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Car Stuff Podcast
Goodbye Polestar, Used EV News, 2027 Kia Telluride
00:59:43
Jill and Tom talk to Jimmy Douglas of Plug, an online remarketer of used EVs. Listen in to learn how dealers are acquiring inventory of late-model used electric vehicles, and why this might be a good time to sell your EV.
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- [00:03]
A
Whether you drive a car, need a car, or just occasionally bum a ride with friends, you've come to the right place. Join Jill and Tom as they break down everything that's going on in the auto world. New car reviews, shopping tips, driving green electric cars, classic cars, and plenty of great guests. This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast.
- [00:24]
B
All right. This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast, and I am Tom Appel, publisher of Consumer Guide Automotive. Thank you for joining us this week. When you have a moment, do me a favor, do me a solid. Check us out@consumerguide.com While you're there, check out our 2026 Best Buy picks. This list is super handy if you or a loved one is looking for a new car or truck. You can also listen to back episodes of the podcast right there on our homepage. Plus, I write crazy stories. Like whatever happened to cigarette lighters? I. I did. You're laughing. I just wrote that story.
- [01:01]
C
I saw that story.
- [01:02]
B
There's actually a story there. It's a little weird. It's a little strange. Maybe we'll talk about it later in the show. That voice is Jill Seminello, contributing editor here@consumerguide.com North American Car of the Year juror and prolific freelancer. Hey, Jill.
- [01:18]
C
Hello. This week was stupid, okay? How can it be stupid?
- [01:26]
B
Because a stupid thing happened. I don't know why it happened, and I'm confused about why it's happening, okay? But Polestar.
- [01:35]
C
Oh, yes. That was kind of stupid.
- [01:37]
B
It is stupid. Polestar, which I hate to pick winners and losers, and I hate to. Hate to be a fanboy. I won't rather be a journalist, but All Star rocks. Their cars are so good. They look great. They're dynamically awesome. They're not overpriced. So they were starting to seriously discount them on the side. I know we've talked about these huge discounts that were available on their website. Polestar is going away.
- [02:06]
C
Yes. After. Is it after 2026 or 2027?
- [02:10]
B
This is it. 2026. Is it? Okay, I lost my notes on this already, but the Commerce Department has decided, and we saw this going back to. Do I have my notes here? Here's my notes. We saw this going back to TikTok, and this was a concern by the federal government that the Chinese were getting a backdoor to American consumer data through different channels. And one of those channels for A while was TikTok. And we were worried about TikTok. I don't even know where that story went.
- [02:43]
C
There's now an American company that owns American TikTok.
- [02:47]
B
Okay, yeah, so that's, that's happening there. But you would think in the case of Polestar something similar could happen, should happen. And this is why this is so weird. Polestar is one of the many brands owned by Geely. Geely is a private Chinese company, mostly electric cars, but they do other stuff. They own, for example, Lotus and they own Volvo. Yep, they pod Volvo from Ford many years ago now. And the interesting thing is that technically, technically, architecturally, Polestar vehicles are very close to Volvo vehicles. And what they do share is common electronic architecture. So if we're worried about the, the telematics systems, the, the over the air update systems, the general electronic systems of these cars being a backdoor to Chinese access to American data, we should be worried about Volvo too. Same. Yep, same stuff. And so this is where this gets weird. It doesn't look like Polestar is pushing back or planning to appeal. They're just giving in. This is it. 2026 will be the last year unless we hear something different soon. Last year for polestar in the U.S. yeah.
- [04:09]
C
Well, you know what I thought was really interesting is Volvo applied for stay of execution. Essentially they got permission to continue to sell in the United States. And you would think Polestar would be able to get the same thing again, as you pointed out, because they are built on the same electrical architecture and they were not granted that request. And so I, I'm very intrigued by this because, I mean, what does that mean for Volvo and why was Volvo granted permission? I mean, the only thing that I can figure is Volvo has a plant here and they build a large number of vehicles here and we export vehicles from America to other places, whereas Polestar is built someplace else and brought into the United States. So that's the only thing I can figure is because of, you know, the fact that there are Volvos built here and you know, it's, it's usually the bigger Volvos that are built here that, that, that, that's, that's why.
- [05:18]
B
Yeah, the original plan was to build all Polestars in China and this was going to give them a cost advantage. And we were getting some Volvos from China too, though I think everything now comes from either Busan, South Korea or from South Carolina that Volvo sells in the US and we saw the EX30, the delightful, affordable, small Volvo crossover, disappear because that was coming from China and building that someplace else, it's no longer cost competitive because remember that that sucker was going to come in at 35k and it was a delight to drive
- [05:53]
C
it was probably one of my favorite EVs. It was my favorite. I really enjoyed it. Yes, it was a delight to drive.
- [06:01]
B
So this is a strange piece of news. And we were just talking the other day, a week ago or so, maybe two weeks ago, about whether or not we decided that Rivian, not Rivian Lucid was a real car company yet.
- [06:14]
C
Right.
- [06:15]
B
It turns out maybe Polestar isn't, even though it's, it's part of Volvo.
- [06:20]
C
Yeah, well, you know, I just, I, I think it, they are going to do well globally and I think the United States loses out because of that. And I, I have to say I am definitely concerned about our future competitive. Competitiveness if we are gonna like, shun some brands from, from our, our fair shores. And especially because Canada and Mexico are both going to still get these vehicles.
- [06:52]
B
Yes. And actually Polestar sales in the US have been slow. There are 32 dealers in the US owned by 29 different outfits. So there's not a lot of Polestar representation yet on the sales ground. So those dealers are probably going to appeal to Polestar for some money because obviously the franchise is now worthless. But they have these stores that they built and they might use those to expand their Volvo. All of them own, all 32 are owned by people that already own a Volvo dealer. So it's all in the family. So anyway, that's that story. A lot of states don't have Poland Polestar stores yet. We have a couple in the Chicagoland area, so we see Polestars all the time.
- [07:32]
C
Yep.
- [07:33]
B
But anyway, that's that story. Brand is going away and they don't seem to be fighting back.
- [07:40]
C
Big side.
- [07:41]
B
Yeah, big side. Probably very good news for BMW and for Tesla. I think the BMW, what's it called? The ix4. I4.
- [07:51]
C
Yeah, they have the i4 and they're coming out with the new. What is it? The I. The I3. And, you know, they've got some, some new stuff coming out that.
