Gen Z In The F&I Office, Why Farley is Scared of China, BYD Mega-City Factory

Automotive State of The Union

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Episode #1194: Today we’re talking about the next generation of car buyers shaking up the F&I office, Jim Farley’s humbling EV teardown that’s reshaping Ford’s strategy, and BYD’s jaw-dropping megafactory in China that’s literally larger than San Francisco.

Show Notes with links:

Born digital and raised on instant access, Gen Z is reshaping how dealerships sell protection, financing, and paperwork. CDK’s 2025 F&I Shopper Study shows this generation demands transparency, security, and flexibility at every step.
- Gen Z buyers are twice as likely to purchase six or more F&I products compared to older generations.
- They’re especially drawn to security and theft protection, with 29% selecting theft protection versus a 23% average.
- 69% finance outside the dealership, often coming pre-approved with online or bank-based loans.
- Surprisingly, 53% still prefer paper signatures, though a quarter favor a hybrid process.
- “Dealers who adapt with flexibility, transparency, and security-focused offerings will capture Gen Z’s loyalty — and their $12 trillion in future buying power,” the report concludes.

Ford CEO Jim Farley says tearing apart Teslas and Chinese EVs was a “shocking” wake-up call that exposed how far traditional automakers must go to stay competitive — and why Ford can’t afford to back down from electric vehicles.
- Teardowns of Tesla’s Model 3 showed 1.6 km less wiring than Ford’s Mach-E, proving how much efficiency Ford needed to gain.
- The discovery led Farley to create Ford’s Model E division, which lost $5 billion in 2024 — but he stands by the decision: “I knew it was going to be brutal business-wise. But it was important for Ford’s EV operations to be accountable to investors.”
- He’s pushing for a culture shift at Ford: “My ethos is, take on the hardest problems as fast as you can and do it sometimes in public because you’ll solve them quicker that way.”
In a move that redefines the meaning of “mass production,” Chinese automaker BYD is building an EV complex in Zhengzhou so massive it will literally be bigger than the entire city of San Francisco.
- The Zhengzhou site will cover 50 square miles, surpassing San Francisco’s 46.9, and include high-rises, sports facilities, and even housing — a “factory with a city attached to it.”
- The site will serve as a manufacturing and R&D hub, capable of producing hundreds of thousands of vehicles and components annually.
- BYD recently overtook Tesla in European EV sales and is aggressively targeting the UK and Japan next, with full European lineup availability by 2028.
- The project highlights China’s strategy to scale vertically and geographically, blending manufacturing, housing, and logist

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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