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Private Club Radio Show
399: Driving the Future of Club Transportation w/ Mark Rickell Club Car
Join us as Mark Rickell, VP of Sales at Club Car, shares how Club Car is pushing boundaries in golf cart innovation. Get an inside look at the Urban EV and other next-gen vehicles set to transform club transportation. Mark dives into new tech for fleet management, providing clubs with smarter control and efficiency, and gives a preview of Club Car’s presence at the PGA Show. Hear about Club Car’s sponsorship of the Solheim Cup and their commitment to fair competition, including efforts with the International Trade Commission to combat price dumping. This episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at the changing world of golf carts and what Club Car is doing to lead the charge.
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Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, where we give you the scoop on all things private golf and country clubs From mastering, leadership and management, food and beverage excellence, member engagement secrets, board governance and everything in between, all while keeping it fun and light. Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place. I'm your host, denny Corby. Welcome to the show. In this episode we are talking all things golf carts, innovation in the future of club transportation with Mark Raquel, the VP of sales over at Club Car, and we're going to get a little behind the scenes. Insiders. Look at Club Car's journey and some big updates that are coming. We touch on the latest tech advances at Club Car, some updates to their fleet management system and what is coming next for golf cart customization Some really cool stuff. We talk about their new Urban EV, which is really cool and just neat to see all the different options and what people are able to do and have nowadays, because everyone's need is a little bit different. We also get a little litigious Now. We talk about if you might be following the golf industry on the regulatory side. Mark breaks down Club Car's recent case with the International Trade Commission to ensure fair competition in the marketplace. So we touch on a lot of things, from fun to serious, and Mark's a really funny guy, so he and I click well, so it is a really good conversation. Plus, we talk about Club Car's expanded reach, including their debut as sponsors for the Solheim Cup, making their first entry into women's golf. Mark also gives a sneak peek as to what Club Car has in store next for the PGA show. So you're definitely not going to miss out on this episode.
Speaker 1:If you're enjoying the content so far, sign up for our newsletter. Head on over to privateclubradiocom. Pops right up, wait about three, four seconds. Stay up to date with all of our content that way. Also, a big shout out. Thank you to some of our show partners. You're going to hear about them more later, but Kenneth's member vetting concert golf partners, golf life navigators and myself the Denny Corby experience. There's excitement, there's mystery. Also there's magic, mind reading, comedy and tons of crowd work, dennycorbycom. But Private Club Radio listeners. Let's get to the show. Let's welcome from Club Car, mark Raquel. So real quick, who is Mark? I mean because you're a funny cat.
Speaker 2:Well, Mark, he's been in the industry. Mark Raquel, Club Car VP of Sales. I've been in the industry now for 11 years and it's been amazing. I started my career, interestingly enough, with Ingersoll Rand. I was in the industrial sector supporting industry with compressed air technologies, tools, fluid material handling, all the really boring stuff and I had an opportunity to join Club Car 11 years ago and I haven't looked back and, as I shared with you earlier, I enjoy the long-term relationships that you find here in the golf space and the fact that people are very loyal. When you do good things for them, they do good things for you. So I've enjoyed it. It's been tremendous.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a very, very loyal industry. Yes, yes, no, that's so cool industry. Yes, yes, no, that's so cool. So what, what do you like most about being in the club space? But I think more specifically, club car, golf carts, I mean, there there is something to be said. Where we are as grown adults, I mean I and granted, okay, it might just be me, we can drive vehicles, all these. You know things that go super fast, but there's something about just jumping in a golf cart that is just so much fun. It just brings out the inner kid Like it is. It is amazing it brings the kid out.
Speaker 2:It does, and it's like going go-karting, you know, and I know it's it's not the right choice of words, cause I don't want to send people off in the direction, but you know you have an absolutely great time driving the vehicle and you're kind of a little bit off road, you know, as you're driving through the golf course itself. Yeah, so it's a lot of fun, it's open to air and it kind of gives you that 360 degree Jeep experience, if you will. So and I would say the other part that's enjoyable about it is you're socializing with your friends, not just playing a game. So it's a great time.
Speaker 1:What separates Club Car from everyone else?
Speaker 2:That's a good question and I'm sure it's different from anybody else that you might ask that question to, but I will share. I think that for us there's what we call the Club Car difference. What we try to do in everything that we create is put a lot of energy and development around the quality and safety and reliability of the car. We want people having a great time but we want them going home to their families in the same form they showed up to play. So I will also say we have a black and gold culture and that goes all the way down to the line folks. These people do a lot for the success of the vehicle performing at these individual golf courses and they have a lot of pride, but that pride is shared through the whole organization. So all those elements I think sets the difference between Club Car and the rest of the competitors out there.
Speaker 1:Now, what's the off the record? No, but it kind of brings me to why I wanted to talk a little bit today, because it's something I guess I didn't even think about or would even think about, but it's a hot topic, which is the pending action of the ITC International Trade Commission in the Department of Commerce. What's going on there?
