heavy sedan that is engineered to
Speaker 1: be thrashed and like drive like a sports car, and
Speaker 1: it's jarring. It drives great, but it's kind of a
Speaker 1: mind warp. It's wildly fast, but the breaks are extremely jagged,
Speaker 1: And yeah, did you not find that?
Speaker 2: I didn't. So, first of all, I think the car
Speaker 2: looks very unassuming because it's an escue.
Speaker 3: You guys have a spoiler.
Speaker 1: I don't think so mine has a mine has a
Speaker 1: Speedboy spoiler on it.
Speaker 2: Really, Yeah, that is a strange I mean, I don't
Speaker 2: know where that comes from. I'm going to go through
Speaker 2: the configurator right now. I'm not sure there's any kind
Speaker 2: of spoiler on the one on the website, so maybe. No,
Speaker 2: there's definitely not. And it's very smooth.
Speaker 3: Oh, I didn't have that experience. And in any case,
Speaker 3: did you get out of comfort mode?
Speaker 2: I had it in sport, it plus in track, like
Speaker 2: all the time, the whole time.
Speaker 3: I kid, I kid, but I wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and and and so to me, it like a
Speaker 2: much like a Moroccan palace. You know, it looks like
Speaker 2: nothing from the outside, and then when you get inside
Speaker 2: you're like whoa Like I was mind blown at the
Speaker 2: display behind the steering wheel because it's three D and
Speaker 2: you have to pay attention to that, Hannah, if you
Speaker 2: haven't noticed it, you can turn.
Speaker 3: It on and off. I see it, Yes, I see it.
Speaker 2: I've never seen it in any car before, so it's
Speaker 2: it's the first time I've ever seen that.
Speaker 1: I think I was too distracted by the fact that
Speaker 1: the cup holders don't actually fit coffee cups, Like did
Speaker 1: you notice this? No, this single very poorly and this
Speaker 1: is a shock from Mercedes because they are generally so great.
Speaker 1: Cup holders for the coffee and the center console are two.
Speaker 1: There's a lip and it catches the lid of the coffee.
Speaker 4: Cups.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I'm not a.
Speaker 2: Farmer, I know, but I am a farmer, so I
Speaker 2: have like you know, twenty four rounds.
Speaker 1: You get a very small cough, you get a normal
Speaker 1: small coffee and the lid instantly pops up because the
Speaker 1: coffee holder is too small and claustrophobic. And that huge
Speaker 1: center divider, Yeah, this is a problem.
Speaker 2: That is probably a problem well a lot of cars
Speaker 2: built for the American market because I'm like putting the
Speaker 2: big gulp in there and it's no problem.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you about the sound. Did you notice
Speaker 1: any odd whirring and humming and you know, odd sounds
Speaker 1: coming from underneath the hood when the hybrid modes were engaged.
Speaker 2: No, But I, like I said, I had it in
Speaker 2: sport plus the whole time, so I didn't ever have
Speaker 2: a moment when it wasn't as loud as it could
Speaker 2: possibly be. The combustion engine, I mean, if you have
Speaker 2: eight hundred horsepower and a thousand pound feet of torque
Speaker 2: that you're gonna thrash it, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, that's where I'm like, Oh, but it's it's
Speaker 1: like a big heavy sedan.
Speaker 2: That didn't feel heavy to me either. I mean it
Speaker 2: felt pretty nimble. I was. I was away impressed by
Speaker 2: this vehicle, and I feel like, I want you to
Speaker 2: go spend another couple of days with.
Speaker 3: It, because I had a couple of days of it.
Speaker 2: I just thought it was amazing.
Speaker 3: I knew you would.
Speaker 1: I literally said in the car, Matt Miller is going
Speaker 1: to love this car.
Speaker 2: And I couldn't. I couldn't not compare it to the
Speaker 2: Bentley Continental GT because I had had or I had
Speaker 2: the Bentley Continental GT right after this, and they both
Speaker 2: have very similar power trains. They both have turbocharged V
Speaker 2: eight's with a hybrid assist, so they both have these
Speaker 2: massive horsepower and torque numbers. Although the Mercedes has more,
Speaker 2: they're both extremely luxurious. The Bentley felt tighter. I had
Speaker 2: less room in the Bentley. The Mercedes felt airrier. I
Speaker 2: had more the Bentley. I didn't get the feeling it
Speaker 2: was smoother. I did get the feeling it was twice
Speaker 2: the price though, so for this power and performance and luxury.
Speaker 2: In the Bentley it's four hundred thousand dollars for two doors,
Speaker 2: and the Mercedes it's two hundred thousand dollars for four doors.
Speaker 2: I just to me, the value proposition falls easily in
Speaker 2: Mercedes favor.
Speaker 3: Okay, let me ask you this, which car do you
Speaker 3: think looks better?
Speaker 2: Oh? The Bentley is a much more beautiful question, no question.
Speaker 2: I don't understand. What's the Mercedes exterior design?
Speaker 1: To me?
Speaker 2: For over a decade has been It's been lost on me.
