Mississippi Bans Direct Selling, VW EV Goes Down Market, Microsoft Office Does The Work For You, -Special Guest Todd Caputo

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It’s Friday and we’re on the final lap of the week as we talk about a new Mississippi ban on aut manufacturers selling direct to consumers. We also talk about VW’s new low-cost EV, we also talk about the new Microsoft Office add on that does the work for you.

• Earlier this week, Mississippi passed a bill that bans EV manufacturers from directly selling their vehicles, instead mandating that they work with franchised dealerships. 
  • The law includes a limited exception for Tesla's existing outlet in the state 
  • Supporters of the new legislation say it will protect small car dealerships across Mississippi 
  • EV startups including Rivian and Lucid have criticized the move, claiming it will hinder consumer choice and harm the state's economy
• Volkswagen, has unveiled a “plug-in for the people” with its ID. 2all concept unveiled  Priced at $26k and boasting a range of 279 miles, this Golf-lookalike hatchback is set to be the plug-in car for the masses.
  •  VW even took a not-so-subtle jab at Tesla, unveiling the car at an investor event just weeks after Elon Musk failed to reveal his own affordable EV. 
  • Looks alot like a VW Golf hatchback with it’s strong C Pillar design
  • Charges from 10 to 80% in 20 minutes
  • Has a “self explanatory” interior with different screen theme options like ‘retro’ featuring analog gauges and a rolling tape deck when playing music
  • With plans to invest 180 billion euros ($193 billion) over five years in battery production and raw materials, VW hopes to overtake Tesla and others by increasing its market share. 
  • Expected release in 2025 with an even lower cost model, the sub $20k ID.1, planned shortly after
• Microsoft Office has been a place where millions of people get work done. Now the company is heavily deploying AI Language Model Chat GPT throughout the software suite to actually do the work for you with a new integration called “365 Copilot” 
  • Combines OpenAI’s GPT-4 with Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams to provide natural language controls by which a user can create presentations, generate text, suggest tones for writing and manage inboxes, as well as providing real-time summaries and action items, amongst other functions. 
  • The demo video shows some impressive power highlighting scenarios where the user prompts were
    • ‘Draft a proposal from yesterday’s meeting notes’
    • ‘Analyze the quarter’s business results and summarize key trends’
    • ‘Create a short presentation based on ______”

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.

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