Speaker 2:Another good question, and certainly it's on the top of a lot of folks' minds. Our channel partners are highly engaged in what's happening. Certainly the market's highly engaged in what's happening, and what we're facing is just some unfair practices of imports that are coming in and it's affecting the market. So we went to the International Trade Commission, we gave testimony and the case was accepted by the Department of Commerce and now we're proceeding with potential tariffs and countervailing duties against those unfair practiced imports. So it's a big deal for this industry and if it's not unchecked it could be very damaging. What the ITC and the Department of Commerce recognized is it was severe enough that they saw damage, and so that's why it's being pursued.
Speaker 1:Can you go on that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the pricing element of it? Sure, absolutely so. In most of these cases, it's a price dumping or anti-dumping campaign, and so the coalition that's working with Club Car is what we're going after, and it's not about getting them out of the market. It's getting them to be a fair partner in this marketplace.
Speaker 1:For someone like me. Can you dumb that down a little bit more?
Speaker 2:Sure, I'll give you a very good example. So if our car costs $10,000 and that's what it cost us to build it, get it into a channel and sell it to one of our customers, they're coming in at, call it, half that rate. And I'm making these numbers up but just to show you some of the dynamics, it might be at 5,000. Those are subsidized by the importing country's government. There's also tax abatements that are applied to that are unfair and there's also discounts that they're applying to the elements of the product, which is unfair. So to give you an example of that, that would be steel tariffs that exist today I call it 279% Don't get added into the cost buildup of that car. So they come in at a very low rate, but it's all subsidized and we can't compete with that.
Speaker 1:Got you. That's definitely tough. So now, what is going on? What's the movement going forward? What are the next steps there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, great question. So obviously we got the positive vote. It was a unanimous vote and there's a significance to that, and I'll tell you about that in just a second. So what happens next is there are hurdles or dates out there in the market that says okay, the Department of Commerce is going to do their due diligence and essentially they go to these manufacturers and they'll do a full audit of the buildup of that product and they will decide what the appropriate tariff needs to be to bring this back to parity in terms of competitiveness in the market. The fact that it was a unanimous vote means that there was potentially high damages, so that gives us the opportunity to go pursue countervailing duties, which are all the things that I talked about in terms of subsidy, tax evadements and all these other discounts that they provided on the product. So now you have two elements. That is supposed to be. September 13th is where we get the reading. Now it's coming around the corner.
Speaker 1:Friday, the 13th.
Speaker 2:Yeah, september 13th, so that's a critical date. Now, what we will expect from that is they'll push that to October because they want to take the time to make sure they're not making a mistake either. So fully expect it to be sometime in October that we'll get the full announcement on what the countervailing duties will be, and then in December we'll get the tariff, and so then it will just become, you know, temporary in place, temporarily in place, and then July of next year we'll meet with the department of commerce and everything will be finalized. So pretty exciting.
Speaker 1:Kind of Like yes and no. Like yes, but also like whew. Okay. Speaking of exciting though, what exciting products do you guys have in the works? Anything?
Speaker 2:We've got a lot of good things happening. You know I can't give away. You know all the story, but what I can tell you is we're making a lot of introductions to the products that we have today. So there'll be some additional technologies, there may be some facial changes to the product, some updates in terms of how you'd be able to use the product. That's all coming, Looking forward to the PGA show, because that's our big reveal typically happens at the PGA show. So you'll see everything from the golf side of the business to the commercial, to the commercial side, a consumer side. So we have three key verticals and those verticals are all growing and expanding and there's a lot of desire for, for new product development. So all that's in the works.
Speaker 1:That's fun. That's fun. Yeah, what's a? What's going on with the club car urban?
Speaker 2:So the urban is a final mile delivery vehicle. Again, when you think about the EV space, there's been a lot of change there over the last 10 years. We're fighting for that space as well. Predominantly, europe is kind of the introduction to the urban. If you've traveled internationally, many of those cities kind of lock down around a five, six o'clock hour because of the tourists that come through the city. Very difficult when you've got 6,000-pound vehicles rolling through the city streets that are not wide enough for everybody. So they shut that down for protection but also to make it a nicer environment. But they still have to deliver goods.
Speaker 2:So the urban is kind of that vehicle that can deliver it. It's an electric vehicle, it's a small footprint and it's not over you know, call it 3,000 pounds. So the interaction with the population is much better, a lot safer and it doesn't go over 25 miles an hour. So we see that really emerging here in the United States. Predominantly it's on universities and campuses, municipalities, but we do see small towns and cities that are going to take on that sort of look of let's protect the community, let's shut down the cities from, call it, the big aspirated vehicles. And that's why urban is going to be very successful here. I like that.
Speaker 1:That's fun. What's the? What's the? And I'm just looking at. Notes that that Linthia sent Updates to your fleet management system.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we have. We have an FT plus and it's an addition to what we call our visage. Okay, so visage is on the golf cart today, but we needed something that would be more commercial, and so on the commercial vehicles, there's still an interest in how to control the product. You can control it with speed, you can control where it goes. So the FT Plus now gives all of our commercial vehicles that same sort of capabilities and from an operator, you get to see where it exists inside of a certain footprint, right. So you create the geography. And then, where is it sitting? What's the dwell time? Are my people working or my people having a nap under the tree? You know they can get that sense and they can go drive improvement and efficiency and performance.