Speaker 2: I don't understand it. I don't like it. I love
Speaker 2: the AMGGT obviously, or I did before this new iteration,
Speaker 2: and I think they've they've lost that too as they
Speaker 2: bring it under the Mercedes roof. But in terms of
Speaker 2: the luxury experience on the interior, in terms of the
Speaker 2: high tech of the NBUX entfotainment system so good, And
Speaker 2: in terms of the hybrid, I thought the ev drive
Speaker 2: train was amazing. Like I like just their straight six
Speaker 2: in the CLA four fifty. I think they're pretty unrivaled.
Speaker 1: I will say this was the first time that I
Speaker 1: have equibble with that NBUX system because I actually drove
Speaker 1: this on Saturday and I had a crazy night at
Speaker 1: the SPA and decided to dry drive it home over
Speaker 1: Mulholland that car kept telling me there were speed bumps
Speaker 1: coming when there were no speed bumps in sight, and
Speaker 1: then when there were speed bumps, absolutely nothing. And it's
Speaker 1: done that repeatedly, and it's kind of annoying.
Speaker 2: Yes, and they had the same thought, and that was
Speaker 2: that was pretty much my only complaint, especially and it
Speaker 2: would say there's a pothole coming right and I'm driving
Speaker 2: around New York where, yes, I know that.
Speaker 3: How is this?
Speaker 1: I'm completely that is highly ironic and funny that it's
Speaker 1: telling you there's a pothole coming up in midtown Manhattan,
Speaker 1: for instance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that was that. I mean, I am. I
Speaker 2: imagine you could turn that off and I will own
Speaker 2: the car. All right. Well, next week I want to
Speaker 2: talk about it more because I just think it's a
Speaker 2: pretty standout vehicle.
Speaker 1: It's a great car. It's just at least it makes
Speaker 1: me feel something. I don't know what I feel about.
Speaker 1: I feel a little conflicted. At least it makes me
Speaker 1: feel something. Yes, nothing right.
Speaker 2: For sure, And I can't wait. Are you going to
Speaker 2: write a review on this or are you gonna do it?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we'll do something on it.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, let's get to Frank Stephen. I mean, this
Speaker 2: guy had an incredibly storied career with Portia. I'm not
Speaker 2: sure when he started there, but he took over the
Speaker 2: motorsport division in two thousand and three. Legend, and he
Speaker 2: was the project manager for the nine to eighteen and yes,
Speaker 2: absolute legend. I think he took over the nine to
Speaker 2: eleven as well, and Acklitner left and now he's got
Speaker 2: his own baby right now, he's moved over to be
Speaker 2: the boss of Bentley. And you talked to him in Switzerland.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and ander Mott that was the first time I
Speaker 1: got to meet him. And it's really interesting having a
Speaker 1: German CEO follow Adrian Hallmark who was Bitley's British, very
Speaker 1: British CEO, who left and went to Aston Martin. So
Speaker 1: now it's like we've got a whole new regime. And
Speaker 1: it does make me excited about the future of Bentley
Speaker 1: because I because Frank is very open, like, yeah, let's
Speaker 1: we've got some things to work on and this is
Speaker 1: what we're gonna do.
Speaker 2: I like that, Yeah, I like it too. Let's listen
Speaker 2: to actor Frank Stephen Ballasser.
Speaker 1: Frank, you're actually not that new to Bentley anymore. You've
Speaker 1: been there since July. Where are you along your big
Speaker 1: plans to make your mark on Bentley and propel the
Speaker 1: company to the future.
Speaker 5: Well, there's something about the famous hundred days for a CEO.
Speaker 5: You have to set up the scenes, and I got
Speaker 5: some interesting books on that.
Speaker 4: I got even a book with ninety days. But this
Speaker 4: is too short.
Speaker 5: You need and we work with the team here on
Speaker 5: strategy and the future ideas on Bentley. This was coincidental.
Speaker 5: Ass or Beyond one hundred strategy was close to five years,
Speaker 5: so every five years you rework your strategy anyway, so
Speaker 5: that fit nicely together. We just announced last week or
Speaker 5: Beyond one hundred plus strategy that already signs out. It's
Speaker 5: the continuation of what was done in the past, but
Speaker 5: we did some tweaks and adjustments.
Speaker 2: We have.
Speaker 4: I think over the.
Speaker 5: Last five years, everybody in the automotive industry is a
Speaker 5: better understanding of the biggest transition in the history of
Speaker 5: the car to switch to the electric drivetrain. Also in
Speaker 5: the market feedbacks speed of the different markets, A lot
Speaker 5: about technology. Not so easy for an industry that was
Speaker 5: used to have a proper life cycle. You launch a product,
Speaker 5: you have it seven years in, you do different model years,
Speaker 5: you have a proper legislation. It changes tremendously, changes very quick,
Speaker 5: changes different in different angles of the world.
Speaker 4: But nothing to complain and nothing we can really influence.
Speaker 5: We just have to be in our technology and our
Speaker 5: product offer flexible enough and this is what we mainly
Speaker 5: work through with the team.
Speaker 1: Frank I have to say I received no shortage of
Speaker 1: messages in my social media inbox of people who are
Speaker 1: very happy to hear that Bentley will continue to make
Speaker 1: combustion engines and of course we're all very excited to
Speaker 1: see what the new electric model is. Can you tell
Speaker 1: us what the feedback has been like. What do you
Speaker 1: hear on your side of things.