- [07:58]
B
Yeah, they got a compact crossover too, but the i4 I drove maybe a year and a half ago. Love that car. I love that car. And it's, it's, it's kind of plays in a premium field. Not too expensive, not too fast. They didn't do a performance version of it, at least not yet. And then obviously Tesla's got a bunch of Model threes and Model Ys that play in that price range. So. All right, that's it. We pour one out for Polestar. It looks like this is dead. Dead. I don't think there's a reprieve coming. You had mentioned that sales in other countries would be strong. They only sell 10 or what was it, 6% of their global product in the U.S. so this market was not developed yet.
- [08:36]
C
No, no.
- [08:37]
B
All right.
- [08:38]
C
And now it never will be.
- [08:40]
B
Never will be. You had mentioned that GMC has news.
- [08:45]
C
Yeah. Yeah. So last week we talked a little bit about the 2027 Chevy Silverado, and now we are starting to see the 2027 GMC Sierra. So we always knew that they were probably going to be coming out pretty close to each other. And yes. So both the Silverado and the Sierra 1500 are all new for the 2027 model year. And I believe they are both expected out by the end of this year.
- [09:14]
B
Do you know that back in the 60s, if the Beatles or the Rolling Stones had a signal a single to release, they would call the other band and make sure they weren't stepping on their feet with the release. So Stones want to release Satisfaction. They want to make sure that Penny Lane's not coming out and they're not both fighting for airwaves at the same time. And that's what Chevy and GMC did. Here we are more or less done with the easy info we're going to get on the Chevy Silverado now. We're getting the GMC news.
- [09:42]
C
Yeah. But you know, I still think they're stepping all over each other here because they are both going to be competing for like car or Truck of the year awards for the 2027 model year. If I were General Motors and I were playing the the long game, I would have released the Silverado first and then I would have waited probably two or three months to put the Sierra out there. And so that the Sierra would be available in the beginning of 2027 and would be eligible for the 2028 awards, whereas the Silverado would be available and by the end of this year and eligible for the 2027 awards. And now they're going to be competing against each other.
- [10:25]
B
Can General Motors still kind of put their foot on the brake and not release the vehicle for test drives?
- [10:31]
C
It doesn't matter if it's released for test drives or not. If the vehicle is on sale before the end of the year, at least in terms of the North American Car of the if the vehicle is on sale by the end of 2026, it is eligible for the 2027 award.
- [10:48]
B
Interesting.
- [10:49]
C
Yeah.
- [10:49]
B
In 1991, 92, 93, I worked in fleet leasing for a company called Wheels Incorporated, and I was a clerk at the Chevrolet GMC desk And one of the interesting things about Chevy GMC in those days is that they weren't different. They were especially what we now call, well, I think it was already called the Sierra. But at the time we didn't call the Silverado the Silverado. It was the CK 1500. But those vehicles were so similar that people couldn't tell them apart. The, the front grill insert was different and the price was different by $1. The GMC always cost $1 more than the Chevy and that has changed dramatically, especially in the last 10 years where GMC has moved significantly upscale and the interiors are different and actually chassis tuning is different and quietness tuning and things like that. The GMC very much a luxury vehicle now, even in mid level trim levels. So it'll be interesting to see if that gap widens for 2027. Like is this even going further upscale?
- [11:57]
C
Yeah, but you know what? The Silverado looks like it completely went upscale. It's got a standard digital gauge clust, you know, standard 16.3-inch infotainment screen. I mean, maybe materials, but the technology. You've got a lot of standard tech there.
- [12:15]
B
I just drove the Chevrolet Traverse high country. So top trim level of the Traverse and this is obviously a different vehicle. This is a large crossover. But I found the interior somewhat wanting. It was nice, it was upscale, but, but Hyundai, Kia do it better. Mazda does it better. And I'm wondering if Chevy is going to do the same thing with their pickups. Ram has always been. Not always, but in the last since basically Ram became its own brand. They really stepped up the interior trim. And I don't know if Chevy's shooting for lower prices, what they're doing here, or if they do take it further upscale. This is what buyers want, it seems. Yeah, like, like I don't know. And everyone's advertising trucks in a low $40,000 range. That's not where the transaction price is. It's more like 60k.
- [13:06]
C
Yeah. 60, 70. Well, yeah, I remember being at a GMC press reveal or you know, press event once and you know, the, the person in charge at the time was talking about how they just keep making them more expensive because people keep buying them and they're like people are going to buy them. We're just going to keep going up, up, up, up, up.
- [13:27]
B
Yep, we just saw that with, with Ram was it two years ago when they redesigned the Ram and brought out tungsten, which is a crazy name. So clearly they ran out of names for upscale vehicles. But that interior is crazy. Yeah, I Mean it's, it's super high endy. All right, what else you got?
- [13:47]
C
Did we want to talk about the Kia Telluride?
- [13:50]
B
Hev, we are at a point now where maybe we talk about that after the quiz.
- [13:55]
C
Okay.
- [13:55]
B
You want to talk about cigarette lighters?
- [13:58]
C
We can talk about cigarette lighters.
- [14:03]
B
I mentioned the cigarette lighter story only because we have about a minute to kill here. But I don't know why I decided to do this. I was just so tired of the news and I went and checked and I thought, you know, do cars even come with cigarette lighters anymore? And the thing is they still come with 12 volt outlets and I don't know, I don't know how many young drivers know that that was once a cigarette lighter. Probably not many, but. But yeah, that's a very weird thing. Here's the interesting thing about that. No cars seem to come new from the factory with a cigarette lighter. But you can buy from some brands a cigarette smokers package. And that package is about 50 bucks for example from BMW. And it includes inserts for your drink holders that are in fact suitable for ashtrays plus an actual, it glows and lights your cigarette. Little thing to insert in your 12 volt outlet that if you were my age you burnt your hand on at least once as a kid. Yeah, because of course you had to screw around with it.
- [15:03]
C
Well, so I feel like it's maybe Mercedes and BMW maybe, maybe even Audi. It's like the, the German European brands that offer that as a package. I don't know that any American brands offer that as a package anymore.
- [15:18]
B
The Germans smoke more than the Americans by about 50%. So yes, it's probably more likely that it's in those brands and maybe it comes factory standard too from the, in Europe.
- [15:29]
C
Right. You know what else I'm wondering and it didn't occur to me until just now, but I wonder because you do have that 12 volt slot. I'm wondering if there is somebody out there that makes an aftermarket cigarette lighter like you could buy it on Amazon.
- [15:44]
B
Oh, I'm sure they do. Yeah, they do. I just. The factory one looks so good from BMW. There's pictures of it. I'll post that. Actually, by discussing this story, my stupid little story about cigarettes, I now have an excuse to talk about and, and share in our show notes. So that worked out really well.
