Spike's Car Radio

Why Automakers DON'T Make Cars for You Anymore

64 min
Apr 8, 202615 days ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Spike's Car Radio discusses why automakers are abandoning affordable vehicles to focus on hypercars and ultra-luxury models, featuring guest Matt Farah. The hosts explore the Aston Martin Valhalla, Porsche's strategy shift, and the new Toyota Land Cruiser, while debating whether manufacturers should develop lower-end models instead of chasing billionaire buyers.

Insights
  • Automakers are deliberately abandoning mid-market vehicles because hypercar margins are significantly higher than volume production, despite lower total unit sales
  • Chinese EV manufacturers are producing competitive vehicles but struggle with design differentiation, leading to awkward marketing tactics like celebrity photoshopping
  • Product line bloat (Omega's 866 watches, Breitling's excessive variants) confuses consumers and dilutes brand prestige, potentially explaining sales declines
  • The 992.2 Porsche GT3 Sport Cabriolet represents a rare affordable sports car alternative, suggesting some manufacturers still see value in lower-priced offerings
  • Autocross and track events remain popular but carry significant risk when drivers exceed their skill level, as demonstrated by the K-rail incident
Trends
Luxury automakers consolidating product lines toward hypercars and ultra-premium segments to maximize per-unit profitabilityChinese EV brands gaining technical competence but facing design and brand perception challenges in global marketsWatch industry experiencing sales decline correlated with excessive SKU proliferation and reduced brand clarityAffordable sports cars becoming increasingly rare as manufacturers exit sub-$100k segmentsLegal tech innovation (Attorney Shield app) enabling consumer protection during police interactionsHybrid and electric motor technology enabling advanced traction control systems that outperform traditional differentialsCelebrity endorsement deals for Chinese automotive brands following historical patterns of Asian market premium pricingToyota/Lexus platform sharing strategy allowing multiple price points on identical chassis architecturePorsche and other manufacturers reconsidering affordable entry models as hypercar strategy proves insufficient for profitability
Topics
Hypercar manufacturing economics and marginsAutomaker product line strategy and market segmentationToyota Land Cruiser 250 redesign and positioningAston Martin Valhalla engineering and performancePorsche GT3 Sport Cabriolet development and specsChinese EV design and brand differentiation challengesWatch industry product proliferation and brand dilutionLuxury goods pricing and billionaire consumer targetingAutocross safety and driver skill assessmentElectric motor traction control systemsAffordable sports car market declineLegal technology for consumer rights protectionHybrid powertrain break-in proceduresPorsche 992.1 Turbo S modifications and performanceTransaxle mount engineering impact on ride quality
Companies
Aston Martin
Featured extensively discussing Valhalla hypercar, Vantage S, and transaxle mount engineering improvements
Porsche
Discussed strategy shift toward hypercars and GT3 Sport Cabriolet development; Andreas Pruninger upcoming guest
Toyota
New Land Cruiser 250 (LC250) redesign and market positioning strategy discussed with vehicle demonstration
McLaren
Referenced for hybrid electric motor technology and Artura model with electric reverse gear
Lexus
Discussed as luxury brand receiving LC200 platform vehicles instead of Toyota; GX model mentioned
Denza
Chinese EV brand criticized for awkward design and Daniel Craig celebrity endorsement marketing
Omega
Watch brand analyzed for excessive product line (866 variants) contributing to sales decline and brand confusion
Breitling
Watch manufacturer discussed for product line proliferation and depreciation issues
Rolex
Positioned as model for focused product strategy with limited watch variants maintaining brand prestige
Rivian
Referenced for electric motor traction control technology and surface detection capabilities
Ford
Jim Farley story about delivering Ford Explorer to Pope; Chicago manufacturing mentioned
Koenigsegg
Design language influences noted on Aston Martin Valhalla styling
Lamborghini
Design influences referenced in Denza EV front-end styling analysis
Panamera
Design language influences noted on Denza EV styling
Lucid
Gravity model design language referenced in Denza EV rear-end styling
Range Rover
Compared unfavorably to Land Cruiser for reliability and value proposition
Mercedes-Benz
Discussed backing out of affordable A-class and GLB segments due to profitability concerns
Dream Giveaways
Company managing Porsche 911 Turbo S sweepstakes giveaway with charitable component
People
Matt Farah
Guest discussing Aston Martin Valhalla, Porsche strategy, and Toyota Land Cruiser with extensive track experience
Johnny Lieberman
Co-host discussing automotive industry trends and conducting interviews
Spike
Primary host managing show, discussing automaker strategy and product trends
Andreas Pruninger
Upcoming guest to discuss new GT cars and hypercar strategy; bringing GT3 Touring
Jim Farley
Sister podcast host; discussed Pope Ford Explorer delivery story and upcoming season guests
Daniel Craig
Former James Bond actor featured in Denza EV marketing campaign with photoshopped imagery
Andrew K
Designed Aston Martin Valhalla carbon tub; previously designed McLaren 720S
Jethro Bobbington
Discussed Aston Martin Valhalla experience and tire wear during testing
Freeman Thomas
Hypothetically mentioned as potential designer for reimagined Porsche 356
Paul Zuckerman
Referenced throughout for BMW and Porsche preferences; involved in pre-show Patreon content
Quotes
"Why would you go, okay, I'm running Porsche... We're going to reboot the 356. And here's what it is. We're going to get Freeman Thomas to come in and design it. And it's going to be affordable and it's going to be a Porsche and it's going to be cool."
Johnny LiebermanMid-episode discussion on Porsche strategy
"The margins are so good on those, dude. I think on the hypercars... If you're already Porsche building a hypercar has incredible margins."
Matt FarahHypercar economics discussion
"It's not like anyone owes up middle class people a car, but like it just would suck. I just didn't understand the why."
Johnny LiebermanDiscussion on automakers abandoning affordable vehicles
"Omega have eight hundred and sixty six watches on their website. Eight hundred and sixty six. I was just reading about their decline in sales."
Instagram watch analyst (quoted)Watch industry product proliferation segment
"The ride is beautiful. It's a really, really lovely car. And actually now that like everything else has gotten so insanely expensive... it seems like a pretty good value."
