Breaking Barriers in the Automotive Industry: A Conversation with Mark Fakuda

Evolution of Car Stereo Business

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to another In-Wheel Time podcast , a 30-minute mini version of the In-Wheel Time car show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am Central Anywhere . It's the In-Wheel Time car talk show today , coming to you from the Gulf Coast Auto Shield second annual Car Social . It's a cruise in . Come on in Getting ready to start here in just a minute . Just ahead , we'll talk to some of the folks in attendance , including Mark Facuda , who's with us . I think we saw you pull in the Gulf livery car . Yeah , did you get a microphone ? He doesn't have one . Okay , did I pronounce your name right ?

Speaker 2 0:43

You did , did I do anything right ? You did everything right .

Speaker 1 0:46

Because I've been beaten down all my life . I'm very impressed . Thank you very much . We're going to talk to Mark and plus we're going to look at the automotive news headlines this week . That's coming up as well . Howdy Along with Mike out of this world . Mars King Conrad DeLong we always need more . Jeff Zekin , chief Engineer David Ainslie I'm Don Armstrong , glad you could join us on this broadcast on this Saturday . If you're with us , live great . If you're listening on a podcast . Well , good for you too .

Speaker 3 1:12

Thank you .

Speaker 1 1:13

Thank you . Thank you for your attendance , mark Facuda . Mark , have I met you before ?

Speaker 2 1:18

I don't know . I've been in the car arena for a long time .

Speaker 1 1:22

It used to be .

Speaker 2 1:22

Carstereo . It used to be a big competitor Retail store owner . What store ? It was a store in Britsity , texas , actually , really but I was a big national competitor . Sound quality install SPL held the world record for six years , competing when did you go to compete ? All over USAC . The sanction bodies were covered all over the United States . I was just thinking like the Texas Heat Wave or something like that .

Speaker 2 1:49

Years ago in the Astrodome , when the Astrodome was a thing , they used to have Thunder on Wheels , which ended in 1991 . It was last year they had it . It was put on by the local area rep for Rockford Fosgate , the manufacturer of Arizona , I remember .

Speaker 1 2:05

Are they still in business ?

Speaker 2 2:06

They're still in business . But it's a lot different model today . Everything is offshore made , nothing's made in the States . You know that kind of model . But you know , whenever I was growing up , carstereo was a thing and we in this area we grew up where it really boomed in Southeast Texas , so it was really kind of a catalyst that really spurred it throughout the United .

Speaker 1 2:29

States . Did you know Steve Kingsley ?

Speaker 2 2:30

I knew Steve Kingsley . Yes , yeah .

Speaker 1 2:32

That's how I met John . I knew Steve long before he actually started at a place called what is the name ?

Speaker 2 2:43

Radio Shack no .

Speaker 1 2:45

Not Radio Shack .

Speaker 2 2:46

Thanks .

Speaker 1 2:48

You know the slaps , the slaps are building up around here , yeah , and so he's second in charge , he's first . Okay , there's some sort of weird . I'll think of it in a minute , but at any rate , steve ultimately opened a custom car store , right , and I think I think of the name is some weird name that he started with selling Carstereos , right , and his success was a little bitty box ad in the sports section of the Chronicle back in the day and his business boomed and rest his history .

Speaker 2 3:19

And location . He was around 59 and he obviously did very well Well before that he was over at West Timer and Fondre Yep .

Speaker 3 3:25

Yep , Right , right sorry .

Speaker 2 3:28

I didn't mean to . Well , we were like I said at the time . I mean , that's a lifetime ago for me and for him , I'm sure , but it was timing . And we were in the middle of the boom and it just flourished from here . It really did .

Speaker 1 3:43

Marco Polo . Oh yeah , yeah , Do you remember Marco Polo ? I do . They were one of the first car stereo places in town that actually installed in cars .

Speaker 3 3:55

Oh , I thought they installed in swimming pools .

Speaker 1 3:56

Oh , they did that too . Yeah , exactly I ran , but that's where he started .

Speaker 3 4:02

So , as what I'll consider an expert in car stereos , how has the evolution of the OEM stereos affected that business ? Because the OEM stereos have really elevated themselves .