- [16:00]
C
Well, you know, I aim to please.
- [16:03]
B
We're going to take a break. When we come back we talk to Jimmy Douglas. He is the founder of Plug Plug a an EV resale site that we're going to learn a lot more about right now. Stick around.
- [16:17]
A
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A
at the US only C store online for details. Welcome back to the Car Stuff podcast.
- [17:05]
B
And we're back. This is the Consumer Guide Car Stove Podcast. I'm Tom Appel. She is Jill Simonillo. Jill, how's it going?
- [17:13]
C
It is still going well, thank you.
- [17:15]
B
You know what is confusing these days?
- [17:19]
C
I was gonna say life in general, but what is confusing these days?
- [17:23]
B
Well, your answer is not wrong, but keeping track of what's going on with used car prices, especially nearly new used cars and used EV prices and lately there's been this really weird trend where Tesla prices have not been acting, acting the same way as other used evs. So a lot of weird going on out there. But we're going to talk right now to the founder of Plug. Plug is a digital online EV retail site for used EVs. I think many of them are nearly new where people can go and get the most for their car and buy an ev. On the phone with us is Jimmy Douglas. He is the founder of Plug. Jimmy, how are you today?
- [18:04]
A
I'm great, Tom, thanks for having me.
- [18:07]
B
Yeah, thanks for joining us. Tell us a little bit about Plug and what you do there.
- [18:11]
A
Yeah, plug sells used EVs to car dealers exclusively.
- [18:16]
B
Oh, oh. So no retail. Okay.
- [18:19]
A
Yeah, well, correct. And we do buy directly from consumers. So the way that it works is we. Yeah, so, so we, we need to work on our branding here to make sure everything is super clear. The way that this works is every day we have an online wholesale auction that is exclusively available to dealers. We have a network of just over 700 of them around the country. It's a mix of franchise and independent stores and to date we've sold through just about $100 million worth of EVs in that auction. We're on a run rate of about 3 million per week right now? Yeah. Thank you. We source the EVs from consumers, dealers, automakers, lenders and fleet operators and we evaluate their condition and capability in an EV differentiated way. So if you look at the Tesla example, which you mentioned, Tesla's are very much a software defined computer hardware defined vehicle. So what they're capable of and how they should be appraised in the market is more of a function of what version of the Autopilot hardware do they have, what software enabled features are included through ownership transfers, what's the size and state of health of the high voltage battery pack, the number of drive units, all kinds of factors that aren't typically decoded in a VIN or necessarily stay static from when a vehicle was originally manufactured. And that is why, for example, if you yourself have a Tesla in your driveway and you get a cash offer on it from us versus a competitor, our offer is more likely to be accurate and then in most cases higher.
- [19:50]
B
I'm jumping ahead a couple of questions here, but I don't want to lose this opportunity. You had mentioned, you'd mentioned Tesla's and specifically the hardware and I think it's hardware 3 and hardware 4 is a defining line for Tesla products because it looks like Hardware 4 will be compatible with updates of full self driving of FSD and hardware 3 will not. Is there a huge price gap because of this?
- [20:15]
A
I don't want to say it's huge, it's not tens of thousands of dollars. But certainly hardware 4 vehicles are more competitive and will easily catch at least a thousand dollars worth of value delta depending on the overall vehicle pretty routinely. Yeah. And those aren't the only two hardware versions out there either that we had hardware 2.5 cars out there, we had retrofit vehicles that were upgraded to hardware 3. I worked at Tesla for a very long time, so I had a bit of a unique vantage point heading into this.
- [20:41]
B
Yeah. Cool. So you said you had 700 dealers in your network. Now how regional is that? Where are the markets that dealers are looking for EVs?
- [20:53]
A
Yeah. So what's fascinating is 68% of our transactions involve some sort of move that goes across state lines. And the, the single biggest move movement pattern right now is from California to Texas and then it for the numbers 2, 3 and 4 are also California to other states. Off the top of my head I want to say Arizona, Utah, Nevada. Number five then is Florida to Texas. So the that I actually have a map that visualizes all of this and I'm happy to show you, but it's Quite fascinating how the demand is all over the country, but the supply is very much concentrated first In California, about 35% and then a bit of a smile state concentration which mostly follows what new evd, new EV adoption looked like three years ago.
- [21:42]
B
So cars coming out of California, for a long time there were just a lot of compliance cars being sold there. Cars that other Americans don't even know existed. There was a Ford Focus Electric, there was a Golf electric, cars like that. Are those the kind of cars that are leaving now because there was just a big supply of those because they were so heavily incentivized? Or why does California have this initial strong demand and now cars are migrating out?
- [22:10]
A
Yeah, so we don't see a lot of compliance cars. About 65 to 70% of our volume is Teslas and then from there a lot of lucid and rivian, and then kind of a long tail of everything else. BMW, gm, Ford, Hyundai and, and the like. I believe you're seeing this because it's mostly a pull from the other markets, not so much a push out of California.
- [22:33]
B
Okay.
- [22:34]
A
The demand for the, the demand for the used product right now is, is, is quite insatiable. And as I'm sure you've noticed, used EV prices have been following an interesting pattern. They've actually been stable year over year. They've been around 36, $35,000 or so. But the difference is the premium now to buy a used EV compared to the used combustion vehicle of a similar vintage about five years or newer is now down to about $1,000. Whereas if you go back far enough in history, you used to have to pay several thousands more to get a used ev. Now it's effectively at pricing parity, especially if you factor the cost difference between electricity and fossil fuels or overall long term maintenance.
- [23:15]
B
Interesting. And are you finding a sudden surge in demand because of gas prices?
- [23:21]
A
Yeah, I actually think it's more complicated than just gas prices. Certainly hundred dollar oil barrels were not harmful to our business and to use EV demand overall. But there were a few structural things happening no matter what. The first was the eradication of the Inflation Reduction act and the tax credits that went along with it. The single biggest competitor to a used EV purchase last year was a new EV that was subsidized with $7,500 on a lease. If you compared those two monthly payments, the used EV purchase was a pretty difficult value proposition in comparison. So there was actually an artificial suppression of used EV values and demand that was coming from the new EV tax credits. The second thing is we are in a used car shortage right now. If you go back to Covid and all the factory shutdowns and then the post Covid chip shortages, you can remember seeing articles of dealership lots that had zero cars on them for sale because there were none being produced. So there's actually a structural lack of supply in the used car market overall right now. So as much as we're starting to see a surge of of used EV supply stemming from the Inflation Reduction act, it's about 1.1 million off lease vehicles coming over the next three years. That surge pales in comparison to the size of the overall market shortage. So these two factors combined with hundred dollar oil barrels are suddenly waking a lot of consumers up to the value proposition of a used ev. And dealers who historically have also mostly opted out of this market are suddenly really starting to dig in.