Johnny LiebermanAston Martin Vantage S discussion
Full Transcript
Welcome to Spikes Car Radio. Here we are. We just did a nice pre-show on Patreon. Another reason to subscribe on Patreon. I just held up my stupid phone and shatted with these guys and it was it was fun. What's the link? I'll subscribe, Spike. I don't know. Here. What are we going to do? What's the link? www.picturon.com. Oh, OK. It's exactly what you'd think. OK, it's a way to vibrant Patriot community as well. Our Patriot is so fun. And I love ours too. And it's fun. And, you know, we had, you know, it wasn't a lot of folks, but like 27, 30 people came on. Spur the moment. And we had a nice chat with them and they they made comments. I enjoyed it. I like it. I'm going to do that a lot. My only fear is the pre-show that Suckerman does that I'll have to. Don't give him the password. You have to get the FBI involved. I don't know how you get there. Ten second delay in the Patriot line. I just think no, no, no, no. Yeah. You know, no, Zuckerman. Anyway, Matt Ferris here. We're excited to have you here, Matt. Thanks, Johnny Lieberman. He brought a car. Let's just start. I've got so much to ask you about. Sorry, I didn't bring a car. I had a van. We have one we've got this. Back this morning. Nice car. What a delight. Yeah. Which one? The new Vantage S. As the more nice. And it's, you know, S stands for sorted. Yeah. By the time Aston Martin gets to the S, that's very well done. The thing for like 12 years. Very well said. And man, you should you should give them a buzz. So Matt and I went on the launch of the Vantage. Oh, the roaster. Yeah, we shared a car and it was. Yeah, it was fun. First time in like 100 years. Yeah. But they like it just was so much better than the Coupe. And we're like, we're like, what did you change? No, you know, just lying British, you know. And then finally he's like the transaxle mount. We redid the transaxle mount. And then to drive the Vantage S, I had to have do like a zoom call with their engineers and they mentioned all this stuff. And I said, did the transaxle mount change make it? And they're like, how do you remember that? But yes. It was crucial. Yeah. No, it's really good. The ride is great. That's the transaxle mount. Yeah. No, the ride is beautiful. It's a really, really lovely car. And actually now that like now that everything else has gotten so insanely expensive. Yeah. Yeah. The one I just gave back was like loaded. It was 240, which is a huge amount of money. Like the Zuckerman's point. It's a huge amount of money, but actually seems like a pretty good value. Like, yeah, it's not. But it's never seen you guys so enthusiastic. I mean, the vanquish was one car, one Aston. Oh, the vanquish did Valhalla to you. But you're saying this guy right here. Yeah, it's lovely. I got a, if you go to driving with Johnny, I got a full review of it up. But it's yeah, it's killer. Yeah. I did. I didn't get this car. I don't know. Did you ask? No. I made it. I asked very, I asked, I didn't just ask. I asked repeatedly. You did. Yeah. Yeah. I also got to do Valhalla though. The car that the, that was, I hear it's good. That was up on your side, right? It's glorious. It's so nice. Yeah. I had to review that up. I threw up Matt Ferris. And you know, nobody does a press launch like Aston when they have a race track. There is a level of freedom. Right. Aston Martin does, does not exist at any other. I, I ran a Valkyrie off the track. They didn't know. Yeah. They were watching. Well, I'm sorry. You're paying attention. You want to talk about what's didn't, here's a, here's a little teaser BTS. I, people, we never have BTS. If we have good footage, it's in the video. Why would we hold it back for, but now I have a Patreon. And so Aston, I had free reign to do whatever I wanted with this car, which basically meant drifting it for two hours. And eventually being a hero comes back and I spun it into a gravel trap and had to get towed out. And the video of that is on the Patreon. Oh, that's cool. It is not. Show, we'll show us the cars. It's awesome. What are we looking at? So sorry. It's a video turned into a real, but you, you get it. So it's 1064 horsepower. It's a carbon tub. The chief engineer, his name was Andrew K. He did the 720 s. Right. My hero. The greatest. Yes. And, and, and you have, you know, total commitment from Aston. Uh, they, they made their own carbon tub. They supposedly, they claim to be an ultra limited car. 9,000. A thousand units. A thousand units. Yeah. Yeah. How much? 1.2. 1.2. Yeah. Yeah. Is this your spin out right here? No, that's not on Instagram. You gotta be at the page. What was all the smoke? Oh, I was sliding, but it didn't spin there. I was doing a lot of sliders. So I spoke with Matt and Jethro Bobbington about the Valhalla and they both were just like, I drifted the tires off of it. Jethro, Jethro did two sets of tires actually. Is this the car they designed that didn't have a reverse gear? So it has an electric reverse gear. So they made an electric, they had an engineering idea where they'd had an electric motor. The 911 hybrid has that. The McLaren Artura. Artura has that as well. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, and so does the Ravuelto. A lot of it. And so does the Valkyrie. The Valkyrie and the motors. Does the 19 as a matter of fact. But there's no connection between the motors, right? There's two motors at the front. Electric motors. That are completely disconnected from the back. Yeah. And from each other. And from each other. Right. Like the Corvette ZR1X or E-Ray has one motor at the front with a traditional differential. So it's not as like torque vectory special. This thing, I mean, among the other, all the crazy things it does, it is the first car to really take advantage of using the three E motors as the traction control. So it has a very, very trick. That's right. Traction control system that really invisibly pulls power in a way that more than anywhere else doesn't feel like it's pulling power. I've talked with Rivian engineers about that. And what they say is like, what's great about electric motors is. They understand surfaces. In other words, you're sending X amount of power to a wheel and you're getting Y amount of rotation. Right. So Y is then equal based on the differential of what it's sending versus what it's spinning. That equals gravel. That equals grass, sand, snow, mud. So the tires actually know what's happening. This isn't really a traditional looking Aston Martin anymore, is it? No. No. But this is kind of what they're going to be going for now. New design language. Yeah. I mean, it's got the front grille is evocative of what you'd expect from an Aston Martin. The rear three quarter is very McLaren 7 series. The center bit is sort of inspired by the Valkyrie, but much more normally sized. Much more Koenigsegg-y. And there's also definitely some Koenigseggs and AMG1. I mean, with aerodynamics and cooling, you're going to get familiarity around this whole genre of car. But what's really nice is the packaging of the interior. It's super comfortable to drive and easy to get in and out of. And then it's, you know, when you have a car that's so fast that you couldn't possibly use what it's got on a public road, the question then becomes, well, is it fun at the speed you can use on a public road? Yes. And the inputs, the feedback, the way the gearbox and the tires talk to you, the steering ratio, the ride, those are all dialed in. So at five or six tenths on a road, you're having a pretty good time in this thing. And I feel the same way about you. You would drive this around town, you're saying. You would take this. It's fine around town. It's smooth. It rides okay. But I'm talking about on a Canyon road versus on a racetrack. But like the highway, it's very nice. The Valkyrie, which I didn't get to drive it on the road, but I did some like low speed stuff and it's just, it's just never fun. It's just like you're like, it's overwhelming. I'm in a competition machine. I'm going to go deaf because it's 127 decibels. The space shuttle launched at 125 decibels. Like it's, it's an insane thing. Yeah. This is a car. That's, that's an experiment. And this is, this is seems to be where Porsche wants to go now. Well, they're doing, aren't they? I mean, I mean, but they're talking, they're making a lot about your re I'm reading a lot about, you know, we can't make profit in these other cars. We now have to create hyper cars. Well, that doesn't make sense. Are you going to sell enough of those to? I, so I've done this math a few times and I just wrote a road and track piece that's coming out maybe today, possibly tomorrow. It's about, I find it problematic that, you know, there's 3400 billionaires in the world. I mean, that's not the part I find problematic, although