Carvana Gets Suspended and Soars at the Same Time, Porsche Considers Google, Celebrity Ads

The Automotive Troublemaker w/ Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier

It’s Thursday folks and today we’re talking about Carvana’s surrender of their dealer license in Michigan. We also cover Porsche and Google’s talks, a follow up of our EV charger story yesterday, as well as a new AI written celebrity ad.

• The Carvana location in Michigan will be surrendering it’s dealer license and ineligible to apply for a new one as part of a plea deal with state regulators
  • Originally suspended on Oct 7, which Carvana contested, but lost the appeal
  • The Michigan Department of State had said Carvana violated the Michigan Vehicle Code by:
    • failing to apply for title and registration within 15 days of delivery
    • failing to maintain odometer records
    • improperly issuing temporary registrations
    • failing to have records available for inspection
  • "In a plea deal signed with our department, the Carvana dealership in Novi agreed it had violated the law and to have its dealer license revoked and be barred from reapplying for a new license for three years," Department of State spokesman Jake Rollow wrote in a statement provided to Automotive News.
  • Customers will still be able to buy a vehicle online and take delivery at the location, but will be unable to walk up and talk to or work with a salesperson
  • Carvana shares were up 25% yesterday as they are getting swept in the meme stock category
    
• In one of it’s first pieces of intriguing news since going public late last year, Porsche is in talks with Google to fully integrate its operating system into its vehicles according to a source close to the matter
  • Porsche had been hesitant to make the move due to Google asking for too much data to be shared, according to Manager Magazine, which first reported the talks
  • GM, Ford, Nissan, and Renault
• In a follow up story from yesterday's conversation with Todd Caputo regarding S&P Global Mobilities report on the number of chargers the US will need to sustain EV growth by the year 2030, the largest power grid in the US reported that they saw 25% of their grid fail during the Christmas break
  • PJM Interconnection, a regional power grid that stretches from Illinois to New Jersey services over 65M customer said their grid was on the verge of rolling blackouts due to the cold snap
  • Todd’s point was that the number of chargers doesn’t matter if the grid can’t supply the power reliably
• ChatGPT, the AI powered chat generator that has been making headlines is the star in a new commercial created by actor Ryan Reynolds for his mobile service company Mint Mobile. In the ad he gives GPT some direction and then reads the copy out loud
  • Reynolds called the ad “eerie” and “mildly terrifying”
  • Microsoft is considering investing $10B in the software company bringing its valuation to $29B

Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier
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