- [24:53]
B
Interesting. So talk a little bit about what a consumer has to do to sell a vehicle through you guys.
- [24:59]
C
I'm like, that was literally just the question I was going to ask.
- [25:02]
B
Well, you go ahead and ask it.
- [25:04]
C
Well, no, I'm just, I wanted to circle back to like, you know, I'm in Chicago and I would like to, I have, say I have a used EV and I want to sell it. Like, what does that process look like from start to finish? Like, how do I sell it? Like, how do I get it to you? Like all of those things?
- [25:24]
A
Yeah. Thank you, Jill. You go to our website, plugmotors.com you punch in your VIN right there above the fold and answer a small number of questions. If it's a Tesla, we will connect to your Tesla account and ensure that we know everything about any service alerts, battery health, all things related to option codes. And then we make you a cash offer based on what you tell us about the condition. If you accept the offer, we provide you with a link to perform your own condition inspection. It's a AI assisted photographic inspection. Takes you about five minutes and then that offer is solidified and then we send you a DocuSign bill of sale. If you happen to have the title in hand, we can have money in your bank account that day. And the best case scenario, a truck picking up that vehicle from you. In some markets, the same day, oftentimes the next day, and in some cases a bit longer than that, and then it's gone.
- [26:16]
B
So that sounds easy enough.
- [26:17]
C
I know, I'm like, that sounds very easy. Like what markets when you talk about same day, like is Chicago like a same day market or is that more like California, Texas? Smile states.
- [26:27]
A
Yeah, not yet. It's. We have one market, and it's here in Southern California where we're experimenting with the same day flow right now.
- [26:32]
C
Okay.
- [26:33]
A
And over time, we hope to expand that. And that requires a bit of a real estate footprint for the car to go somewhere, whereas in most cases.
- [26:40]
B
Sure.
- [26:42]
A
In most cases, when we buy a vehicle from you, we immediately sell it to a car dealer somewhere in the country the next day. So then they dispatch a carrier to come and pick the vehicle up from your driveway, and any lag that takes place is usually in that process.
- [26:55]
C
Got it. So in theory, like, if you were buying a vehicle from me in Chicago, you would in all likelihood sell it to potentially a dealer in Chicago, which would make it easier for the transition. Or would you be selling it from Chicago to someplace else?
- [27:10]
A
Yeah, the majority of sales cross state lines. So in all likelihood that things go on Pennsylvania or Florida or upstate New York or something like that. Maybe even Utah.
- [27:20]
B
Okay, Jimmy, talk a little bit about battery health. Has that come to be a big issue? Early on, obviously, people were worried about how EV batteries were going to hold up. And I think Manheim now in their auction network, actually tests the batteries and will give you a report on the battery health as part of the auction data they provide. How do you guys determine batter battery health and how much do buyers seem to care?
- [27:45]
A
Yeah, great question. There are. There are circumstances in which you can get a battery health report from that auction and others. And we have several different methods for collecting it. It depends on the automaker and what kind of access we have to the vehicle, but it's pretty straightforward. And at this point in time, it's an industry that is not standardized. So we're all making a choice to believe the report generator that we're using, unless it's the OEM generating the number, which is becoming increasingly true. The significance of battery health in wholesale values right now is very low. And the reason is because most of the batteries are fine. It won't be.
- [28:26]
B
That would be my next question. Yeah, yeah.
- [28:29]
A
But what the data is showing, and there isn't a lot of publicly accessible data out there, but Tesla published some of its own data in its environmental impact reports showing that Model 3 and Y in aggregate crossing 200,000 miles retained 85% of their battery capacity. For SNX, it was 88%. So we don't know exactly how long these batteries will be good for, but presumably longer than the suspension and the seats and the brakes and every other component in the vehicle.
- [28:57]
B
This is. This is not what you signed up to talk about today, but I just want to throw it out to you in a broader ev. Yeah, broader EV context. But we are nowhere near seeing the promised battery ecosystem that we were going to see. Where they would, the battery would last the life of the car, be removed, be put into a stationary situation for stationary service, like by a windmill for 10, 15 years, and then be recycled. But they're all holding up. Right. None of these batteries are failing or degrading and people aren't replacing them. So we are really.
- [29:29]
A
That's the biggest problem. Like the biggest problem with owning a battery recycling company is there aren't enough batteries coming out of service to recycle right now.
- [29:36]
B
That's it. Actually, you would know these folks. What's going on with Redwood? Are they still waiting to do some automotive recycling?
- [29:45]
A
I mean, I think it's exactly that. I don't think they're waiting to do some recycling, but I think the amount of recycling they're doing is below expectations when JB founded the company because the batteries are more resilient in their first life application than everybody thought. And at some point in time, we will all be very grateful that that infrastructure exists and that 99.9% of the materials that go into high voltage batteries are fully recycled, which will overall reduce the carbon footprint of EV manufacturing. But in the meantime. Yeah, there's not a lot of activity.
- [30:15]
B
No. Yeah. It's weird because we were hearing all sorts of stories and that sector just got a little quiet. But back to plug, I wanted to ask you a little bit about the brands and vehicles that dealers are looking for. Obviously most of the vehicles out there are Tesla and I think people look for those just because of safety. But what brands are dealers looking for after that?
- [30:35]
A
I mean, really, all of them. You know, there's a but for every seat. Right. And we carry everything under the sun in there that we can get our hands on. I will say that the Tesla product is like the most approachable gateway drug for any dealer that's thinking about participating in the EV game. The majority of used EV sales that you see out there represented by direct consumer nameplates. So Tesla, Rivian and Lucid are by independent dealers across the country. And then the inverse is true for franchise dealers representing their own nameplates. All that said, we have all of the above in our auction and everything sells as long as it's priced right.
- [31:14]
B
And how is pricing determined by the free market, I assume you know it.
- [31:18]
A
That's right. It's actually very important because one of the issues that I was contending with when I was running the used car business at Tesla was there's no pricing index that's really reliable for a software defined, battery defined electric vehicle. And that means the market clearing price must be determined by the market every single day. And that's important because we are making cash offers on hundreds of cars every single day. So part of the reason we own our own auction is so we can have access to the most real time data possible around wholesale transaction prices that then enable us to make very confident, very aggressive cash offers on vehicles that we plan on turning in under 48 hours in most cases.
- [32:00]
B
Do you see a lot of price difference in the price that you offer people between, say, Chicago and, I don't know, El Paso?