Speaker 2 4:14

I mean that's an interesting question and it's a good question because when I started I started in 87 in retail and I was just really out of high school and car stereo was you didn't have to rub it in , oh OK , it was really a good business because the OEM did not have much to offer . There was no keyless entry , there was no security , there was no navigation and all the things we have today . Right and Bose may have been the biggest thing in the OEM .

Speaker 3 4:46

Well , bose wasn't even there . No , it wasn't , there wasn't then ?

Speaker 2 4:48

No , it really was . You were lucky to get a pair of speakers on the back deck and maybe a cassette player at the time , or A-track , a-track . Oh yeah , canwood .

Speaker 3 4:57

Oh yeah , so that was fine here . Yeah , that was really it .

Speaker 2 5:01

So it really wasn't much else . So you know that opened the door for aftermarket guys like myself , because there really wasn't anything there and , like I said , the cardio competitive scene really fueled younger generation kids wanting to put big deals . They put big boom in their car because it wasn't known of . We were the first guys to put 12 , 15 , 21 inch woofers in a car . There wasn't such a thing back in the day .

Speaker 1 5:29

So that was taken from the home stereo business .

Speaker 2 5:32

A lot of it was . My first system was in my mother's car , which was a 1978 Lincoln town car , which I mean you know what it looked like A lot to room .

Speaker 1 5:40

It looked like a coffin , right , yeah .

Speaker 2 5:42

And I had a pair of home speakers in the back seat seat belted in .

Speaker 1 5:47

That was the thing . Yeah Right , seat belted in yeah .

Speaker 2 5:50

So it's more from there . But the OEM did not participate that much . You can buy a car . There was nothing in it , left a lot of room for aftermarket guys like us . And in 1985 , the first CD player was introduced by Sony , a CDX5 . And the CDX5 , it wasn't that good , it was just CD , no AMFM , but it was a CD player .

Speaker 2 6:14

So , that really changed kind of the acceleration of aftermarket audio in cars . Now the OEM really didn't accept or take on CD players and offer them in their cars five years later , maybe six . But as the OEM started integrating all those things CD , remote start , keyless entry navigation obviously it made it more difficult for the aftermarket guys to compete .

Speaker 3 6:45

And then the multiplexing of the interaction of all the modules , multiplexing A , bus , b , bus , all the different CAN bus , all the different protocols made it very difficult to integrate .

Speaker 2 6:55

And whenever I got out of Carstereo , which was in 96 , I sold my retail store . I mean you had to have a module for this , a module for OnStar , just to bypass all those things so you could put an aftermarket audio system in Today I mean the cars that I have . I mean you can't really put , you can't change the head unit because it's integrated to your AC .

Speaker 3 7:17

It's integrated computer navigation and the PCM wants to see the correct head unit .

Speaker 2 7:21

Yeah , I mean cars . Now you unplug a sensor on your shock , it lets you know and it won't . I mean even a lift system on these cars if it's not calibrated correctly gives you a fault . You can't go over 45 miles an hour . It's a problem . So the electronics part of the cars are very , very complex . I honestly would say it's a very difficult business to be in in the aftermarket electronic side of the business .

Speaker 3 7:45

And do you think the OEMs went that direction to slow down the aftermarket audio ? I do , because when I worked for General Motors that was always the thing .

Speaker 2 7:53

Well , I mean , I think it's like anything else as a business owner . You own a business , you own a car business , you're manufacturing cars and you see an opportunity to make more margin in your product . And it also is an attractor , right , whenever people are looking for cars . Well , this car's got this . You know WhizBang electronic that this one does not have ? Yeah , right , so it is an attractor .

Speaker 2 8:17

It's a perception of value . Exactly in a little bit different business . Same audio , but it's in the home now , and it's the same there , that we see that home builders are offering smart home products in their homes to attract buyers , fully integrated , but they're not professional home . You know integrators or electronic integrators and control integrators and acoustic integrators . They're building houses but they want to attract buyers , so they're offering . You know something ? Whether it's effective or not security , it could be smart home , it could be audio , it could be CCTV .

Speaker 3 8:53

Got to at least be setting up from their perspective the wiring , the infrastructure for it and if they bring somebody like you in to cap it off or something .