Speaker 5: We're reading the media feedback, we get some personal messages.
Speaker 5: We have a very strong feedback from our investors and dealers.
Speaker 5: They they are happy with the strategy. They see the
Speaker 5: more balanced product portfolio and an additional car, the additional card.
Speaker 5: It can hopefully grow their business. It's not a substitution,
Speaker 5: it's growing the business. The more balanced portfolio gives them
Speaker 5: the opportunity to keep a lot of the existing customers
Speaker 5: staying Bentley customers all in the future, and was pretty
Speaker 5: well received. If I say pretty well, this is Brittish understatement.
Speaker 2: The W twelve has been a big focus of Bentley
Speaker 2: for as long as I can remember. What's the future
Speaker 2: like for that engine? I mean, is it short lived
Speaker 2: or can we expect it to stay around in some form,
Speaker 2: you know, for at least another five years or a decade.
Speaker 5: I have to say we already stopped the production also
Speaker 5: in summer.
Speaker 4: It was around July end of June we stopped the
Speaker 4: production of the W twelve.
Speaker 5: It is replaced by the fabulous V eight quag In
Speaker 5: hybrid like the Continental GT, and I could drive it.
Speaker 5: It's a It's interesting because well, there's so much history
Speaker 5: about this W twelve and it was the defining engine
Speaker 5: of Bentley. But Bentley is more than only only the engine.
Speaker 5: This makes it also really exciting in deciding now the
Speaker 5: future of the carrs but also of the company.
Speaker 4: There's more about Bentley than only the engine.
Speaker 5: And driving this we eight, especially in the PF configuration,
Speaker 5: it just shows you how good it.
Speaker 4: Can be without being a W twelve.
Speaker 5: For sure, there's an emotional part, but from a pure
Speaker 5: driving perspective, from the emotions you get, from the feedback
Speaker 5: you get, and how good the car is.
Speaker 4: Good technology can replace something like that.
Speaker 2: I would say, there's no replacement for displacement. Do you
Speaker 2: have a different take. I mean you come from a
Speaker 2: place where a three liter flat six is more than enough.
Speaker 2: So am I wrong?
Speaker 4: I went through this and.
Speaker 5: This is the magic of electrification, and this is more
Speaker 5: than displacement.
Speaker 4: It can do things better.
Speaker 5: This is new technology and it is really driving some
Speaker 5: magic into it. And without referring too much to the past,
Speaker 5: but I had the fun.
Speaker 4: In making a Superspot's got a hypercar.
Speaker 5: Everybody believed five point five V ten is the best
Speaker 5: what you can get with a manual, and then we
Speaker 5: put a D eight in with a hybrid.
Speaker 4: A little bit more heavier, and everybody.
Speaker 5: Was super happy. But only after sitting in the car.
Speaker 5: It does not work to judge it from an office.
Speaker 4: Sorry to say, you have to drive it.
Speaker 5: You have to feel the sensation and then it really
Speaker 5: it really changes.
Speaker 3: You know. That's a really interesting point.
Speaker 1: I'm curious if you think that we're at a similar
Speaker 1: spot right now, just in terms of educating consumers that hey,
Speaker 1: just because we're going we're losing some cylinders, doesn't necessarily
Speaker 1: mean you're going to feel any less excited when you
Speaker 1: drive things because this is a new technology.
Speaker 3: Is that sort of similar to what you went through
Speaker 3: in your previous life when you introduce some of.
Speaker 4: These harbards, I would say yes.
Speaker 5: The majority of the customers is not engineers. They're not
Speaker 5: not their education to judge something from paper.
Speaker 4: Or from information.
Speaker 5: They get their customers, and we have to respect this.
Speaker 5: They need their own experience, they need good media that
Speaker 5: is explaining it. What is kind of confirm is doing so,
Speaker 5: but there's nothing like own experience and coming back a
Speaker 5: little bit from an engineering perspective, nothing else and displacement.
Speaker 5: It was right, but with the introduction of all the
Speaker 5: new exhaust gas limitations and Knox reduction and all what
Speaker 5: we have, the character of these engines is changing. It's
Speaker 5: it's not the old math and not the old physics
Speaker 5: and the old engineering that is behind it. That just
Speaker 5: war makes it better. You must make it different to
Speaker 5: fulfill the regulations and to bring the magic back of
Speaker 5: such an engine and well, and the customer has to
Speaker 5: be educated is maybe a little bit too strong in
Speaker 5: the wording, but give the chance to have to make
Speaker 5: an own opinion and to have an own experience in
Speaker 5: that And all the feedback I got from the customers,
Speaker 5: they're more than happy with what they can feel and
Speaker 5: how balanced the car is. While the experts were driving
Speaker 5: the car, what is the automotive and on automotive media,
Speaker 5: and they had been really blown away by the performance
Speaker 5: and the easiness of driving it. And this character of
Speaker 5: such an electrified powertrain fits perfectly to a Bentley because
Speaker 5: we're always talking the wave of torque, and that was
Speaker 5: coming from big displacement back in the days, a six
Speaker 5: to three quarter that was a nice size of an engine,
Speaker 5: and everything was about tor but we are over exceeding
Speaker 5: these talk numbers. Today the spontaneous reaction of the engine
Speaker 5: is way better and the same will come on the
Speaker 5: electric drive train. More talk, more response, nice and quite driving.