- [32:10]
A
There is some regional nuance, but it's not as significant as you think. As you would think. Like the big thing is transportation cost. And you can move a vehicle all the way across the country in most cases for under a couple of thousand dollars. And when you're talking about an average selling price in our auction of 36,000, which is basically the same thing as the retail market, average selling price. Transportation does not scare people. I routinely see dealers buy cars on one side of the country and move it to the other.
- [32:38]
B
Are you guys moving a lot of the premium stuff? Are you seeing the IQs vehicles from Mercedes or the more expensive BMW EVs?
- [32:47]
A
Not a lot. Those are hard. Every major luxury vehicle outside of performance car outliers generally sees much heavier depreciation than the standard passenger car far in the first few years of their life, as I'm sure you're aware. And the same is true of the EV models. So we're not seeing a ton of them coming through wholesale channels like ours at present, but as they become higher mileage, I suspect that we will.
- [33:13]
B
Are you seeing any difference in price or value related to the charging standard? Everyone's think everything's moving from CCS now to nacs. Is that affecting value?
- [33:23]
A
Yeah. So it's starting to happen occasionally. We'll occasionally get a Rivian through there. We had our first Hyundai with a NAX port on it a couple of weeks ago. It was practically a party in the office when we saw that happen. And it's like it matters, right? Like, I don't know if either of you are EV drivers, but I've been holding out on buying a Rivian until they had a native next port. Not that I'm afraid of adapters, but there's all kinds of unknowns when you're in adapter land in terms of charging throughput or if you just like, forget to have it. And it's, it's, it's so easy when you're commuting. Based on the Tesla Supercharger network. I think what most automakers failed to realize when they were racing to try to just do what we were doing at Tesla was that half the products you buy when you buy an EV is the charging network that it has access to.
- [34:11]
B
Right. Yeah. I just charged the Subaru Uncharted, which has the NACS system, the Tesla system, using a. An adapter, and that went just fine. Now, I don't know if the battery I was using was charged too much because the charge rate was relatively slow. It came in about 50, 60 kilowatts, which seemed really slow to me, but I think. But I think the battery was already at like 75%.
- [34:36]
C
Well, and I think after it also slow your charge as well.
- [34:41]
B
Well, do they. That's actually my question.
- [34:43]
C
Yeah. Sorry. If you know a better answer,
- [34:47]
A
the answer is broadly yes. Like, there's certain. You got to be careful when you're putting stuff on the Internet. Someone's going to find like some circumstance for. Not true. It's not like an extremist stance. But yeah. Like, if you want the fastest throughput, don't have a device in between your charger and your charge port.
- [35:04]
B
Exactly. Jamie, we're out of time. But remind us what is Plug and how people can find you and learn more.
- [35:11]
A
Yeah. Plug sells used EVs to dealers. If you have an EV and you're thinking about upgrading, you can get a cash offer from us, oftentimes immediately, if not within 10 minutes. And it's@plugmotors.com sounds good.
- [35:23]
B
Thank you so much for your time today. Love to have you back sometime.
- [35:26]
A
I'd love to come back. I listened to an episode where you were talking about the VR6 and I owned a lot of them and I really want to come have a conversation about that.
- [35:33]
B
I would love to have that conversation. That is for people who don't know. We're talking about Volkswagen's VR6 engine. Honey of an engine. And my wife and I had a Jetta GLX with a five speed. Oh, my God, that car.
- [35:46]
A
I had one too. I had a porcelain blue one from 1998, but I also had like five others. So, yeah, we have a lot to discuss.
- [35:53]
B
It was a crazy engine. It made no sense. It had both torque and it liked a rev. It was a miracle. So the VR6. And now I get to link to that story. So this is a great thing.
- [36:04]
A
Glad I could help. Thank you for having me, Jimmy.
- [36:07]
B
Thank you so much for your time.
- [36:09]
A
See you later.
- [36:10]
B
All right, that was Jimmy Douglas with Plug. We're going to take a break and when we come back.
- [36:14]
C
Quiz time.
- [36:15]
B
Quiz time.
- [36:17]
A
Questions or comments?
- [36:18]
C
Drop us a line at Car stuff at.
- [36:20]
A
@consumerguide.com that's car stuff@consumerguide.com. Welcome back to the Car Stuff podcast.
- [36:35]
B
And we're back. This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast. I'm Tom, she is Jill. And we know just a little bit more about retailing used EVs.
- [36:43]
C
Yeah. Yeah. That's fascinating that, you know, they will make an offer on, like, retail vehicles, like a person's personal vehicle.
- [36:53]
B
Yeah. It's interesting, too, that there are so many in California that are sort of working their way out of the state. Yep. I kind of thought the mindset, the mentality might be pulling cars in there, but he's actually saying the demand is stronger in markets where there simply wasn't a lot of new car sales to start with in terms of EVs.
- [37:11]
C
Yeah.
- [37:11]
B
All right.
- [37:12]
C
A lot of people are buying new EVs in California, and so then that frees up the used EVs to go other places.
- [37:19]
B
You know what happened too, and I forgot who it was we're talking about. And we've talked about this before, about 16 million units of new vehicles this year in the U.S. which is the same sort of downturn sluggishness we've seen basically since the beginning of COVID So we're not going to see any sort of big replacement for the nearly new used cars that the market seems to be clamoring for. And I suppose just because there's a shortage of cars, people are sort of thinking about EVs because they're there.
- [37:49]
C
Yep.
- [37:50]
B
And gas is expensive.
- [37:52]
C
And gas is a little expensive.
- [37:54]
B
You probably want to talk a little bit about. What is it? Social media.
- [37:58]
C
Social media, yes. Just a little bit. You can find me on pretty much every social medium out there. Illsiminello. So just J I, L L C I M I N I L L O. Lots of I's and L's. And I use the hashtag Cart Azure. I'd like to do special call out for both YouTube and TikTok where I post daily shorts. So I call it your daily dose of drive. But yep, I'm on all the things
- [38:24]
B
your name would make a lousy rack and words with friends. Ls and I suck I know.
- [38:31]
C
I'm like, are there that many L's on a rack?
- [38:34]
B
You just can't do anything with that? No, not good. All right. I am car guy Tom. Wherever I am. Twitter X and BlueSky.
- [38:42]
C
Yes.
- [38:43]
B
All right. Oh, and if people care, the.
- [38:45]
A
The.
- [38:46]
B
The podcast of my visit with Steve and Johnny this past is now available. I will link to that so people can hear that if they want to. We talked a lot about Polestar there, too.