that's a different story. But let's, let's be generous and say half of them like cars. Right. And rich people are going to rich. Look, I mean, look, I'm so glad that. Paul Zuckerman likes BMWs and Porsche's instead of senators. You know what I'm saying? Like rich people going to rich. We were discussing senators. I'm not joking. Right. So like, you know, it's not, it's not just that it's like the buying habits. Yes. What you just said has come up in conversation multiple times where manufacturers are bending their product lines to this very small number. Yes. Ultra, ultra, ultra rich people. Yeah. And, you know, Aston Martin, I'm worried they're going to get rid of the vantage and the lower end models and just do stuff like this and be, you know, and it's not like, it's not like anyone owes up middle class people a car, but like it just would suck. I just was still under 40,000 is not for the middle class. I just didn't understand the why. The news market moves up, you know, the whole. I don't understand why, how you're making money if you're just making a hypercar in your Porsche. Because it's charging so much. But it seems like if you're Porsche, you'd want to develop the lower end and go, let's put some new models down here. The margins are so much higher. Make more of them, sell more of them. That seems like where the money is. It's not a long term play, but it's a. No, I think it is. You mean like, so you mean like do a Mercedes. I'm saying why? I mean, you can do. Mercedes backed out. They said we can't make any money on the A and the GL, whatever it's called, GLB. But why wouldn't you go, okay, I'm running Porsche. Which I will be shortly. Right. They call me up and they say it's time for you to take over. Right. We're going to reboot the three fifty six. And here's what it is. We're going to get Freeman Thomas to come in and design it. And it's going to be affordable and it's going to be a Porsche and it's going to be cool. But is that the Cayman? Huh? Isn't that the Cayman? No, that's not. It's below the nine twenty. It's below the Cayman and it's more three fifty sixty. It's a new model. It's a new idea. I mean, I'm just. I would like being developing the lower end might be the answer. Not developing one hypercar that they sell a thousand of them and none of us can get them. I think the margins are so good on those, dude. I think on the hypercars. My especially if you're already Porsche. If you're starting a hypercar, if Johnny wants to build a hypercar or our friend Sasha Salipinov wants to build a hypercar, different story. But if you're already Porsche building a hypercar has incredible margins. That's a leg up. Incredible. And your customers bitch less when things go wrong. I agree. They sweep things under the road. I just don't think that solves their money problems right now. I think it's a quick shot and a quick hit. Yeah. And I think they're everyone there. The first people to figure it out, they run, they figure it out. Everyone's chasing. Well, in a couple of weeks, Andreas Pruninger is coming on. Oh, really? Well, we'll get him to open up about all of it. You know what's going on. He's always an open book. Openish. But yeah, he'll go, here's the new GT cars that we have coming out. Here's the hypercar. Here's a drawing of it. Here's what we're going to call it. He's more of an open book if you can get him at the bar on it on a GT. Yes, that's where Johnny and I won't tell us anything, but he's bringing a GT three touring on that school that he's coming. I have a he's always had a scheduling conflict, so I couldn't get him on when he's in town. So cool. That's unfortunate. One of the many. We didn't go. Not going racing. Sorry, even Andy Pruninger would respect that I'm going racing. As a matter of fact, he does not. Yes. He didn't mention you at all. He said, there's only one show I did when I come to LA and it's your spike. Yeah. Yeah. And then Porsche said, please, we have to make sure he does this show. And I said, no problem. No problem. It's being a GT three. So I was going to do some ads, but you said you had some portion. Yes. Yes. And we discussed a little bit on the show. Not this. Well, OK, I have a double sourced piece of news. OK. A friend of mine who is in Hollywood. Yes. OK, he's not necessarily in the car scene. He was at Porsche. Turns out he's a huge car guy and and he sees two essentially GT three touring cabriolets. So in other words, so wait, how did it connect the two? He's there. Yeah. At the factory. Yeah. And he's a visor and he sees these things. He sees them and they like fuels, but they don't think they just think he's a TV guy. So he wouldn't know nothing. I see. But he's a giant car nerd. I see. Who has like a fleet of vehicles. OK. Like like an unbelievable amount of photo. No, no, no. He we had lunch and he said, hey, I saw these two guys. I saw these two and they are and they're there. It's a it's a it's a GT three touring cabriolets. In other words, it's a GT three touring convertible with the back seat. See the margins here. This is they can they can make this. They don't have to make a new roof. Yeah. And then I talked to another on all that stuff. They've already homologated the cab. Yep. This is this is easy. But then I talked to another guy. Yeah. Who would know. 400 years. Yeah. Yeah. Another guy who would know when I said, hey, blah, blah. He goes, oh, yeah, it's the it's the sport cab. Sport cabriolet. They're going to call it the sport. Yeah, the sport cab. Right. So there it is. And they're introducing a car at Air and Water. And they're bringing in the air. So that's probably it. The stars are aligning. Wow. Yeah. This big news. It's big news. Big news. Cab. The sport cab. The too bad. Whereas he said. Too bad. You're going to have to tell people. It sounds like a nice car. You have to tell people it's a sport cab. But you made the funny point that my thinking the same way. Why not just make another speedster? Just make a speedster. It's a better word. Well, they already made the speedster. No, they've made nine different speedsters. They didn't make a new speedster. There is just 992 speedster. They they. Yeah. I know they made the 991.2. Now this is the 992.2 sport cabriolet. This is cheaper. That's what I'm saying. Wouldn't you rather have a speedster than a sport cab? I'd rather have a speedster than any 911 ever made. No, the speedster is the greatest of them all. In the last wait, hear me out. Do you think the people that would have bought speedsters are now like, I need my kids in the back? Yes. Because that's why people want it. Two camera. Boo. But they also those people might not like speedster humps. The speedster hump is also there's some people. I don't want the humps. They don't like humps. Yeah. For the record, I like a little backseat. I don't mind that. We ordered our GT3 Touring that's coming in a couple months here. Are you more or less likely to buy a sport cab? I'm not interested. Then if it were a speedster. Look, I can tell you right now I'm not interested in that car at all. Should one be offered to be? A lot of times they catch me in weak moments and I say yes. I always go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. Because it's months down the line and then we forget about it. So I don't know. There's very little that I say no. That's so funny. You know my partner. Yes, I do. Morris Solomon. No, I understand. Why that shit? Just get it. All right, let me read some of that. Fucking buy it. McGuire's. Welcome to the show McGuire's with over 125 years of experience and surface care leadership. McGuire's remains deeply rooted in car culture. Where did Matt go? He took up authentically pushing performance boundaries of detailing products to support all needs. From the experienced pro to the curious novice, McGuire's at its core is undoubtedly about passion. Did he go take a leak? Is that what he's doing? I hope it's a leak. Passion for developing the best possible surface care products, including auto, marine, and RV. Passion for building and fostering genuine relationships with enthusiasts around the globe. They are. Every car show I see or event is sponsored by McGuire's. And how Spike's car radio is. Join the global community of people who genuinely love their cars and reflect their passion using McGuire's. I got a big bucket of stuff with all this stuff in it. And clean the 1966 Porsche 911 of Zuckerman after a spirited drive through Malibu had to do the windshield. Get you know how you get all that film on there from the ocean spray. Yes. And then the sand on the side. The bucket of stuff. The bucket of McGuire's worked. I need a McGuire's bucket. If you're listening. Yeah, did you get the McGuire's bucket? I got the mother's bucket. I shouldn't mention that. It's not on the do not say list. That's not on the do