Speaker 1:Big brother coming after. I see how it is Maybe little brother, little brother cousin, the cousin, that, that weird cousin that we don't talk about at family gatherings, we all got them. We all got them. Anything else you want to touch?
Speaker 2:on bring up. We definitely have a whole consumer lineup, which I think is a lot of fun. You talked about having fun on the golf course. We now have that product for the consumer base, but it's a PTV. It was really designed for that consumer space. So something that's in the garage but you can enjoy your local community and environment. And if you see what's happening around the countryside, there's a lot of planned communities that are developing and a lot of people go, go home, put their car in the garage and they head out in their PTV. So again, it's a little Jeep experience. It's a different way to enjoy a lifestyle and we've got the new crew that just came out.
Speaker 1:So if you've not seen that, I have no need for one, but I want one, so bad.
Speaker 2:Like.
Speaker 1:I, I'm not even kidding. I want one in my studio, Like I want to be. I want to do my interviews sitting in a club car crew in my man cave.
Speaker 2:Like it's awesome, I love it and it's, it's a, it's a great product.
Speaker 1:When I went to the PGA show last year no lie, it was like I ran to that. But when I saw it in person, I was a kid in a candy store Like I could not be happier to sit in that thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that product and you know again same thing. You know we've had the Dallas Cowboys do rolling interviews with their cheerleaders and other football players. So it's just it's almost like confessions of a taxi cab, you remember that show. Just a great product to have fun with. That's obviously on the commercial side, but just from a personal consumer aspect, it's a great way for families to get around in their communities. And the nice thing about that product it's slightly larger than what you find in the market today. And we looked at it from a standpoint of hey, you got a lot of SUVs out there, right, and sometimes it can feel intimidating. Well, this is a product that you can put your family in and kind of compete for size and space but still be in an LSV.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Now it holds what like six people.
Speaker 2:It holds six people.
Speaker 1:Six people and I like the left seat swivels, or is it the driver's seat too?
Speaker 2:Yeah, both seats. It actually reverses the back support so you can switch it where you're now part of the compartment compartment and you're just enjoying the fireworks or a park or maybe just pizza in the park, right? So it's a lot of fun pizza in the park it's in the park pizza. I think we need to make a new show. Where do?
Speaker 1:you live that there's pizza that close to the? Where are you at? Where is this? Where is this heaven?
Speaker 2:I have Uber delivered to me.
Speaker 1:Domino's showing up in the middle, Mark Mark hello, like under a tree just hiding behind, pops out.
Speaker 2:You'll find me by the oak in the park. Yeah, they love that. They love that one.
Speaker 1:If the squirrels chase after you, just run Like they won't stay long, that's funny. No, this is fun. Anything else you want to touch on? Add any questions you want me to ask you?
Speaker 2:Let's think what else could we? I don't know, are you PGA show important? I'll probably be there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it could be. What do you bring into the PGA show? Important, I'll probably be there. Yeah, it could be. What do you bring into the PGA show?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean so. Pga shows certainly a significant importance to our business as well as the rest of the golf space, but it's a great way for us to introduce new products. I know that you said earlier we've got a lot of new elements to our products that we're going to be showing off, so I just recommend people stopping by the booth and taking a look and getting a handle of what Club Car is doing to change the commercial, the consumer and the golf space. A lot of neat ideas that are coming to fruition.
Speaker 1:And you're even at the CMA A-Show correct.
Speaker 2:We do. It's not as big but we certainly participate. I mean, most of the folks in there are good friends of Club Car, so we like to support the CMAA. We do a lot of local chapter support, so you'll find us throughout the US with the local chapters there. But great organization. Yeah, that's all I got, okay.
Speaker 1:No, that was all pretty good. Like some of the other stuff really isn't like super like relevant, like talking about the president's cup and stuff like that, because it's like it's stuff they already kind of know, like it's yeah so because they're like we could, but then it's just wasting time at that point like it's just like, well, the only one thing we think, time.
Speaker 2:But like, yeah, yeah, the one thing I would share, and whether you do anything with us or not, that's up to you, but for us and we're going to be supporting, um, you know, big staff and customers coming into that uh opportunity. So that's exciting, for us really is. And so, again, it's just our first entree into the uh, the female tour that's awesome yeah welcome, congrats.
Speaker 1:I don't know what the Ta-da. Oh man, all right, well, hey, thank you for being here. I really appreciate this. This is a really fun chat.
Speaker 2:I've enjoyed talking to you. It's been fun. I hope to see you around now that I know who you are. I've heard your name but I've never actually had a chance to meet you and obviously we're at some of the same venues on a regular basis. But I've got your contacts and I'll let you know when I'm in an area and if you're there, let's let's connect some time.
Speaker 1:Have your people call my people.
Speaker 2:Your people call my people Be good. All right, man Sounds great. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 1:Hope you all enjoyed that. If you did a like, share. Subscribe means the world costs nothing. Sign up for our newsletter privateclubradiocom. That's this episode. Until next time, catch you all on the Flippity Flip.