- [38:56]
C
Okay. Yeah. And I will point out I am now posting our episodes on my YouTube channel. So I do have a file for the car stuff podcast on my YouTube channel if you would like to watch it. Or if you prefer to get your podcast through YouTube, that is an option as well.
- [39:13]
B
If people want to see how incredibly messy my office is, they can do that.
- [39:19]
C
Yes. I see the stacks of piles of paper to your right, but above me
- [39:26]
B
are my beautiful German radios.
- [39:28]
C
Yes. And they are lovely.
- [39:30]
B
They are. Oh, man, they're so cool. All right, it's quiz time. Are you ready?
- [39:37]
C
Am I ever ready?
- [39:38]
B
No.
- [39:39]
C
Yeah. So let's go.
- [39:42]
B
Today's topic is bogus blue. Bogus blue.
- [39:46]
C
Okay.
- [39:47]
B
I'm going to give you a car. I'm going to give you two blue paint colors. You have to identify the fake.
- [39:54]
C
Oh, I. I feel like I'm. This does not bode well for me, but. Okay.
- [39:59]
B
Are you ready?
- [40:00]
C
I. Yes.
- [40:01]
B
Five questions, plus the bonus question. You need three total for a victory. And the bonus question, of course, always related to the topic of the day.
- [40:11]
C
Always.
- [40:12]
B
Always. All right, first car is the Chevrolet Corvette. All cars are 2026 models.
- [40:17]
C
Okay.
- [40:18]
B
2026 Corvette in 3LZ trim. Okay, so this is basically a base Corvette with a lot of equipment. Which of the following colors is bogus? Riptide blue or Oahu blue?
- [40:33]
C
I think Oahu blue is going to be bogus.
- [40:37]
B
You are correct. You're on the board. Do you remember when the Corvette was available with a color related to Road America?
- [40:46]
C
I do, but I can't remember what the color was.
- [40:49]
B
I can't either. I can't remember. And, like, was it like Elkhart blue or something like that?
- [40:53]
C
Yes, I think that sounds right.
- [40:55]
B
Which is both a lake and a city up in central Wisconsin where Road America resides. Beautiful place to summer, by the way.
- [41:03]
C
Yes.
- [41:03]
B
Not this coming week when it's going to be a hundred, but. But dang nice place.
- [41:07]
C
It's going to be cooler there than it is down here. Let's. Let's be clear about that.
- [41:11]
B
The Ostof resort, though, is also nice. The Grounds are nice. The pools are nice. Nice place to hang out. And the food's pretty good, too. It is, but people should really check out the. Oh, what's the name of the restaurant? Our restaurant. See? Not Seepkins Lake Street. The Lake Street Cafe.
- [41:28]
C
I'm like, I'll keep going. What else you got?
- [41:30]
B
All right. The Honda Civic Hatchback Hybrid.
- [41:35]
C
Okay.
- [41:35]
B
Boost blue Pearl. Boost Blue Pearl or barium blue Mica. One of those is bogus.
- [41:42]
C
I feel like I had this car as a test vehicle and you're saying boost blue and then barium and barium blue. I think the barium is bogus.
- [41:57]
B
It is. Nice job. You've got two. You're in a good way.
- [42:02]
C
You did not get to use your favorite phrase.
- [42:05]
B
I did not. No. Speaking of the blues, I just wrote this down here for no reason whatsoever. It's a complete non sequitur. My favorite blues artist is John Lee Hooker. Who? John Lee Hooker. Okay, all right, never mind.
- [42:22]
C
Okay.
- [42:22]
B
I just wrote. I just wrote it down. We're talking about blue stuff. And I thought, huh? Blues.
- [42:27]
C
Yeah.
- [42:28]
B
All right. Yeah. I don't think that really advanced the quality of the show in any way. The RAV4 Woodland. RAV4 Woodland. The 2026 RAV4 has been completely redesigned. Woodland is their off roadie edition. Their off road version of that. Two blue colors here. One of them is fake. Dark Stratus or Storm Cloud.
- [42:51]
C
I like the idea of a Storm Cloud. Which one sounds more Toyota, like. So the first one was Stratus.
- [43:03]
B
Dark Stratus.
- [43:05]
C
Dark Stratus and then Stormcloud. I'm gonna say Dark Stratus is the Bogus.
- [43:09]
B
You're killing it today. Yep.
- [43:12]
C
I have already won.
- [43:14]
B
You've already won. All right, next is the ford Explorer in 100A trim. Do you know about this car?
- [43:23]
C
The Ford Explorer or the 100A trim?
- [43:25]
B
The 100A trim.
- [43:28]
C
No.
- [43:29]
B
It is a rental fleet special that Ford has made available to regular consumers.
- [43:34]
C
Okay.
- [43:34]
B
So you can go buy one. It's about three grand less than a base model. You lose some stuff, some esoteric stuff, including the roof rack. And I gotta tell you, the roof rack actually plays a key role in how that car looks in profile. But three grand is a bunch of money. Okay, so 108. Two colors here for you. Vapor blue metallic or indigo fog Metallic. Vapor blue. Indigo fog.
- [44:03]
C
They both sound like they could be real colors. And I feel like vapor blue is a color somewhere. If it's not on this vehicle, it's on some vehicle.
- [44:11]
B
If I was A stripper. I might go by Indigo Fog.
- [44:17]
C
Side note, when we had our. So when we were in the Trinity rally a few weeks ago, we were driving a lucid air sapphire and we named her Indigo. Oh, so she was vapor blue.
- [44:32]
B
Indigo Fog.
- [44:33]
C
I think vapor blue is the real one. So the other one is bogus.
- [44:40]
B
You're crushing it.
- [44:42]
C
Wow.
- [44:42]
B
Correct. Vapor blue is the real color.
- [44:45]
C
Got it.
- [44:46]
B
All right, I want to drive this next vehicle just because I'm interested in the value proposition here.
- [44:51]
C
Okay.
- [44:52]
B
The Ram 1500 Warlock.
- [44:54]
C
Okay.
- [44:55]
B
And they slotted Warlock in under rebel in the Ram 1500 lineup. That's Ram's big pickup truck. And it hits interesting price points, I think. Okay.
- [45:05]
C
Okay.
- [45:06]
B
Especially with a base. Well, they don't do the basic cylinder engine anymore. But anyway. Hydro Blue Pearl or Aqua Blue Pearl?
- [45:18]
C
H I. I'm gonna go for hydro blue. Pearl is the real.
- [45:23]
B
Is the real. So you're saying Aqua blue is fake?
- [45:27]
C
Yes.
- [45:27]
B
Five for five.
