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It’s time to wrap up February and roll into March as we talk about some major movements in EV pricing. We also talk about a newly launched tech training collab from NADA and the Urban League as well as baseball at 1.5x speed.

• In a time of widespread conversations about EV practicality and governmental spending, one of the conversations beginning to dominate the center of the argument is ‘affordability’ and it’s no surprise. With inflation and interest rates still rising, consumers are searching for the right fit at the right budget EV or not
  • Reuters reports that Vietnamese manufacturer, VinFast is giving a deep discount to lease pricing to its first batch of US customers in California with deliveries starting this week
    • Initially it’s VF8 crossover was listed having a lease price of $599 for 24 months, but now that has been reduced to $399
    • The company said the customers who are already taking delivery will pay only $274/mo according to messages to those potential buyers reviewed by Reuters
    • "This is our special offer to VinFast customers for the VF 8 City Edition models in order to stay competitive with other brands," VinFast said in a statement
    • Range for the VF8 is between 191 and 207 depending on the trim level
  • Tesla’s Investor day scheduled for Wednesday March 1st is creating much speculation if there will be a game changing low-cost EV announced as CEO Elon Musk is anticipated to announce the “Third Master Plan” for the company
    • In 2020 Musk said that a $25k EV "has always been our dream from the beginning of the company” however last year the vehicle, often referred to as the Model 2 had been put on hold due to lack of mastery of the new battery tech that would power the vehicle
    • In multiple interviews, Musk has said the rate of scale of the company and EV industry as a whole will be constrained by the amount of lithium that can be successfully secured by battery makers
    • Also announced today is the fact that the company’s Berlin factory has surpassed its production target of 4000 vehicles per week, 3 weeks ahead of schedule
• NADA and the Urban League are rolling out a technician training and apprenticeship initiative in Louisiana as a precursor to a national program.
  • 20 candidates will begin the 4 week professional and life-skills training this month and will then go into local dealerships to shadow technicians and studying tech at local colleges
  • “This program creates equitable pathways for a stronger and more innovative automotive industry in our state,” says Judy Reese Morse, who heads the Urban League of Louisiana.
  • NADA says about 39,000 new service techs graduate from U.S. technical colleges and training programs annually. But the association says the industry needs 76,000 new technicians a year to replace those who quit or retire.
    
    
    

Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier

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