Speaker 5: But if you want and if you put the accelerated
Speaker 5: down to the floor, it will happen.
Speaker 1: Something I think I should say for the listeners in
Speaker 1: case anyone is not aware. Doctor Wallace are actually holds
Speaker 1: a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering and is sort of
Speaker 1: considered the grandfather of the nine to eighteen Spider hypercar.
Speaker 1: In case anyone didn't mention that, or didn't know that,
Speaker 1: or we didn't mention it.
Speaker 2: Sure the Bloomberg terminal has you down as the project manager,
Speaker 2: so I would say you were the boss on that.
Speaker 1: And you've been doing this for I mean, gosh, twenty ten,
Speaker 1: Since before twenty ten, working on this type of technology.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I started in nineteen ninety five, so it's nearly
Speaker 5: thirty years now of experience in the automotive sector, different projects,
Speaker 5: but on these electrification part.
Speaker 4: I started working on.
Speaker 5: I think it was pretty much around in November, maybe
Speaker 5: even the day matches in two thousand and nine where
Speaker 5: the first ideas on electrification electrification of big cars started.
Speaker 5: Gained a lot of experience in that some of the
Speaker 5: technologies still around.
Speaker 2: So I mean basically you were at Porsche since the
Speaker 2: turn of the century, right running the motorsport division, I
Speaker 2: think in starting in two thousand and three, and then
Speaker 2: the ninet eighteen and now you're at Bentley, and I
Speaker 2: think it must be incredibly exciting for you to have
Speaker 2: now this whole brand that you can shape and mold,
Speaker 2: you know, Obviously it's storied and has a long history,
Speaker 2: so you're working with everyone who's already been there. But
Speaker 2: you have this leadership position now at such an incredible mark.
Speaker 2: What are you most excited about at Bentley?
Speaker 4: It's exactly what you described.
Speaker 5: It's not only an engineering job, it's not only a product.
Speaker 4: It's a complete company.
Speaker 5: It includes communications, it includes the customer interaction. It includes
Speaker 5: our sales channels, our dealerships, all the partners we have
Speaker 5: outside there, but also.
Speaker 4: The production stuff. How to develop our.
Speaker 5: Culture here within Bentley what is really an important part
Speaker 5: of it.
Speaker 4: How to.
Speaker 5: Continue to being a high performance theme bringing great products
Speaker 5: and we all know the surrounding is not easier.
Speaker 4: We have to make decisions. We have, yeah, as I said,
Speaker 4: the biggest transformation in the history of.
Speaker 5: The car, and well that's part of the fund and
Speaker 5: daily work. But this is also very motivating. And sure
Speaker 5: you're responsible for the half thousand people here on site,
Speaker 5: the crew, but also on the international dealer network and
Speaker 5: all the partners outside, and for sure on the customers.
Speaker 4: That are really fans. I don't think we have really customers.
Speaker 5: We have fans of our brand and of our cars
Speaker 5: and the history and everything behind that.
Speaker 4: That's great, it's really exciting.
Speaker 2: What was your perception of the brand? I mean, if
Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken, you are from Stuttgart, so you have
Speaker 2: been immersed in you know, Porsche, Mercedes. You're not far
Speaker 2: from a falter Bach, you know. I imagine you were
Speaker 2: a huge German car fan, and then you must have
Speaker 2: taken note with extreme interest when Volkswagen acquired Bentley, as
Speaker 2: well as all the other brands they acquired. So what
Speaker 2: was your perception of it growing up?
Speaker 4: Growing up?
Speaker 5: I think it was it was the interesting time when
Speaker 5: these when these big changes happened, where there was this
Speaker 5: big consolidation of the of of some of the smaller
Speaker 5: brands and the acquisition strategy of Volkswagen that but honestly,
Speaker 5: maybe based on information and based on age and experience
Speaker 5: from outside, it looked a little bit what exactly is
Speaker 5: the idea and how will that work?
Speaker 4: And who did do the better deal?
Speaker 5: Back in the days, because one company took over the
Speaker 5: name and the other one took over all the assets.
Speaker 4: And the Bentley name that was not so known outside.
Speaker 5: Of the customers. It was a very small customer group.
Speaker 5: But obviously this master plan behind it. Now we can
Speaker 5: look back well twenties, more than twenty five years ago
Speaker 5: when the decisions were made, and seeing the outcome, how
Speaker 5: this idea really started to have a balance steps business.
Speaker 5: To have a modelized there, to have grown the fans
Speaker 5: by multiplus of thousands in comparison.
Speaker 4: To number of cars that have been produced before. This
Speaker 4: is really great.
Speaker 1: I'm really curious to hear you call Bentley owners fans.
Speaker 1: It's really nice to hear because I think that term
Speaker 1: I would naturally think, okay, that applies to Porsche people.
Speaker 1: But you know, with Bentley, you're kind of in a
Speaker 1: different space, and I'm wondering if you could talk about
Speaker 1: how you see Bentley positioned as a brand in contrast
Speaker 1: to Rolls Royce for instance, or in contrast even to
Speaker 1: my bock. I know when we've spoken Ander Mott, you
Speaker 1: mentioned that Bentley might it might improve by sharpening its
Speaker 1: image a little bit. So can you talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about what that means in your mind moving forward?