- [45:28]
C
Wow.
- [45:29]
B
Also, that Hydro blue is good looking. That's a nice color. All right, you've got five for five. The bonus question always related to the topic of the day. Today's topic is Illinois. Okay, I just need you to tell me which of the following famous people was not born in Illinois.
- [45:51]
C
Okay.
- [45:52]
B
Are you ready?
- [45:53]
C
I. I am ready.
- [45:55]
B
Walt Disney.
- [45:57]
C
Okay.
- [45:58]
B
Harrison Ford. Ronald Reagan. Abraham Lincoln. One of those people was not born in Illinois.
- [46:08]
C
I know Abraham Lincoln spent obviously a lot of time in Illinois, but was he?
- [46:13]
B
That's what I hear. According to my license plate.
- [46:17]
C
I know he also spent time in Indiana. So the question is, was he? I think so.
- [46:24]
B
He couldn't commit.
- [46:26]
C
He could not commit. I mean, I've waffled between Indiana and Illinois myself. Okay, so you said, was Harrison Ford born here? And so there's only one person who was not born here or one person who was born here was not Harrison Ford.
- [46:44]
B
Walt Disney. Harrison Ford. Ronald Reagan. Abraham Lincoln.
- [46:48]
C
I feel like Ronald Reagan was born here. So Walt Disney. I'm. I'm kind of waffling between Walt Disney and Harrison Ford, though. Like I said, it could be completely wrong. And it was Abraham Lincoln, which. Who was not born here. But pretty sure Reagan was, because, you know, we do have a highway with that name.
- [47:21]
B
We also have the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan in Dixon, Illinois, which, by the way, is a tourist trap. Don't go.
- [47:29]
C
Got it.
- [47:30]
B
The building is still there, and apparently they rented it when Ronald Reagan was a child. But the bathroom was last updated in the 70s. You're like, this is weird. Ronald Reagan was older than this, it's just all brown and green tile. It's nasty. Hello, Dixon.
- [47:47]
C
Hello. Tell me how you really feel. I'm like, I have a biography of Abraham Lincoln.
- [47:52]
B
Okay. Not going to help you now. I'm going to need a new.
- [47:54]
C
Okay. I'm going to say, Abraham Lincoln was not born in Illinois.
- [47:58]
B
You killed it today. Abraham Lincoln was born in LaRue County, Kentucky.
- [48:03]
C
Okay, so Kentucky, not Indiana. But I know he spent time in Indiana, too. I'm pretty sure.
- [48:08]
B
Walt Disney, Chicago. Harrison Ford, Chicago. Ronald Reagan. Tampico, Illinois. Ever heard of it?
- [48:14]
C
Near Dixon, apparently.
- [48:16]
B
I don't know, but he lived in Dixon and then Abraham Lincoln. I think he went on to be president, spent some time in Illinois, but was not born here.
- [48:30]
C
So I have a funny side note related to the bonus questions in general.
- [48:35]
B
Yes.
- [48:37]
C
Especially at Christmas time, you ask a lot of questions about the Hallmark Channel and in what's a real title versus not a real title. Well, because whenever I go visit my mom, I'm always putting the Hallmark Channel on. I get fed up ads now for Hallmark Channel things. And apparently they are currently or soon to be filming a Hallmark special in Chicago with the Bears. And it's going to be like a Bears Merry Christmas. And they're looking for extras. I thought about sending it to you, saying we should try out for that.
- [49:15]
B
We absolutely should.
- [49:17]
C
I mean, I'm just saying we've done
- [49:19]
B
a lot for their business. Or not.
- [49:21]
C
Or probably not, but probably not. There will be a Christmas special this year based in Chicago, surrounding the Chicago Bears. And maybe. Maybe it'll be like the Bears miracle of, like, staying in Chicago versus going to Indiana or Highland Park. I don't know.
- [49:37]
B
You know about that at this point. I don't care.
- [49:40]
C
Yeah.
- [49:41]
B
I'm kind of tired of them jerking fans around.
- [49:44]
C
Yeah.
- [49:45]
B
It's just. This isn't what you do to a fan base. If you're Chicago, you're Chicago. All right. That was my little. My little editorial drop. You just drove the Kia Telluride.
- [49:59]
C
Yes.
- [50:00]
B
And the big news there is that that vehicle is all new for the 2027 model year. Yes, heavily. Heavily based on and related to the Hyundai Palisade, which we have seen.
- [50:11]
C
Yes.
- [50:11]
B
And I've driven that, and it's spectacular. So you've driven the Telluride. Tell us about this. This is a big people mover. It got bigger for 2027. And it also got a hybrid engine.
- [50:22]
C
Yes.
- [50:23]
B
And it has 300 different trim levels.
- [50:25]
C
It really does. And they're all a mouthful. So what I think Is So first off, I've driven both the hybrid and non hybrid versions now and I do already have my non hybrid road trip review posted on my YouTube channel, which means that I can send that to you for our notes. And I do have a road trip review coming for the hybrid soon. But what I thought was really interesting is yes, this is very closely related to the Hyundai Palisade, but the gas powertrains are not the same. It's the hybrid powertrains that are the same. And then for 2027, the Kia gets a four cylinder engine whereas the Hyundai keeps the V6. So yeah, so I thought that was kind of interesting. But I have now driven both of these vehicles and I really, and this is rare that I say this about the Hyundai hybrid versus gas models. I liked the hybrid better, you know, when I was looking at the Kia Carnival, I like the gas powertrain better. But in this one, the hybrid powertrain is good. It is smooth, it is quiet, it is fairly seamless. I wouldn't say it is quite on the same level as the Toyota hybrids that we've seen because that is just perfection. But it is, it is really darn good. And driving to Indianapolis, So over about 400 miles of highway driving, which is not 55 miles an hour in Indiana, it's 70 to 7, you know, 70 miles an hour, which means you're probably going 75. I average 29 miles per gallon. So when you're looking at a large three row SUV, I think 29 miles per gallon is pretty good. Even though it's not up to the EPA fuel. EPA estimated fuel economy, which is, I believe it's 30 miles per gallon in the city and 32 miles per gallon on the highway. And I thought that was weird too because usually it's the city fuel economy that's better than the highway fuel economy. But that, that's not supposed to be the case in terms of EPA estimations for this vehicle.