Speaker 2 9:01

I'm not sure how it works , but I can see why they would do that Exactly and you know that's just pushes , especially when it's the top home builders in the United States . They're driving all the rest of the regional home builders right and it's kind of car audio and home audio . The way the whole transitions happened from OEM to consumer it's very similar . It's happening almost the same way .

Speaker 3 9:24

And now you see the OEMs with Bang it Allsend and Harman Kardon . You know Bose because I was a GM guy , so Bose was the big , the big thing at General Motors . Now Panko , panko .

Speaker 2 9:34

Yeah .

Speaker 3 9:35

You know . So now , those home producers are now also being integrated into the cars .

Speaker 2 9:42

Right , and a lot of the car integrators . If you will OEM , like Harman . They're a big home and pro guys . They build those products as well . They're , you know , on the top of the list . When you look at any . Go to any restaurant like commercial speakers , it's going to be a JBL control speaker . They are the one . They're number one for doing integration for OEM for car and they have the best testing development probably . Jbl place there is yeah .

Speaker 1 10:09

The speaker people .

Speaker 2 10:10

Yeah , the speaker people .

Speaker 1 10:11

Well , it's .

Speaker 2 10:11

JBL , harman , it's Harman International Now , right , and they have JBL , they have Crown , they have a lot of different AKJ , they have a lot of them .

Speaker 3 10:19

They have absorbed the competition .

Speaker 2 10:21

They they , they have bought this , like a lot of the manufacturers . They've bought other companies to supplement or , you know , create synergies within their companies , right .

Speaker 1 10:29

Well , David's our radio guy . You'd use JBL speakers in this radio station . Radio guy .

Speaker 2 10:34

Yeah , imagine that JBL is probably on the top for for for pro audio . Yeah , there's no doubt .

Speaker 1 10:41

Yeah , it haven't been for a long time , okay , so let's , let's talk about your car .

Speaker 2 10:46

Okay .

Speaker 1 10:47

Go ahead .

Speaker 2 10:47

That's easy . Now he's smiling Really .

Speaker 3 10:50

That's easy , we have a policy here on Inwheel Time . The guest has to loan their vehicle to us .

Speaker 2 10:55

Oh , wait , wait , wait , wait , wait . John didn't tell me that . Hey John , hey John , there you have it . You have to blame John .

Speaker 1 11:00

So tell us what it is and how you got the Gulf Oil Company Livry Livry on it so that I actually just got this car about a month and a half . Is it a Ferrari ? No , it's a Lamborghini . A Lamborghini , yeah , so that's a Lamborghini .

Speaker 2 11:16

Lamborghini . What STO is , what it's called ? It's a Huracan , so it's a version of a Huracan . Okay , huracan's come out . I think 2015 was the first launch . It replaced the Gallardo V10 , mid-mounted , seven speed , twin clutch , paddle shift car . So I ordered this car two years ago and I just got it . Took two years to get . Oh , wow , right .

Speaker 3 11:42

Holy to leave that yeah .

Speaker 2 11:43

And it was a lot because of the paint . So the paint is , it does look like a Gulf livery , but that is . But that's not . That's not . No , this is the . This car is specced to the Lamborghini . You launch spec for the STO . When they launch the STO , that is the car they launch to the world . And what does STO stand for ? Oh gosh , it's super Trafeo . Amalangato , I'll probably Amalangato .

Speaker 3 12:06

Something like that . Yeah , and my notes I'm going to stick with .

Speaker 1 12:08

STO , yeah , just stick with STO .

Speaker 2 12:10

Same thing , yeah , yeah so the paint the problem as far as timing that has got three liveries packs is what they call to get that paint . It's all and you can't see it from here and it's really hard to see when you get up close to it . But the blue has a really a micro metallic in it . It's really pretty , and so does the orange . But the colors are really what made that special and it's like I said , the timing was expanded because of the paint colors so Lamborghini doesn't call it a Gulf livery no , they call we do .

Speaker 2 12:44

The blue is called blue is blue Lafayette , the orange is Arantio , california , and the black is some other color . I don't remember black . Black , yeah , maybe , but and then the other thing about that car that took so long , which took about another six months stereo system no , is the STO on the door . It's painted , it's not a sticker . I took six months just to get that painted painted . Everything's painted on that car , all the stripes and all the color . Everything's painted wow , I didn't want decals stickers , right right , most of them come out with stickers .