Speaker 5: Well, my learning is over the last weeks or months
Speaker 5: and discussions with the with the team here engineering and
Speaker 5: also with the comms team and marketing, and honestly also
Speaker 5: the chance to drive a lot of these heritage cars
Speaker 5: to really learn what makes it Bentley so special and
Speaker 5: also reflecting.
Speaker 4: On the history.
Speaker 5: When the thing that that's also a car that that
Speaker 5: really impressed me by by driving it was the turbo r.
Speaker 3: Oh Boy. But we talk about that car a lot.
Speaker 2: I'm a huge fan of, like I desperately want one.
Speaker 4: Okay, Okay, So we are three.
Speaker 5: But something obviously happened in the company back in the
Speaker 5: days that someone from me and some of the engineers decided,
Speaker 5: let's make a variant out of.
Speaker 4: That that is more sport here. That is considering times
Speaker 4: and everything was kind of revolutionary considering the company.
Speaker 5: So obviously there had been even though for this long
Speaker 5: long time where Bentley was kind of a second brand
Speaker 5: with together with Voice, there must have been enthusiasts for
Speaker 5: this brand that pushed it again and that they have
Speaker 5: seen a business opportunity also and they had been right.
Speaker 5: They had been proven right because everything I know then
Speaker 5: the sales numbers definitely went up and Bentley established again
Speaker 5: as a as a special brand. And I think this
Speaker 5: specialty within Bentley, besides for sure having a super valuable car,
Speaker 5: a unique car, small numbers you have to blend with having.
Speaker 4: A sportiness that is built in.
Speaker 5: I think there's still a chance to emphasize even more
Speaker 5: the sportiness of the brand and we can maybe maybe
Speaker 5: more even more exotic cars that some would not have considered. Well,
Speaker 5: that's that can work with Eventley. But I consider that
Speaker 5: the brand is being really really strong. It can offer
Speaker 5: a lot of products under the.
Speaker 4: Bentley brand as long as you keep this heritage.
Speaker 5: This is this unique blend of having this super valuable car,
Speaker 5: of having the sportiness, of having the craftsmanship in the
Speaker 5: future for sure, also having the sustainability, with the technical
Speaker 5: knowledge we have, with the abilities we have, and we
Speaker 5: have to say we have from group technology what we
Speaker 5: can use in certain degrees.
Speaker 1: I kind of liked that idea about you didn't say it.
Speaker 1: I'm saying this so this isn't on you. But having
Speaker 1: the Turbo R and that family of Bentley's sort of
Speaker 1: as a touch point in the history that you can
Speaker 1: refer to, but also maybe a bit of a north
Speaker 1: star as you move forward to tap into whatever you
Speaker 1: describe the excitement around that really gutsy, brawny, powerful driver's car.
Speaker 5: This is a car for drivers, for sure. You can
Speaker 5: be shuffled with them and that works pretty nice. But
Speaker 5: it's a driver's car, and this this is aldo then
Speaker 5: part of the engineering and the product is designed is
Speaker 5: also made for drivers. I wonder in the car it handles,
Speaker 5: how the acceleration is, how the steering is.
Speaker 4: Is this driver's car?
Speaker 2: Yes? Well, and you're, you know, just starting out there
Speaker 2: as the head driver. I was talking with Hannah about
Speaker 2: this when she went to drive the the new Continental
Speaker 2: and interview you. I thought, well, I'm sure the Continental
Speaker 2: is a great car, and now I've driven it, so
Speaker 2: I know it's fantastic to drive. But it wasn't something
Speaker 2: that you developed from the start. And I've been thinking,
Speaker 2: what is the first project that we will say, five
Speaker 2: years from now? This was Frank's first car at Bentley.
Speaker 2: Have you already started on it? Do you know what
Speaker 2: it's going to be?
Speaker 4: I have a very clear idea that I hope it
Speaker 4: takes not five years.
Speaker 2: How long will it take? I don't you know. I
Speaker 2: don't know more.
Speaker 4: The next podcast.
Speaker 2: Come on. I mean, look, you have you have Benega
Speaker 2: and a longer version of Flying Spur Continental and the
Speaker 2: and the convertible version. Do you think there's any holes
Speaker 2: in the portfolio? Is there something missing that you want
Speaker 2: to put back or recreate or create for the first time.
Speaker 5: I would not say holes, even knowing well on the
Speaker 5: things that are coming, especially with our next expect but
Speaker 5: looking in some of the derive tips and looking on
Speaker 5: ideas based on these cars, we have some ideas.
Speaker 4: They might be surprising, but it would definitely have fun
Speaker 4: in driving them.
Speaker 2: Can you tell us a little bit about the process,
Speaker 2: because I've always thought start to finish a motor vehicle
Speaker 2: takes five years. That's just a round number that's stuck
Speaker 2: in my head and maybe it's from twenty years ago
Speaker 2: and I'm wrong. So what is the process like when
Speaker 2: you started the nine to eighteen to when it started,
Speaker 2: you know, to when the first customer took delivery? How
Speaker 2: long did that take?
Speaker 4: Thirty eight months? Wow, very exact.