not say list. Anyways, here's what they have that's new for 2026. McGuire's luxury collection, whole car air refreshers. Has your car lost its fresh smell. These premium car air fresheners instantly fight odors while leaving behind a long lasting refresh and scent. They are simple to use aerosols that penetrate the complete interior by moving through the ventilation system across the headliner and in between all other hard to reach access areas. Selects sense available at advanced auto parts O'Reilly auto parts on Amazon and the sense include Island volcano. Ooh, Lieberman farts, Starrgazer, Tropical Rainforest and Dubai Sands. Check it out. Dubai Sands. Also, if you love this podcast, our sister podcast Across the Pond is drive with Jim Farley. They've teamed up with us. Across the pond? Lake Superior? Lake Michigan? Across the lake. Across the lake, Johnny. So the other side of Salt Lake City. He's got a brand new season with way better guests than me. We love this show. This week, I think they have Daniel Ricardo, Formula One driver. Brian Cranston is coming on. Two good gets. Chris Hoy, who's also an Olympic cyclist and racing driver. It also says. No, Brian Cranston. Let's be honest. Yeah, we don't have Brian Cranston yet. But we will. To listen to Drive with Jim Farley, just search for Drive with Jim Farley in your podcast app. That's Drive with Jim Farley. And he's got a great show. He was on this show a couple of weeks ago talking about it. You should check out that episode. He told the great Pope story. Hanging with the Pope. He was hanging with the Pope. And they gave the Pope a Ford Explorer. Yeah. He didn't have like a. Pope didn't want it in white. He wanted it in black. Really? And then he delivered it personally. Is it Pope? Is it Pope Mobile'd up? Or is it just a regular? No, it's just a Ford Explorer, a driver on the Vatican. And then they went driving around the Vatican. And the Pope looked over and he was pretty cool. And Jim went, what? He goes being driven by the Pope. And he goes, right. That is pretty cool. That's pretty funny. That's pretty funny. It is good. Most people who go to visit the Vatican, they stand and wait for him. Maybe he'll come out. Now look at this. In the Ford Explorer. So he just wanted something to experience driving within the walls of the Vatican? I think, well, he's from Chicago. And they make the Ford Explorer in Chicago, I guess. So Jim just called up and said, hey. Hey, Pope. Would you like one? No, no, no. He had a friend who knows the Pope. When the Pope's from Chicago. He got the Pope. Everybody knows him. Oh, that's Bob. My cousin's room. He got the Pope's email. And the Pope, he sent him an email. The Pope emailed him back. And the first thing in the line in the email said, do not share this email. But hello. Because imagine the Pope's email. If it's like every other celebrity I've met, it's going to be pope at Vatican.com. Exactly. Have you ever met a celebrity who's giving you an email address and you're like, stop. I can't even say who. This can't be your email address. I have one recently that I'm like, fuck off. I had someone get mad at me because I shared their email the other day. And I'm like, oh my god. Give me a fucking email. You can't fucking delete the email. You don't want to read. I get 300 of them in the spam file. Oh, dude, you want to. I'm going to delete you. I'm approaching a milestone so rapidly. I have 99,900 unread emails in my inbox. I'm so close. Wait, what happened? I would give you such anxiety. So close. I have, can you be 99K? No, but I have a lot. Can we talk about cards? Sure, what do you got? 55,000, so on. Let's talk about this Toyota behind us. Hang on, suspicious credit card activity detection. Wait, what? Yeah, I got it. You've got a Toyota Land Cruiser. Yes. Let's talk about it. All right. So wait, let's back me up on the Toyota Land Cruiser. Because this car kind of flew into my life under the radar. I see him around the west side. When did we reboot this guy? About two years ago. Two years ago. OK. So what happened was they killed it off in 2020. And that was what was known by nerds as the LC 200. OK. And that was a real, quote unquote, real Land Cruiser. That was a big V8, heavy, small gas tank, three row, but like, undestructible, unimpeachable, hardcore off-roader that, for some reason, Americans thought was a luxury vehicle. OK. Yeah. Built to like a 25-year expected lifecycle. And Toyota said, you know what? We're going to make more money if we sell them all as Lexuses. So they have what they call a landlocked factory, meaning they can't expand it. So they're going to sell 10,000 units a year. Might as well sell 10,000 for $5,000 more than sell 5,000 for 5,000. Got it. That was the thing. But they're like, we're going to bring in the next Prado, which is the Land Cruiser Junior. And this chassis is now called the LC 250. We're going to bring that in as a two-row Land Cruiser. It won't be as hardcore as the old Land Cruiser is. However, Americans don't actually go off-road, so it's totally fine. And it'll be cheaper. Well, a little bit cheaper. Yeah. Well, it starts in the 50s. So you can technically get. It is cheaper. It's not cheap, but it's a lot cheaper. This one's $7,200. The old Land Cruiser, it had one option. So I remember this very well. It's either $86,000 or $88,000. That's what it was. Is it wheels? No, it was an interior thing. It was like, yeah. Maybe it's the third row. No, it was like a comfort package or something. It's not the most attractive thing from this angle. I'm not a fan of these headlights. There are different headlights. I do. I will say I love the gold, white roof, and then the brown leather interior. I think it's a killer combo. And Cam will obviously show off the brown leather interior. It's pretty good as an off-roader. Matt's going to talk about that because he's taken off-road. But it's got a rear locker, a center locker. It's got all of Toyota's off-road modes. And it's got a solid rear axle. Disconnected sway bars. Disconnected sway bars. Super torquey hybrid system. And Matt, take over with the off-road stuff. So I mean, look, I thought this thing, and I drove it on the same relatively small wheels that this one's on. There's a version that comes on some meaty or rubber. But these are the smaller wheels. Maybe I think I might be reacting to. Is the smaller wheels? The smaller wheels. There's one that comes on wheels that are more similar to what you've got on your Bronco. Also real quick, Toyota just makes the ugliest wheels in the industry. Also, they can't get wheels right. They put dopey looking tires on it. Like, I could aftermarket. I've seen these on proper wheels and tires. Yeah, they look good. They look killer. That looks dinky. This is like a all-season Michelin, which is fine for driving around. And if you were buying one of these to drive on the street, honestly, the road noise, the fuel economy, all that stuff, you're probably better off with this kind of tire. But what is that? That's the opener for the glass. So it has a glass. The standalone glass opens roof. Excuse me, rear hatches. See, I like the back end of it a little more. Back is better than the front. Yeah. There's a, you know, they sell it with two different front faces. They do. So the other one you may like better. It has like different shaped headlights, kind of. It's the 1958. The 1950. Which is Toyota for base. It's the base one. But also, yeah, the first Land Cruiser came to the US in 1958. Yeah. But that's what it means in Land Cruiser Speak. So off-road, look, it's super competent, right? It has all the fancy gizmos with the diffs and the sway bar disconnect. The hybrid system gives you good torque filling. You know, you really get that zero to one mile an hour boost from the hybrid system that helps get you going in traction and crawl over rocks and stuff like that. I think, because I also drove the 4Runner like TRD Pro, I think the Land Cruiser is a much more desirable product that achieves essentially the same goal as the 4Runner does now. And it's like way less bro-y. That's the thing. I just had the Trailhunter two weeks ago. And it's just like. Like driving a UFC fight. Well, I'm saying, why? If you look at the front end, it's like so bro-y. It's just, it's got like a frown on top of a frown. And then like everything in the interior is like, ugh, big giant. The controls are for meat hands. Yeah. I assume who has meat hands, it's just kind of childish. This is much more luxurious. Dude, try the Sequoia. Yeah. The TRD Sequoia is personally delivered to you by Dana White. You get a, you get a manosphere influencer. Who was talking about that? How like the Tundra has become the official truck of Texas. Yeah. Crazy. They love it. So it was built in Texas. So I had, I actually had the Lexus version