Speaker 1 13:18

So what's your regular car f150 really that's my yeah , that's my daily driver , yeah , and then I have a Cadillac Escalade V .

Speaker 2 13:31

Now you're talking now you're talking .

Speaker 1 13:33

Here's our Cadillac guy here , yeah , so I have a V and you got a Ferrari jacket on well .

Speaker 2 13:38

So there's a long story to that , but yes , my , my wife actually drives the V more than I do , because she's a nice lady .

Speaker 1 13:44

Yeah , she's really and she gets .

Speaker 2 13:46

You know it's funny because she gets all the hey , that is such a cool car and I'm like , hey , wait a minute , what about ? My car right . The V gets a lot of attention and you would think you know , because these cars are so flashy we go out to dinner . Oh man , that valet guys love the V . It's amazing , but that car is really good it is yes it's really good .

Speaker 3 14:06

I've really enjoyed it yeah , yeah , the valet guys . I have visions of Ferris Bueller's day off . Oh , yeah in my head . The valet guys are output well , that's a whole .

Speaker 2 14:17

I mean we can have a whole conversation about valet guys . But anyway , yeah the .

Discussion on Cars and Maintenance

Speaker 2 14:22

I have other cars like this , but I've had Ferris as well and I've kind of cycled .

Speaker 1 14:28

I don't have any Ferris right now well , just just like I said before you got here I don't know whether you heard me or not , but had a did you buy the ? Did you buy that car up on the North Freeway ?

Speaker 2 14:37

I actually tried to buy it here in Dallas because that's where I get my other car serviced . Yeah , but they didn't have allocation for one at the time and this is two years ago , right ? If you guys remember how crazy the car market was no yeah , and they had one of those . It was black on the floor . They were asking 200 over sticker yeah , 200 200,000 over sticker .

Speaker 2 14:59

Yeah , so I'm like I tried to get allocation . I had a sales guy there . They didn't have allocation , so I had to get my allocation out of Dallas got you .

Speaker 1 15:07

Well , I interviewed the guy up there at the Northside I don't even know if he's there . He was an older gentleman . There was the general manager and he was telling me about the customers that they have because I'm not used to , obviously , that kind of car and the buyer for that car , right , and you know , like you explained in your livery of cars that you have that you know you've got the money and so buy that car and play with it for a while and then trade it off , sell it , move on to something else kind of like that kind of in the same price range and you don't lose money on it or if you do , it's very little . He had some cars and the used side of the dealership up to the Lamborghini dealership . He had like a Shelby Mustang , I think it was a 350 or something like that . Now this was several years ago and he said don't tell you what , I can't sell it . If you want it , I'll sell it to you . And at the time I said I said how much so ? 35 .

Speaker 1 16:07

Well , you know , that car was probably at the time twice as much as that brand new , but he just wanted to get rid of it because it didn't fit . Didn't fit his organization Right , didn't the floor plan , if you will ? So there is that . So you just play in a different circle than what I'm used to . You know what I'm saying ? I have an old Corvette that is mine and I like it , and so I'm not trading it . I've thought about it . I thought about getting rid of it and getting a regular car . Why you know I like it . It's only got 34,000 miles on it and it's 2001 . So I play with that like you play with yours . Yep , yeah .

Speaker 2 16:48

It's , everyone has their own thing .

Speaker 1 16:49

So what did John do to your ?

Speaker 2 16:50

car . So John always typically does two things . He does a full PPF , the whole car , every panel , even the carbon fiber parts . That's paint protection paint protection film Correct and I usually get it glossed because my cars are glossed or not matte and because you want to definitely protect the paint because it hurts the resale value on those .

Speaker 3 17:15

If you get a chip I mean just a chip I would imagine any kind of paint repair on that is impossible . You do not want any paint repair on a car like that .

Speaker 2 17:21

You do not want that because it diminishes the value dramatically . If someone in the market for a car like that were to want to buy that and knew that it was sprayed , that would be a big , big hit on your valuation . So that's why the paint protection film is so important , especially on cars , because , listen , my pickup truck . I don't have it on my pickup truck because I don't really care about it .

Speaker 3 17:44

How often do you drive this ? Do you freak out every time ?