Speaker 3: That was a very specific number.
Speaker 5: Very specific, and it was it was pretty quick. I
Speaker 5: would say today. It depends always what is a new car.
Speaker 5: If there's a lot of things around, numbers are communicated
Speaker 5: by different manufacturers.
Speaker 4: Why it's always so difficult to compare.
Speaker 5: But if you have an existing platform and you do
Speaker 5: a new car based on that, so you have engines
Speaker 5: and gearboxes and things to carry over. I would say
Speaker 5: it would take you today between forty eight and fifty
Speaker 5: six months, so your five years is pretty much the number.
Speaker 5: But we also see that there is a need to
Speaker 5: be quicker, to react quicker. I would say the progress
Speaker 5: we are doing on the electronic software side forces a
Speaker 5: little bit of manufacturers really to accelerate what I would
Speaker 5: appreciate well, also with a little bit of motorsport background,
Speaker 5: So being.
Speaker 4: Quicker is not bad.
Speaker 1: Greak, I'm dying to know where are you living now
Speaker 1: in your new role and have you found any great
Speaker 1: driving roads in your area that you like to drive
Speaker 1: just for your own enjoyment.
Speaker 5: Well, I'm living not so far away from Croup on
Speaker 5: the office, twenty minutes in Cheshire on a farm in
Speaker 5: a bar conversion.
Speaker 3: So come frut, how old? How old is the bar
Speaker 3: and can version?
Speaker 4: Maybe one hundred years, I guess.
Speaker 6: I guess driving around in Cheshire is looking at the
Speaker 6: size of the of the of the streets is a
Speaker 6: little bit demanding, but not maybe the best place.
Speaker 4: You'll look for, I've heard, but it's.
Speaker 5: Not so far away to go peak district where you'll
Speaker 5: find the first great roads to drive. And next weekend
Speaker 5: we go north of Wales, what is definitely a great
Speaker 5: place to drive amazing. So step by step, week weekend
Speaker 5: by weekend, we're looking for opportunities going out taking my
Speaker 5: Continental GG convertible a little bit around. That's but it's
Speaker 5: also part of learning about the product, how to handle
Speaker 5: what is it in the day to day usability.
Speaker 2: I'm wondering about you growing up. I don't know if
Speaker 2: you spent most of your time in Stuttgarter around I
Speaker 2: went to tubing in so I'm familiar with the roads,
Speaker 2: and I spent a lot of time at Filterstart and
Speaker 2: Winstadt and you know the counch dot Vasen. What were
Speaker 2: you into growing up? I mean you're like generation Golf, right, So.
Speaker 4: What kind of cars?
Speaker 2: Yes? What kind of cars were you driving in high school?
Speaker 2: And what what spurred you to get so involved in
Speaker 2: this industry other than you know, obviously growing up in
Speaker 2: the bosom of it.
Speaker 5: It was well a part definitely from the area because
Speaker 5: I was growing up near to Voidling and so tubing
Speaker 5: and that and giving me away, so you should know that,
Speaker 5: of course, and car industry always was important. But my
Speaker 5: parents told me when I was a kid, I was
Speaker 5: always in cars all the time in everything.
Speaker 4: And I remember in we had been on a on.
Speaker 5: A holiday travel and I was excited about every car,
Speaker 5: but it was I fell asleep and my parents later
Speaker 5: told me there was a Lamborghini parsting us and I
Speaker 5: missed that.
Speaker 4: Since that time, I never s again in a car.
Speaker 4: Now it's getting better, but for twenty years I never
Speaker 4: ever slept because I.
Speaker 5: Could miss a specific exotic supercar or something. Okay, and
Speaker 5: well then always in technology, always interested in cars fascinated
Speaker 5: me my whole life. The first one was what that was?
Speaker 5: What I could afford was a Fia do know?
Speaker 3: Oh cool?
Speaker 4: But it was an S so important. I did not engine,
Speaker 4: only the super small engine.
Speaker 5: Then was the golf too, and after the Golf tour
Speaker 5: I have to think on after the GLF tour, it
Speaker 5: was a Boxer.
Speaker 2: Nice.
Speaker 4: My first colleagues.
Speaker 2: Car are your car as an employee?
Speaker 1: Then?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Do you own a car that you know you will
Speaker 3: have forever? Currently?
Speaker 4: Two of them? Yes?
Speaker 3: What are they?
Speaker 5: One is a nine nine to three convertible model year
Speaker 5: ninety seven.
Speaker 3: What color black?
Speaker 4: Black? Black? Reimported from New York City?
Speaker 3: Wow?
Speaker 4: All black?
Speaker 2: Yes, of course, triple black.
Speaker 5: It's key Manuel with the Molia upgrade on the Stormer
Speaker 5: engine two hundred and eighty seven.
Speaker 2: Power and the other.
Speaker 4: But I keeped out on the c the US suspension
Speaker 4: that was not good.
Speaker 2: And what's the other one?
Speaker 4: Everyone is a Citish Rae Touring two thousand eighteen.
Speaker 2: Great common wow and better for the for the Autobahn
Speaker 2: than other roads. Don't you think the rest of US
Speaker 2: could learn a thing or two from Germany about unlimited
Speaker 2: speeds or do you think that they need to change that?