- [52:28]
B
Yeah, I did a little math on this vehicle and hybrid versions of the telluride come in $2,700 more than non hybrid versions. So that's a lot of money, 2,700 bucks. However, according to the EPA, your fuel savings annually are about $1,100. So you're paying this car back in two and a half years. So that's it, just right there, two and a half years. You've paid off the bonus, the extra cost of going with the hybrid plus your vehicle will be worth more at trade in time. Yeah, there have been a lot of numbers recently. Talking about how popular hybrids have become. And it isn't as much that people are clamoring for hybrids. It's that automakers are making more money selling them, so they're making more and more of them available.
- [53:16]
C
Yeah.
- [53:17]
B
So people are chasing EPA numbers and that's great. It's always good to get better mileage. And if the prices are like this, about 2500 to 3500 bucks extra, why not do it? Especially because you generally get more power, which, by the way, is the case here. Correct.
- [53:32]
C
Yeah. Yeah. So this is, I want to say it's like 329 horsepower and 339 pound feet of torque. And the, the engine for the hybrid is the force. That's like 2.5 liter, four cylinder engine. And you know, the, the engine for the gasoline model is the same engine but no hybrid powertrain. So you do get more power from the hybrid and better fuel economy. Win, win, win.
- [53:55]
B
That engine's proven. It's, it's all over the Hyundai Kia lineup. The, the Genesis GV80. The standard engine is a 2.5 liter, although it's turbocharged.
- [54:05]
C
There. This is, this is also turbo.
- [54:08]
B
Oh, it is. Okay. It just comes in a little stronger there. So. Okay, we've talked about all this boring technical stuff. What's it like inside?
- [54:15]
C
You know, it, it is, it is like a party inside. You know, we often talk like a party. You know, you talk about Mercedes vehicles and their really vibrant ambient lighting. Well, this, this has, especially in the upper trims, has the vibrant ambient lighting. But one of the things that I really appreciated about the Telluride is it didn't reflect onto the side windows or the windshield. And a lot of times in Mercedes vehicles, like, you get distracted because the light reflects on your windows and you can't see at night. But very vibrant lighting. And it's funny because you get into the vehicle and it kind of does a little dance with the lighting. When you start it up, it's kind of very discotheque. And you start it up and it's like it goes across and I don't know, it's just, it's, it's very tech forward. You've got some big screens, you know, large infotainment screen that, you know, it's got that mono screen that goes from the digital cluster all the way through to the infotainment system. And it, you know, it's just, it's a really attractive interior. Very tech forward. Of course it's attractive if you like tech forward things. If you're into analog gauges. This is not that the model that I broke.
- [55:25]
B
I can't tell anymore. I can't tell. And thus I don't care that I'm looking at a digital screen. If the gauges look analog, as long as they respond in sort of real analog time, that's fine with me. Yeah, yeah, I do find that. And I'm way, way, way off topic here, and I apologize. Driving BMWs. And I just got out of the M5 Touring, which, by the way, is a spectacular, spectacular vehicle. The things it does with the, with the adjustable dashboard or instrument panel are all 100% unnecessary. We just sort of move things over slightly and you're like, what am I looking at here?
- [56:04]
C
Yeah.
- [56:05]
B
And things reset that you don't want to reset. It was so hard to find my fuel economy, which, by the way, was way, way, way too good for 717 horsepower. But I digress. You were talking about a crossover.
- [56:18]
C
Yes, the. The Kia Telluride. But I was in the SX Prestige X line trim. So, you know, say that without stuttering. And it, it's a mouthful for the trim, but that means it's kind of towards the upper end of the spectrum. So really nice seating surfaces and, you know, sueded headliner black trim. Just nice accents and finishing touches and dual wireless chargers.
- [56:43]
A
And
- [56:45]
C
it had essentially all the things, rear climate controls, heated and ventilated seats in the front, heated seats in the back, and just a really well put out vehicle for $61,000.
- [56:58]
B
And that is like the weird cap now. Yeah, it's about 61K. 60, 61K. That's second row, captain's chairs.
- [57:07]
C
Yep.
- [57:08]
B
And then three seats in the back.
- [57:10]
C
Yep.
- [57:11]
B
Okay, so you can put seven in there.
- [57:12]
C
Yep.
- [57:13]
B
All right, sounds good. Oh, I was just going to say something about that. Oh. For people who don't know and want to be more confused, Kia does this thing with X Line and X Pro, where X Line vehicles look off roady. EX Pro vehicles are slightly off roady. You definitely, before choosing one or the other, want to test drive both. Yeah, you don't want to. You definitely don't want to come into an X Pro if you don't need it.
- [57:37]
C
Yeah. And I had the X Pro of the gas model, and then, yeah, this is the X Line version. But again, both really, really nice vehicles. And I was super impressed with the hybrid powertrain. I mean, there were very few things on this vehicle I didn't like. And I mean, one of them is they have weird H vac controls, like a weird vertical panel in between the digital cluster and the infotainment screen that you have to touch and then it pops on your climate controls and, you know, and you have some quick touch buttons there. But it's in an awkward location that you have to, like, duck around the steering wheel to be able to see it. And they do have redundant climate controls as well. So I'm like, why is this here?
- [58:23]
B
Interesting thing about this vehicle, too. And we had our friend James Bell from Kia on the show a couple of weeks ago. One of the things that James pointed out is they will be making more of these this year. So if you've been shopping for one, were disappointed by the selection, you might be in better kit, you might be in a better way. This year, there's something like 15 or 20,000 extra examples going to be built. So finding the color or trim level you want might be easier.
- [58:48]
C
Yeah. And also, in case you're not aware, the Kia Telluride went from the 2425 model year to the 2027 model year. So there is no 2026 key Telluride.
- [59:00]
B
I completely forgot that.
- [59:02]
C
Yeah.
- [59:03]
B
And when makers do this, I always completely forget this.
- [59:06]
C
Yeah. It's a weird thing. I don't understand why they did that. I mean, I suppose it was because it came out at the beginning of 2026. And so they're like, let's just jump forward to 2027.
- [59:15]
B
I would bet you there's a complicated tariff dodge in there someplace.
- [59:20]
C
I have no idea if anybody knows. I would love to know the answer to that.
- [59:24]
B
Guess what we did.
- [59:26]
C
We had another really good show.
- [59:28]
B
Yeah. Good. Talking to our friends from plug. We will link to that website if people want to check that out. And if you are selling your EV and want to do it easily, check out plug. So I lost our guest's name.
- [59:45]
C
Jimmy. Thank you.
- [59:46]
B
Thank you. Jimmy Douglas of plug. Thank you, Jill. Thank you to producer Margaret. Let's talk more about cars again next week. Next week.
- [59:55]
A
Remember to check us out@consumerguide.com the car stuff podcast is produced by J Turn Media. To advertise on the show, please drop us a line at carstuff@consumerguide.com.