of this. Yeah. Also the GX and I like, it's more expensive. And I liked the Toyota one better. Did you? I thought this platform worked a little better at the lower end of its price point. Sure. The $84,000 Lexus one that I drove that still sort of felt like a Toyota. Because I, I drove like this, a couple of years ago, I drove this version, I remember it was about $72,000. And then I drove like a $77,000 V6 Lexus. Yeah. And so without the hybrid system, you get more room in the back. And I, to me, the Lexus felt a little more maybe baby G-wagony in a sense. So yeah, my questions with the truck like, OK, $71,000, that's like $1,500 more than the trail hunter I had. Which one's a better off-roader? I saw like a LC 200, like a five-year-old Land Cruiser on the way here today. And I was kind of like ashamed to be in this. You know, so like. You know, we got, you know, we got in storage last week. We got a 2010 Land Cruiser. Yeah. With 600 miles. Oh my God. It is brand new. That's fantastic. It's crazy. That's fantastic. Yeah. It's so, so, and that's the thing. Those, like, I think they've done themselves a bit of a, I don't know, I'm just a disservice, but like, I remember years ago, I was at a friend's house and she had a Range Rover and we pulled it up and I was driving the Land Cruiser. And she's like, what's this? And I'm like, this is a Toyota Land Cruiser. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And she was having problems with the Range Rover, like, you know, the windows didn't work or whatever. And I go, you should get this. Cost the same, you know, about 90,000, 90,000. And she's like, I don't get it. It's a Toyota. And then she's like, hey, my neighbor, he's got a warehouse full of cars. He heard you here. He wants to meet you. You know, is it cool if he comes over? I'm like, absolutely. Guy pulls up in a 2000, I said 2000, year 2000 Land Cruiser. And she's like, why do you both have this car? And I turned to him and I go, how many miles do you have on? And he goes, hmm, about 200,000. I goes, anything broken. He goes, no. You know, yeah. That's why. It just worked. And so those were so wonderful. And I just don't know if this it's not. It has it's never going to have that sense of, oh my God. No, it's just in name only type of thing. Yeah. I like saying I have a Land Cruiser. I like I have a Bronco, you know, but it's another market spike, the Land Cruiser Prado that they were selling, which is the junior Land Cruiser was it was brought here as the Lexus GX. Yeah. So the all since it got went back, like I know the Lexus GX was basically that. But which is a pretty good. Drive GX, but you don't get the same pop from that. Right. But they do make the also the big chassis is called the LC 300. So it's here now as the Lexus. What is the LX 700? I think. Yes. Big number. H. Yeah. But but they make a Land Cruiser for like Australia and the Middle East. That is the big platform three row. It's not it's a twin turbo hybrid V six. Like they could bring it here and we would have a quote unquote real. But yeah, but also twin turbo V six hybrid doesn't sound particularly. It's not what that Land Cruiser customers really look. You want that just simple go forever. Yeah. I just, you know, if you have a 200,000 miles on a twin turbo V six hybrid. Congratulations. Yeah. Probably because that's the power plan of the tundra. Right. I mean, it's it's sort of there you go. There's the Toyota Land Cruiser. Come on back, Cameron. What's this this giveaway you're doing, Matt Farah, 911 Turbo S giveaway. Yeah, no, it's thank you. Thank you for letting me come plug it. We're we're giving away 911 Turbo S. I mean, legit, we're working with this company, Dream Giveaways. They've been around for a long time. They've done hundreds of. They haven't been rated by the FBI. Not. Not by the FBI. Soon, far as I know, maybe soon. No. And this is a year long. No, no, it's not a FBI. It's not a shame spike. They have different priorities. Right. Yeah. Crime is legal, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. Crime is legal. Get good. Yeah. Certain crimes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, they it goes from March until August 20 of this year of this year. OK. What what year 911 Turbo is a new one? A brand. 2025. We have a picture of this. It's yeah, there it is. It's not the hybrid. It's a 992 dot one. OK. Turbo S in ice gray. It is loaded up. This thing has it's a it's a full gray extended leather interior with yellow seatbelts, contrast, yellow stitching, yellow gauges, eight track tape player, track tape player for sure. It has a it has a glass roof. It has a rear wiper. Oh, it has sold painted. It has body color painted engine. Engine fades. Hawaii. Why do we love the rear wiper? It's just the coolest thing. I was just using mine on the way over here for no reason. Yeah. On the Bronco. I was just like, it's it's just the best thing you know. It's funny. I actually. So this way it says no miles on it. Well, it it's brand new. I we got it with with no miles on. We got it with 50 miles on it. It is brand new and it's on MSO. It's your the winner will be the first owner of the car. Got it. But in order to create content for the giveaway, Zach and I put like 1500 miles on the car. So it's got 1500 and something miles on it. You're free car. But it's new. Well, that was one of the videos we did the break it. So that was like so you get the car. You can just hop in it and straight to launch control because Zach and I did eleven hundred miles of boring low RPM highway. The bike doesn't even breaking an engine. I tell her that's fine. OK, it's not that it's not a belief system really. Oh, it is. It's it's I won't be a nonbeliever. It's not that I'm a nonbeliever. No, this car won't be with you for long enough. It's not even that problem. I don't I don't abuse the car in the way that would affect the engine in the break period. But I do subscribe to the Bert Olander circle Porsche. He was Steve McQueen salesman. He goes, you have a little fun every now and again. And it's not going to harm the car. Yeah, that's what he would say. So go ahead, rev it up, listen to it for a second. Yeah, his theory was just don't don't drive it on the highway at high RPMs that wouldn't be recommended during the breaking period for long periods of time. Yeah, don't a little goose around that or whatever. So we did we did the break in so you don't have to. We also modified it a little bit. We did some wheels. Still exhaust. OK, a little bit. A little bit. Do the old wheels come with it? Yes, it comes with all the stock parts, all the stuff, all the stock parts. Yes. OK. And so. And what do we do? What does this work? There's in my Instagram bio, you know, the usual Lincoln bio, the smoking tire Instagram. There's a right inside there. There is there's the link to enter. Also, you don't have to buy a mat cam right there. Top right at the top. That's OK. I forgive you. You could still use a Lincoln bio, even if you don't follow me and use that and you can you can buy X number of tickets. There is a charitable element to it. You can read all the rules and regulations. You don't it's not limited to some of the money goes to charity. Yes, it is to support a charity. Yes. And what if you don't sell enough tickets to pay for the car? I am not financially involved. I the investor in this. I am the I am the marketing part of it. So that's their issue. This is their issue. They they have the car. And the charity is the Brentwood Country Club. Yes, it's 1199. The 1199 foundation. Very concerned with trees. Alongside the same descent. Yeah. And taking care of that caddy that smashed that car in a road rage incident that still has not been prosecuted by LAPD. Really? Still has not. Jesus. As I presented presented all the evidence and gave the guy a free out. And said, man, you apologize, you give me 50 bucks. I'll eat the rest of the cost. Crime is changed. Fuck you. That's awesome. Yeah. And not his first instance, by the way. He all I'm going to say is be very careful at the stop sign in front of the Brentwood Country Club. Because if you run it and this particular caddy comes out, your car is going to get attacked. That's physically by a crazy man who looks like John Candy hasn't had a haircut in a very long time. Wow. OK. Spectacular. Wow. Did did like six hundred dollars worth of damage to my aluminum hood with his fists. There's a literal caddy at the club. Country Club wearing a. Was he carrying a bag? He was leaving. It's one of those four way stops. But the way this four way stops work works is when you see people leaving the country club, you can't see them coming out. They're stopping a little head of this like hedge. Yeah. Which is maybe what we can use this charity money to do is. Driven the head back. That's what it is for. Yes. So