Speaker 4: That's an interesting question.
Speaker 5: And number one, the reality in Germany is not so
Speaker 5: many unlimited roads that everybody seeing, especially if.
Speaker 4: You're south of Germany. Everywhere one set down really open
Speaker 4: is super limited. The traffic is very dense. Even if
Speaker 4: it's unlimited, it's super dense.
Speaker 5: Well, I like to I enjoy it if it's if
Speaker 5: it's possible, but it needs a.
Speaker 4: Lot of experience as to do so and to have
Speaker 4: it properly. And he has to be vice if you
Speaker 4: have a powerful.
Speaker 3: Car or I like that. I agree, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think drivers in LA should have unlimited speed limits,
Speaker 1: knowing how knowing how these people drive out on these streets.
Speaker 3: We cannot have that here. You can't trust us with us.
Speaker 4: I would highly recommend to not do so.
Speaker 2: That was Frank Stephen Walliser, Doctor Frank Stephen Wallaser, the
Speaker 2: CEO of Bentley, holding his cards a little bit close
Speaker 2: to the vest.
Speaker 1: No, we're gonna have to have him on again. I
Speaker 1: guess I take it as a good sign. It means
Speaker 1: this is a conversation ongoing.
Speaker 3: I suppose.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting to watch. Also,
Speaker 2: their competition with Rolls Royce. I don't know, do they
Speaker 2: see themselves as direct competitors anymore or something completely because
Speaker 2: still offers a twelve cylinder motor and Bentley does not.
Speaker 1: Let me just take the liberty of saying, I don't
Speaker 1: think Rolls Royce thinks they're competitors. Yeah, so you know,
Speaker 1: and that's no shade on Bentley. I think Bentley, of course,
Speaker 1: is going more to what we talked about at the
Speaker 1: beginning of this show, more of a sporting driver, like
Speaker 1: perhaps the higher end Mercedes.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't crossh up those cars for the record, sounds
Speaker 1: like you in your mind there's some cross shopping, but
Speaker 1: I wouldn't.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I mean, look, if you're gonna pay four
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars for a car, you're not going to
Speaker 2: probably price it shop at against something that price is
Speaker 2: priced it at half.
Speaker 3: I'm good in a Ferrari. If I'm spending four hundred thousand,
Speaker 3: I feel for the record.
Speaker 2: I would get a Lamborghini therein lie our differences, I
Speaker 2: guess you would still compare the Bentley Continental against Does
Speaker 2: Rolls Royce even make the Wraith anymore? I don't know. Yes,
Speaker 2: those those are too too much for me, obviously to
Speaker 2: even configure, because in my wildest dreams, I can imagine
Speaker 2: getting the nine to eleven that I want, But I
Speaker 2: cannot imagine ever spending Bentley or Rolls Royce money, even
Speaker 2: if I somehow earned it, you know what.
Speaker 1: This is on a totally different topic. But I was
Speaker 1: in the same room as the guy who won the
Speaker 1: two billion dollar Power Bowl payout a few days ago,
Speaker 1: and he's very you know, and you can google him
Speaker 1: and he's buying like old stuff at auctions, And can
Speaker 1: you imagine, I mean, this is just a guy.
Speaker 2: This is Can I imagine or do I on a
Speaker 2: daily basis?
Speaker 1: I either I it can't even my mind can't process.
Speaker 1: I mean this guy, you would never in a million,
Speaker 1: even still I think he won in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: Even still, you never ever ever guess he looks like
Speaker 1: just some dude.
Speaker 2: I mean, so weird. I do this all the time
Speaker 2: in my head. First of all, if you win the
Speaker 2: two billion dollar jackpot.
Speaker 3: Do you take it all up front?
Speaker 2: Would? I would probably get the payout it's higher, but
Speaker 2: there are many, I think maybe better arguments for taking
Speaker 2: it up front. You're you're not getting half of that,
Speaker 2: so you're not gonna end up with even a billion
Speaker 2: after the government takes you know its share. But don't
Speaker 2: you put your dream garage together every time you daydream
Speaker 2: about having a billion dollars or one hundred million or
Speaker 2: fifty million, like I do that constantly. Yeah, Yes, I
Speaker 2: would need a truck and that would be probably right now.
Speaker 2: That would be the Chevy Silverado twenty five hundred ZR two.
Speaker 2: I would need a nine to eleven. I think I
Speaker 2: would take a careerra tee even if I had all
Speaker 2: the money, because I don't really need an ST and
Speaker 2: I think it would take forever to get one. I
Speaker 2: would need a big luxury sedan for the whole family,
Speaker 2: and you know that I want like the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: two BMW M seven sixty with the V twelve. Yeah,
Speaker 2: probably needed a big suv. I don't know. No minivans, No,
Speaker 2: definitely not a minivan. By the way, So I was
Speaker 2: talking to you last week about my minivan and I
Speaker 2: had them cut it out of the podcast because I wasn't.
Speaker 3: Gonna say that we don't have to talk about it.
Speaker 2: Well, here's the problem. On the day we recorded last week,
Speaker 2: I had driven it for all of a half hour
Speaker 2: and it was like I was in a good mood.