Speaker 2 17:47

No , I drive it is , I would , so there's it is a little daunting , unnerving sometimes to drive these cars because you are worried about someone hitting you or running into you and the people pull up next to you to take a picture .

Speaker 3 18:02

No , it's crazy .

Speaker 2 18:04

You can be going down , not going down the beltway , coming here this morning and people are trying to catch up to me to video and they're all over the place , you know . So it gets a little scary , but I only drive these cars . This one I'll drive it maybe 500 miles a year , maybe 750 at most , but that's typically what I drive these cars .

Speaker 3 18:25

Generally to shows like this or cruisans or .

Speaker 2 18:27

This shows to the gym in the morning to go get coffee with my kids . That's it .

Speaker 3 18:33

Are you a member of the Houston Lamborghini club ? No , I'm not a member of any of them .

Speaker 2 18:39

No , because I don't want to have to be committed to hey , you have to be at this show . You have to be at that show because I've got full time job and I got four little kids , so it's tough for me to break away and stuff to do . How old are the kids ? My youngest is four . Oh wow , yeah , my oldest is 17 . Oh , he's great and he loves cars . He was crying because he wanted to come with me this morning .

Speaker 2 18:59

Because he has his Christmas holiday play this morning Got it Otherwise you would have brought him , I would have brought him , yeah , and my daughter . They both wanted to come . They both love cars . Yeah , that's good , so not much seat time , but this is crazy , but I enjoyed just opening up the garage and looking at them . Yeah , absolutely that's what it is for me .

Speaker 1 19:16

So you had to do a surprise level driving here when you told me that you don't want to get into that same place . I just told the 粉絲man get it all good and washed up , and getting it yeah , cause , quite frankly , that's really a good looking car , oh yeah .

Speaker 2 19:25

Cause , quite frankly . I mean , it's not smooth , it's not like driving the V , it's a race car . The V is the best vehicle to drive . Well that air suspension . That is much better to look at , but I would rather drive the V than drive that yeah honestly .

Speaker 3 19:37

Oh , me too , yeah , yeah , but your son would probably rather you come pick him up at high school than that . Oh , absolutely , absolutely . Yeah , they Dad , can you come pick me up for that ? Hey , hey , can you ?

Speaker 2 19:45

can you go to this show ? Can you go to that ? He's the one who bugs me to go to shows . Actually , there's a photo shoot . They want to do with another car that I have and they're bugging me about doing a photo shoot tomorrow . I'm like man , what's the other car ? I have a 2020 Lamborghini SVJ . I don't know if you guys know what that is .

Speaker 1 20:04

That's where it's the . You see the light steering our eyes . Yeah , yeah , I know you got it . I know that it's the kind of the upper end of that .

Speaker 2 20:12

It's a V12 straight pipe . It's a . What color is it ? Yeah , it's a Gallio Ryan , which is a metallic yellow and black . It's beautiful , beautiful car . Actually , I can show a picture to you guys . Yeah , yeah . While you're sitting here looking at me with those blanks there ?

Speaker 3 20:29

No , I was just thinking with that dumb look on her face . No , that's kind of natural too .

Speaker 1 20:32

That's what it is .

Speaker 3 20:33

It could be a good day to take the pictures .

Speaker 2 20:34

You know , if you're doing a photo shoot , Well yeah , yeah , well , you know , it's one of those things that I it's just it's all the time . I mean , my wife got a post on Facebook for the neighborhood and some lady was like and yeah , I don't know , there's somebody in the neighborhood that has Ferraris and Lamborghinis and there's someone that has a blue and orange Lamborghini . We really want to take a picture with our son for his high school graduation . So my wife is talking to this lady and she's coming to me going hey , guess what ? I got you a deal to take pictures with some kid for high school graduation .

Speaker 3 21:05

Yeah , a deal that you don't get anything out of and he took another couple hours .

Speaker 2 21:08

And he won't loan us his car . Yeah , so that's the SVJ .

Speaker 1 21:12

That is gorgeous . Oh my God , that's beautiful yeah . I mean it's like a whole you put a baby inside of that thing . Oh yeah , but yeah , it's , you know one of those things .