I just California stop it. Not seeing him. He apparently this is his thing. Really? If you run this, he has to leave it every day. If you're if you do this, he's got a lot of pent up. I see. And he went he went bonkers. I'm on the phone with Zuckerman. I deputize. I got I got this gorilla. I'm talking to Zuckerman. We're having the nicest conversation about about our day. Spake. And I go. I made a grown man cry. I was like, I got I got this maniac. He goes, just go around him. So I'm on the phone with Zuckerman. Because he's break checking me. I just go around the guy. They get up to the stop sign. The next beat. He just gets out of his car, just starts. He goes like this. And I'm like, holy shit, Zuckerman. I'm trying to get the camera going. Dude, you just. You need a dash cam sponsor immediately. Yeah. And he puts these big dents in there. In which car? The Bronco. This car behind. Get out of here. And I and I'm and I'm still upset that I couldn't get the camera right. It was the greatest footage. Greatest footage ever. I'm glad my. I got him running away. I got him off to the side. I get the rest of it. Yeah, right, right. Yeah, but this is why they need charities. I look, I voted for this. I anyway, I was at that man, at that meeting. Which one? At the Brentwood Country Club meeting where I voted to have the crazy catty guy beat the shit out of anybody's car. I think the Brentwood Country Club. I later learned. Because I obviously know people who belong to that club. And they go, oh, yeah, this is in his first time. There was an incident with a knife. I'm like, do tell. And the country and the country clubs official table was, well, didn't exactly happen on our point. And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, that's our property. Line ends in the. Where are the cops? I go, that's that's not the real point. Do you know who Radimac is? Because you are employing Radimac. And I said, and I was reasonable, right? He's having a bad day. We've all had bad days. And I said, I never smashed a car with my fist. Have you ever carried 36 for a $15 ship? I actually for less. I used to catty in high school. Yeah, it's horrible. And I and I gave the guy a note and I said, look, you did $600 worth of damage. I my guys came over and they banged it out here. The pictures just so you know. And he told me to fuck off. Nice. Told me to fuck off. Like this guy. And then I said, you know, you don't even have to pay for it. Just tell me you're sorry for what you did. Just just give me something. Right. Right. And again, he told me to fuck off. He accused me of this conspiracy of I go I go around LA and I do this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Great check people ripping people on. You need 600 bucks. You're a fucking scheme. It's a scheme. The guy's a maniac. You're a fucking rear end gypsy. Yeah, except I'm at a stop sign and he's freely admitting in the text that he's out of his car. Then I said, dude, when you get out of a car in traffic, you're done. You just admitted guilt. You've admitted guilt in this text. I just don't do this. Don't go down this road. It's not worth getting arrested. I'm counseling my abuser. Yeah, we were so crazy. So funny, dude. Yeah. And I had to break off contact. So yeah, now we're waiting and prosecutors. It would be amazing to find out that you're the mastermind behind the LA rear ending scheme. $600 a day. Actually, well, it's not bad. I think it's fun because he is turning out to be another rat-a-mack. Yeah, he's another guy that's been doing this. That's crazy. Good time. Is he moving to Hawaii? Thanks for plugging my Porsche giveaway button. All right, we want to buy tickets to Matt's Porsche giveaway. I'll buy some tickets. It's a charitable deduction. And for you, it's a business expense. But I couldn't win. Why? Because I know you, right? Isn't there some rule with sweepstakes that you can't? It's my job to say that you should read the rules before entering. I can't enter. I haven't read the rules. If I entered and won, there's no little code there. I don't think I can. I think it says you can't enter. I can work from this. I'm pretty sure you can be my friend and win. Does this one have the Visex suspension? Do you know the suspension? There's an option. It has PASM. There's like an option with that with the 992.1 where you could get like the GT suspension. I don't think so. OK, it made it stiff, but like pretty cool. All right. I mean, it's nice. And we had BBI tweak it a little bit. Oh, it's got the BBI suspension. It's got these HRE wheels. It's got a Kropovich exhaust. It's got an IPD plenum and an M engineering 2. So it's a little more power. It makes over 700 horsepower. It's so fast. It's so fast. Yes. I like I like it. It's insanely fast. My kind of car. I love turbo. I like to spike the stock if you want spike. Put it back to spike. You put it back to spike. Well, I like what you did with it. It's a sweet car. It's called 275 MSRP. Wow. Plus plus two. They're fantastic cars. Yeah, yeah. Let's do some more ads. And then I got a bunch of news to talk about. You guys will like. Let's talk about our friends at Race Deck. You know, when Race Deck was invented over 20 years ago, they are a cost effective, durable, truly do yourself modular flooring system engineered for the garage. What makes them special is it all just clicks together. It's a do it yourself project and it's perfect. 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Yeah, because Zuckerman was sucking him up with his hoes. It's like Steve Jobs and Apple. Exactly the same. You're in exile. Right. And then people, the listeners were back when it was an audio show, we're starting to make Blue Choo content with our show. And then Blue Choo noticed that and said, hey, bring these guys back. And then they said, say whatever you want. We don't care. Right. And now we're part of the Blue Choo family. Now you're helping the dealer drugs. Yeah, we're Blue Choo drugs. Got any drug barons? I do have tons. Really? I have a ton of bags. I've got a Santa Claus bag full of it. He's using it. He's enjoying it. I'm good. I guess I discovered it's an extra. It's a it's a new gear. I'm going to tell you, I don't need that type of drug. Right. Yeah, yeah. But I know there's a new gear. But Eric does. That's so sorry. Sorry, Eric. Sorry, Eric. She doesn't listen to this. It's not about me. She won't listen to this show. She's very upset with Blue Choo. Very mad. There's some other stuff I wanted to talk to you about, but I thought this was this isn't an ad, even though it may look like one. But this play this attorney shield thing. Have you guys seen this? You know, it might have been better for Zuckerman, but put your headphones on for a second. This is a traffic stop, a real traffic stop. Watch what this guy does. Huh? We don't face time. Oh, this is a attorney. Attorney, you normally have like an attorney. I've never seen that before. So this guy gets stopped. He presses the app. Attorney shield. Oh, one more time. Attorney shield. Attorney shield. An attorney comes on. I know the guy who invented this. I had him on the show like four years ago. Law enforcement and we're just a service provided that we can help people navigate through traffic stops, answer any questions and form them on their rights. And it's our goal is to make all interactions with law enforcement as quick and safe as possible. This could be the greatest invention I've ever seen, right? Okay. So you're not like his attorney. You're just a attorney. I'm an attorney. And I am his attorney. I am his attorney. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know this guy? Yeah, I know the guy. This is one of the greatest ideas I've ever seen. Yeah. I mean, if you think about the number of people who were shot by a mistake or the amount of injustice that goes on or the police asking questions they shouldn't be asking or demanding of things, having an attorney there. Yeah. To mediate both for. And again, this is not an ad. It's like 16 bucks a month. No, it's cool. It's super cool. And it's when you it's like it's like a quick activation of the app. Yeah. And it like it starts recording. Yep. Immediately. And it gets it gets you the lawyer on the phone within like 30 seconds. Wow. Yeah. And actually the guy who developed. And I'm I'm such an asshole. I'm blacking out his name. But it was three years ago who came on. He came on the show and was telling us about it. Not for that reason. His. His brother is a cop. And so it was about like it was this was like some peak George Floyd era. Yeah, yeah. Tension. And it was a black gentleman who developed the app. And it was about, you know, deescalating the tension of a side stop. Yeah, that's what it did when I, you know, this is like cops were into it. Yeah, but the but what you said the deescalation of a tense moment is what I sensed right away when I watched it. And I just want this is great for everybody. Yeah. Why was it especially guys with neck and face tattoo? Well, I would want to know, you know, it would also keep me in line. It would keep me from saying dumb stuff. Sure. No, it's supposed to do both of those. Both. Yeah, right. And answering any questions I may not want to. And pause. He paused the video when we first pulled it up at a weird place. Yeah. And it's it's it's the the the lawyer is a picture within a picture. So the lawyer's picture was very small for the moment. Yeah. And it's a woman who's got sort of. But but he paused it right when she moved right there. And it looked like I thought you were going to say like the guy had like a super golf lawyer. Like the lawyer was like the crow. Yeah. Like the crow with that one angle. That was where we were. Well, she's I mean, the lawyer is probably sitting there in her sweatpants. Oh, yeah. Do you know, in her den or at her desk, she's not exactly ready for court. But I guess it doesn't matter. She knows what to say. I have friends that do like I don't know how you I wish I could be here. But like low level law where they like hate it. Imagine we should get suckerman right now to create an app. The sucker app. Ingram put put suckerman in that box right there. There you go. There's the suckerman app. I'm going to fucking kill you. Off the cop. Kip kill this guy. Off the piece of shit. I don't I didn't want him to download this. You could do whatever you want to. I want you to say I'm sorry. And then I want you to cry. I want to see an adult man cry. It's the revenge law app. Or does something. Has done to your cookies and spit it into his lab. Humiliation law. Anyway, I just thought that was officer. My clients are doing thank you for using sadistic partners. LLP. Did you did you guys see this wreck at the Good Guy Car Show? Whatever that is. This is a zero six. No, no, I saw a cup car fly over. Catch they have an autocross. Crazy. You don't really need to hear the sound for this. You'll see what happens. I bet you know what happens. Here's the autocross. Oh, what happened? Hang on a minute, buddy. You're supposed to turn there. Or there. There's that stick. That's got to be a little. Oh, I felt that one. You don't usually knock the K rail over. No, something went wrong. Clearly. Yeah, was that like stuck throttle or something? It's like heart attack in car. Foot goes right before. But what do you guys think about autocross in general? I love autocross. I think that's too close to the K wall. That's very. You know, autocross is. Wait, wait, back it up. OK, can we? It's probably another angle. It looks like he might have had like a drag slicks on the back and maybe, maybe. Possibly skinnies at the front. Watch the wheel. Oh, because if he had slicks and skinnies and tried to make this corner. No, I can't tell. You can take a second to look for another angle. I know that there was a drone angle and there were some other. I don't know, but that could be a thing. But autocross is stupid unless you're the one driving. Then all the. Oh, exactly. Well said. You know what I mean? I didn't want to say it, but that's exactly what I was thinking. It's super. It's stupid. Is it super fun? Or is it just pylons? No, no, it's. It's super fun. Although, I mean, I had a bad experience that put me off it for about four years. What was your bad experience? I was we're doing a McLaren day at Laguna Seca and Mark Vaughn and Jason Camisa, who I would say are the good drivers left. So it was me and the lifestyle people. So we do an autocross and I'm like seconds ahead of everyone else. And I got in the bag. I just do one run and then Nick Stetcher. You don't know Nick, but Nick is Nick's a lifestyle. He's a great guy, but he's not, you know, he's not a driver. On his third attempt at his hand time, he beats me by one hundredth of a second. And then they won't let me go again. Because we're out of time. And I was like, and then I was like, look at this. Let's see this guy. No, those are regular wheels and tires. I'm not I'm not sure what happened there, possibly just bad driving or maybe wait, here's here's a view from what appears to be a hot air balloon. Let's cut to the Ferris wheel. What's going on? It's a good guy. A car show. I think look, it looks like he hits the brakes just way too late. Look, he hits the brakes like 10 feet before the wall. You can see the weight of the car. Did you see him get twitchy on the turn ahead of it? If you go to the top of that, watch, watch this. You'll see that he's something either went wrong in that turn or he's just he's lost. Look, watch here. Watch here. He was looking at the wall. I'll tell you that little wiggle it. Little wiggle it. Yeah, zero six. That's a first gear corner. Putting down five hundred and five naturally aspirated horsepower. That's right. Four hundred eighty foot pounds of torque squiggly coming on that first. Seven liter LS. Yeah, seven. LS seven. I think my but camera looks like it wears about a size 13 triple E N B Steve. That's a nine nine three. That's a classic new balance. But that really moved that. Hey, well, yeah, I did. Yeah, those were about thirty three hundred pounds. I hope there aren't people under the K-wall. What's I do like this ferris wheel angle, though, of whatever's happening. What is happening? Oh, here. Oh, this guy's got it. And is it a problem of. Wow. Oh, no, it's not great. I mean, there's an old expression ran out of talent. Yeah, I mean, ran out of. You're going to sell a lot of tickets. Oh, yeah, you're right. He really was Wiglin. Yeah, he was a little out of control. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Here, I wanted to pull this across his heart. This is just fun. Daniel Craig, who was James Bond, has made a deal with the Chinese EV brand Denza. Oh, I saw the photo. Oh, my God, they put out some weird photos. Our friends at the Atopian call some attention to it. There's one right there that looks like Daniel Craig growing out of the roof of the. What is this? Denza? Dude, that looks like a straight knockoff of the car. You are driving to this program, Johnny. Well, that's a Chinese land cruiser. But what's notable is close. Yeah, this doesn't look like Daniel Craig. It looks like a weird verse. His lip is. Yeah, his lower lip is where it go to the next photo. His they flatten his lip in the bottom in a lot of ways. It looks like he's never been in the presence of any of the cars. No, he's promoting. They know, and then they gave him a wife. Wait, go back. Who's the wife? They just gave him a lady with a weird jacket. Well, she's lovely. Don't be so mean to her. It's not in the car. It's it's yeah, they're blocking the car and her jacket is distracted. In the good part. That front end is very Porsche Lamborghini like. But also the back is a sport. Turismo. Yeah, sport. Turismo. They really. Again, Chinese are making great cars, but they really can't get the design thing. Well, maybe this works for them. What's the next picture? Go ahead. And then I'm growing out of this car. I'm bigger than the car. This is a OK. So this is a Honda CRZ at the front. McLaren, McLaren seven series meets Panamera or Taycan in the center door section and then a lucid gravity at the back. Yeah, you know what? It's awkward looking what Farley said. He we were talking about Chinese cars. He goes, you know, there are 100 over 100 car brands. Yeah, yeah, over 100. Yeah, 100. There will be 100. Like America in the 1910. Yeah, there won't be 100 for very long. It's going to go down to four. So to stand out, you have to put a giant James Bond on top of your car. There used to be like 30 airlines in America. But honestly, if you said if I said, look, Johnny, I've got 10 bucks to market my new line of denser cars. Would you have Richard learn Photoshop and take Daniel Craig and put them? And it's like, you literally see the cursor dragging Daniel Craig down to the roof and dropping him right there. You literally with like a decent AI tool, you could do something better. Yeah, you could have him. I think I think whoever one of you said it, he was nowhere near these cars. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the question is, has he participated willingly or did they do the math? They just kind of decided it's better to pay the trade. Well, remember, this is a common thing that back when it you actors didn't do ad, you would do ad in Japan. Yeah, yeah. And you can make bank doing the Brad Pitt, like Coca-Cola one. Yeah, Arnold Schwarzenegger, all that stuff. Not so long. So there's a long tradition of this. But that's what I liked about the Utopian. Daniel Craig in front of us. Daniel Craig is embarrassing everybody. Thank you, Utopian, for doing that. How much did he get paid for that last Bond movie? It was like a hundred million. He's done. He's got his money. But it was like a hundred mil. He didn't want to do the last one and he played it right. Yeah, but he wanted a little gum money for his Italian vacation this summer. So he said yes to this. He's got a daughter, you know, she's has needs. What the fuck is it? Denzel? Yeah, whatever. Send them these pictures. He just I'm trying to close it. J. Crew right now. Here, just send them these pictures. And then Marks and Spencer. That's fine. Yeah, how many millions? OK, wait, I'll take some more pictures. Get me some more of those trousers. I need pounds. Just make sure they flatten my lips and make my nose more bulbous. Goodbye. You received a PayPal for ten million dollars. I mean, sadly, thank you, Denzel. That's really funny. That's how that shit went down. Yeah. And then this last story, one of the cover is this Omega story. This this is an Instagram guy. I don't know who he is, but he's been doing some good posts about watches. Oh, wait. And he's calling attention. Is it Peresco? Please don't be the guy. I think it's Chrono-Holic. He also did a post. I didn't post about the number of watches each company creates in his. I don't know where he got the stats, which is why I'm not going to repost that. But here he points out that Omega has eight hundred and sixty six watches on its site, and maybe that's the problem with Omega right now. Sure. Play this. Omega have eight hundred and sixty six watches on their website. Eight hundred and sixty six. I was just reading about their decline in sales. They've lost seven hundred million dollars worth of sales in the last couple of years, dropped from second to fifth in the Morgan Stanley rankings. And I was just wondering why and thinking about my own relationship with Omega. So I go on the website, I start exploring around and eight hundred and sixty six watches seems like maybe too many watches. I agree. One hundred percent. Less well known lines within the Omega lineup is the constellation. Two hundred and twenty eight different variants of the. Isn't that unreal? That's crazy. It's super confusing to me as well. And look at the price there. So nine thousand dollars. OK, for the base constellation model. However, you can also get if you want. I can't imagine who does fifty grand for the platinum variation. The platinum variation. Not a bad looking watch. The base one. Yeah. Spike one special medals. Increased the price. But that's lovely. He's paying fifty grand for. I might. Spike Ferris. I don't know. That's bizarre. But he's right. Yeah. He goes on to talk about lady, lady watches, lady matics. Is being kind of obsolete. No. Yes. Idea. But that might be too many skews. There are. There are a lot of brands that I have trouble approaching like Breitling. And I have an Omega Speedmaster because of this. Like I don't know where to go. They there's too much stuff. Right. But what do you guys think about his assessment of Omega here? Oh, spot on. I mean, Omega could drop down to four watches and they sell probably as many. You know, I think they could cut their product line by probably seventy five percent. Right. And maybe their maybe their gross sales would go down five percent. Yeah. And their costs would go down. Enormous. Really interesting thing that that much variety keeps you away from a site. But that's just a lot of R&D, a lot of like a lot of manufacturing, a lot of a lot of just skews, just like. But don't you feel like, you know, I haven't been to the Omega site in a long time because I don't want to get lost. Like I'm wandering into a forest. I mean, I've been to a store. Yeah. And there's three. I mean, and I'm just one person, but there's three or four items in that store that I find personally appealing and a whole bunch of other stuff that I'm not stopping for. No, Rolex is the right idea, right? They've got like what eight, nine basically watches and a couple of weird, like, you know, the gold presidential, which, you know, it has a specific purpose. But look, I'm sure if you made a different skew for every dial, number, bracelet versus strap material, I bet Rolex has almost as many. But there, but they're not like down $700 million a year over you. Right. But I mean, what I'm saying is, you know, they're part of a whole good trade company. Yeah. But like, you know, like Rolex is like, you know, the summer air in our day just an explorer, sky-dweller, yacht master, a couple others, deep sea. They don't it's not like Omega. I've gone down that rabbit hole where it's like, ooh, like a Toro. Corona. Like they have my doing lines, but I'm saying like, you know, with, yes, Rolex has fewer product lines, but they there are a lot of watches with it. Because like, you know, like, like you can have an infinite number of 9 11 variants. That's fine. But if you had like, you know, 17 different two door lines, you know, that's where it gets really confusing. I think it's fine. Like, OK, I'm interested in a Speedmaster and I have a ton of variety of choices in Speedmaster, but I think it's it's I think Omega, like he didn't say that. They have a lot of like crazy watches. But they stop to me. They just stop feeling special. Right. Like, you know, I've owned tons of Breitlings before, but they they I always end up selling them for one fourth what I bought them for. Sure. And that's why I bought mine used on eBay for 18. Yeah, right. You know, I'll do it like that, too. And then the next year, there's a dozen more that I go, oh, this looks good, too. And then I'm like, all right, I'm giving up. Yeah, I can't keep up with this. I like the premiere they've got right now, the premiere chronograph with the salmon dial. No, they have a I could go on a Breitling site right now and buy 10 watches. I know. They're really not a Breitling. But let me see this premiere. Breitling premiere chronograph is very handsome. Handsome watch. Oh, boy. I always like the spelling. Breitling. They're VRE. I like their super-oceans. That's one. B09 chronograph. That's cool. Third from the green. Yeah, that guy. That guy's a good example of that's a lovely watch. It's full, lovely watch. I love that. 40 millimeter. All right, I'll get that. Great looking dial. Great looking hands. That's like a weird avocado for Mike. I mean, it comes in like four or five different dial colors, but that's just one that I think it's beautiful. It stood out to me from across the room. Anyway, yeah, yeah. That's nice. I don't disagree with that guy's assessment, though. I mean, if you're if you're not making much money, maybe cut down your product line. Also, though, you know, there's just this thing where, you know, how do I put this? People are interested in Rolex one type of of AP. I was going to say where are it's pronounced? Admirals, but it was Royal Oak only and a couple of text and no one's really interested in any other watches like like new money in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, like there's just it's sort of the 9-11 problem. Like, you know, there's lots of great sports cars. Most people are just like, just give me a 9-11. I don't want to think about it. There you go. So I think that's part of Amiga's problem. Well, that's our show, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks buddy. Matt Farah, thank you for visiting us. You can check them out on The Smoking Tire Podcast. He also has a Patreon. Hold on, I was in the middle of promoing. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Matt Farah. I'm working over here. He's got a he's got an auction for a Turbo S. Not an auction. It's a giveaway. It's a giveaway. Yeah, it's not an auction. It's not a no, it's a good giveaway. It's a sweepstakes. Sweepstakes. Sorry. Yeah, not an auction. He's got a sweepstake. Different things happen at the end of an auction. I was going to say sort of the opposite. I'm going to find out if we can buy tickets or not. I think you can. We can buy them. I don't think you probably can't win. You don't pay me. I don't pay you. You can buy tickets. Yes. Johnny's got a channel called What's Johnny Been Driving? No, it's not called that. It's doing very well. It's driving with Johnny. Driving with Johnny. 85,000 subs. And a and a an AI site called BitBetter. It helps you buy stuff. Which is doing also well. Gangbusters. And we're merging the two. It's unbelievable. That's big news. And I just have this lowly show. These bikes car radio. And we've got some great episodes coming up for you. If you're a Patreon subscriber, you got a nice little pre-show live. We'll do that. What the fuck was that? Garbage truck. Oh, Jesus. Hitting Matt's car. But maybe Johnny will take the. You got a second? Can I drive that? I'd like to drive it. Absolutely. Take it for around the plot. There we go. Matt's coming by.