Speaker 2: I drove it a few people to Pickleball and I
Speaker 2: was like, Wow, this is so cool. I'm driving the Chrysler. Yes,
Speaker 2: because it's brand new, beautiful paint. It's not a great
Speaker 2: looking vehicle from the outside, obviously it's a Chrysler Pacific,
Speaker 2: a minivan, but the seating position is so different from
Speaker 2: anything I'm used to. You're sitting like at the front
Speaker 2: on the edge of a skateboard. Yeah, And I thought, wow,
Speaker 2: this is really cool and it kind of glides along
Speaker 2: the ride felt fine, you know, on my suburban roads
Speaker 2: out to the pickleball and I was so into it.
Speaker 2: I was like, that's awesome. Why have I been avoiding
Speaker 2: a minivan? It's so spacious, you know, the load floor
Speaker 2: is so low, and you know the two doors that
Speaker 2: go all the way back. Like I thought, this is
Speaker 2: I've been missing this, this is your new you. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And then the next day, like I commuted to work
Speaker 2: in it, and I realized, no, that is not a
Speaker 2: good car.
Speaker 1: Man. It's a good thing you didn't actually buy that. Like,
Speaker 1: what if you actually bought it after a fifteen minute I.
Speaker 2: Would know that, And that actually is a very good point. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so many people test drive a car for fifteen minutes
Speaker 2: or a half hour or maybe an hour max. And
Speaker 2: you just don't have any time to get used to
Speaker 2: a vehicle, not at all.
Speaker 3: And that that would be like my mood.
Speaker 1: My mood would determine how I feel, like whatever I
Speaker 1: ate for lunch, you know, that would determine how I
Speaker 1: was feeling potentially about a car, Like if I had
Speaker 1: just done a great workout or whatever.
Speaker 3: I can see how that affects. You know, you need
Speaker 3: more than fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2: You need it for a week because you got to
Speaker 2: commute with it, go to the grocery store, go to
Speaker 2: an event. You know, I take it on date night exactly,
Speaker 2: get your friends in it, take it up to Bear
Speaker 2: Mountain or Angelie's Crest or whatever. Like, you need to
Speaker 2: do a whole gamut of things with it to understand
Speaker 2: if you want to spend your harder in cash.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's not to say that a car has
Speaker 1: to do everything, but it's just to say you will
Speaker 1: learn which tasks this tool is good for.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and if you're okay with.
Speaker 2: That or not, where do you want to make compromises?
Speaker 2: Where are you willing to make compromises? Yeah? So the
Speaker 2: Chrysler minivan, I mean, for for what it is, Like
Speaker 2: if it was just if I was using it just
Speaker 2: in my suburbs taking the kids to you know, basketball
Speaker 2: and dance or whatever. I guess that makes sense. But
Speaker 2: as soon as I got into the city, I realized
Speaker 2: it already felt like a beat up uber over these roads.
Speaker 2: And I actually had kind of a revelation because you
Speaker 2: know how disappointed I am with the suspension in the
Speaker 2: GLS that we bought. I realized, I need a body
Speaker 2: on frame truck as a family car.
Speaker 3: Isn't like that? Yeah that's cool, Yeah, I mean why not?
Speaker 2: I just need the heavy duty suspension. It's not like
Speaker 2: I'm taking it off road. I'm not really tolling anything.
Speaker 2: It's just that suspension in these roads here in New
Speaker 2: York in the metropolitan area. Like you need something that
Speaker 2: could survive armageddon?
Speaker 1: Is that a crew cab? I mean, is that big
Speaker 1: enough to fit the family realistically?
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean a crew cab like F one fifty
Speaker 2: or Silverado for sure fits the whole family. I was
Speaker 2: thinking like a Tahoe, you know, or a Yukon, which
Speaker 2: is essentially the same thing with a bat Yeah, but no,
Speaker 2: what I mean is body on frame. I mean, not
Speaker 2: you a yeah, so yes, not any suv in fact,
Speaker 2: most SUVs. No, it's only like Tahoe and probably what's
Speaker 2: the Nissan, the Armada, you know or whatever. The Tundra
Speaker 2: is called an suv form it starts with it Sequoya,
Speaker 2: sequoyah Sequoya. And I imagine that the Ford Expedition is also,
Speaker 2: you know, a body on frame truck. And if it's not,
Speaker 2: I just I don't have any time for it as
Speaker 2: a family car because I need solid suspension for driving
Speaker 2: my kids around the New York metropolitan area.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I support it. I've no comeback to that other
Speaker 3: than you. It makes sense to me, honestly.
Speaker 2: All Right, I guess that's all we have time for
Speaker 2: this week. Yeah, I'm really looking forward, Hannah, to you
Speaker 2: spending more time in this Mercedes AMG S sixty three
Speaker 2: E Performance.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna look for those Easter eggs. They're better be
Speaker 3: an American flag in there somewhere today.
Speaker 2: Today, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of
Speaker 2: the eleventh month, it all ended.
Speaker 3: Oh, November is my favorite month, my too.
Speaker 2: Yep, wait, when's your birthday?
Speaker 3: The sixteenth?
Speaker 2: Nice? Yeah, coming November babies excellent. Okay, that's it for
Speaker 2: us this week. I'm Matt Miller, and
Speaker 3: I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is Bloomberg.