Speaker 2 21:21

you buy it , you lower it , you PPF it , you attend it and you put exhaust on it every car and you did all that . Oh yeah , that one's got exhaust , it's lowered . Now , who do you get to do the mechanical stuff ? My brother and I , y'all do it . You're out there and fiddle with it .

Speaker 1 21:36

No , yeah , we just did the , the , the , the , the , the , the , the , the , the , the , the the , the , the , the , the , the , the , the the the , the , the , the , the the the , the manual .

Speaker 2 21:44

That's what we do . You're not there and fiddle with it . No yeah , we just did the suspension .

Speaker 1 21:49

We put an over tech lowering sprints . You could tell it's a little bit lower than a normal . Yes , we could tell that's about an inch . The driveways and anything with a bump , and it would scare me . Well , it's gotta lift . So it lifts up . Oh it does . Yeah , about an inch . Does it know or do you have ? No , you gotta push button , okay .

Speaker 2 22:05

Yeah , you gotta push button .

Speaker 3 22:08

Mark , it's great to talk to you . Yes , sir , thank you very much . Very cool man , very cool , very cool car .

Speaker 2 22:12

Oh by the way he does . Do all my window tint too , does he yes ?

Speaker 1 22:16

gotta have that . I have the best .

Speaker 2 22:17

Window tint PPF . John does it all . He's the best .

Speaker 3 22:20

Thank you . You made both your kids wanting to come down here . Can they both of them fit in there ?

Speaker 2 22:24

It's difficult . Well , my daughter , my daughter's seven , my son's four , four and seven . Yeah , so they can squeeze in there , but I don't really like driving that car with them without a car seat . Yeah .

Speaker 3 22:33

I gotta be a responsible dad right ? Absolutely 17 year old , get to drive and all .

Speaker 2 22:37

No , no , no . Nobody drives that , not even my wife , when she lets me know about it all the time . She's not even on the entrance hall . Hang in there . Hopefully she's not Hang in there .

Speaker 3 22:45

Just go drive your V , go drive your V .

Speaker 2 22:48

Exactly , go drive your V as a separate incident .

Speaker 3 22:50

We also take V loaners as well .

Speaker 2 22:52

Okay .

Speaker 1 22:52

Great talking to you , Mark .

Speaker 3 22:53

Thanks so much , Appreciate it guys .

Speaker 1 22:55

Some of the headlines making news this morning American Honda , recalling more than 300,000 accord and HRV . I heard that Vehicles in the US for a missing rivet in the front seat belt pretensioners , 23 and 24 model Honda Accord mid-sized sedans and HRV subcompact crossovers . Honda did not say how many vehicles could be affected . In Canada and Mexico Honda told NHTSA that as of November 16th that it had received seven more and he claims but no reports of injuries or deaths .

Speaker 3 23:27

So it's a . It's a frog recall because it's missing a rivet .

Speaker 1 23:30

Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , put that microphone a little bit closer to your mouth , if you would please . Or turn him down , and or you just turn him . Turn it , yeah , turn him down . We don't even know why he showed up today .

Recalls, Production Changes, and Automotive News

Speaker 1 23:43

Ford 20,000 . To 2019 Ford Expeditions being recalled . Report sea belt pretensioners . Deploying inadvertently Other recalls . Buick Encore , invista and Chevy Tracks . Blank instrument panel display . I've suffered that with some of my press cars Land Rover Defender improperly reinstalled brake calipers made detached from the 2023 model .

Speaker 3 24:15

Did you hear what I said ? We're recalling the recall .

Speaker 1 24:17

We're recalling the recall Actually , no , it's improperly reinstalled brake calipers Is that Mercedes-Benz plans to pull production of its flagship electric crossover out of the US and replace it with a higher volume model ? According to supply chain industry sources , Mercedes will relocate production of the full-size EQS SUV to Bremen , germany , from Vance , alabama , to Make Room for another Mercedes-Benz that they're going to build there . So here comes the Lamborghini pulling in right here .

Speaker 2 24:51

I think Mr Mars is taking a picture of it .

Speaker 3 24:53

Yeah , he's got the camera going .

Speaker 1 24:54

Yeah , that is really a nice car .

Speaker 3 24:56

That is gorgeous , it is .

Speaker 1 24:58

They're gonna loan that to us . You know , I don't think that they'll ever do that ever . General Motors said UAW's six-week strike cost the automaker $1.1 billion . It also reinstated its guidance for 2023 , saying it now expects to earn nearly $10 billion , and said it would buy back $10 billion in shares from stockholders . Gm said Not for me . Gm said its new contracts with the UAW and Unifor Union in Canada would increase its labor cost by about $1.5 billion , or $500 per vehicle . And guess what ? You're gonna be playing for it . That's right . Nissan's gonna tap into European tastes for crossovers with the next generation leaf in a styling . Shift in hopes will significantly boost demand . Us production of the leaf will end mid-decade . Us sales of the leaf dropped 35% to 5,804 vehicles in the first three quarters of this year . That ain't good .

Speaker 3 26:00

Yuck . Yeah , I'm not a fan of the look .

Speaker 1 26:04

It's nice and smooth and let's see . Are you ready for this ? Toyota said Wednesday it will plow $2 billion windfall from selling shares in its top supplier , denso , and into batteries , hydrogen technologies and software , as the world's biggest automaker realigns cross-share holdings among its group companies to free up investment funds . The planned sale will reduce Toyota's stake in Denso , the world's second biggest auto parts suppliers , to 20% from about 24.2% today . All right , that's that Time now for a quick break here on the In-Wheel Time car talk show coming to you today from Gulf Coast Auto Shield's car social . Back after this quick break . You own a car you love . Well , why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it ? Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts . We promise you'll be impressed . Whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like new appearance , apply a ceramic coating , install a paint protection film , nanoceramic window tent or new windshield protection called ExoShield , gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go . Curved your wheels Instead of buying new , why not have them repaired ? How about a professionally installed radar detector ? Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too . Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshieldcom . Better yet , stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston , tolway , just south of the Southwest Freeway , to get a personal tour . Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior . Call them today 832-930-5655 , or gcautoshieldcom . The original group of Lupe Tortilla restaurants will have you telling your family and friends just what the original recipes mean when it comes to the best fajitas in Southeast Texas . Founder Stan Holt invites you to visit the original Lupe Tortilla near I-10 and Highway 6 . Here's the original house that inspired the design of all the rest and the original charm that helped make Lupe Tortilla the go-to destination for Houston Tex-Mex . Speaking of original , nothing can compete with the original lime pepper marinade that everyone will agree makes Lupe Tortilla award-winning beef fajitas the best anywhere . Lupe Tortilla Katie is another location that gives you the same quality and service Houstonians have come to expect at Lupe's . It's located just off I-10 , in the Grand Parkway . At Kingsland Boulevard in Katie , find yourself an Aggie land . Head to the Lupe Tortilla College Station , located just around the corner from Kyle Field . It's a great place to enjoy those famous frozen margaritas before or after the game . Head to East , to Louisiana . Stop in at the Lupe Tortilla in Beaumont . It twos on I-10 , you can't miss it . The original group of Lupe Tortilla restaurants invites you in for the best Tex-Mex anywhere .

Speaker 1 28:48

The In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show is now part of the I-Heart family . Now you'll have access to 24-7 car talk anytime you need to fix . Just download the I-Heart radio app and ask for In-Wheel Time Car Talk , and there we are . Be sure to save us in your I-Heart library for instant access . No matter where you are , you have the best car talk show right on your PC , laptop or mobile device and never have to worry about finding us again .

Stream the in-Wheel Time Car Show

Speaker 1 29:11

Of course , you can always get access to our video and audio streams via inwheeltimecom and your favorite podcast channel , and all of this is free to you .

Speaker 1 29:19

From the I-Heart radio app , you'll not only hear our Saturday morning live show , but the best shows of the past , updated weekly . Never miss a minute of up-to-date new car reviews , pre-owned reviews , conrad's car clinic , informative interviews , automotive news and the most fun car talk show on the planet . Just download the I-Heart radio app , search for In-Wheel Time Car Talk , save it to your library and with a tap of the icon , you'll be in touch with your favorite car talk team In-Wheel Time Car Talk streaming now on I-Heartcom slash In-Wheel Time Car Talk . That's it for this podcast episode of the In-Wheel Time Car Show . I'm Don Armstrong , inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning eight to 11 am , central on Facebook , youtube , twitch and our In-Wheel Timecom website . Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts .